Definite ear candy.

Tommy Reilly

Scotland's finest Tommy Reilly, singer-songwriter from Torrence, impressed judges on Orange Unsigned Acts in 2009 with his acoustic led songs. After originally being rejected in the audition stages, Jo Whiley had a feeling, along with alot of Britain, that she'd made a mistake and called him back. Probably the best decision the Whiley has ever made on the show as Tommy stormed through, week after week, captivating the audience with his acoustic creations, eventually becoming the winner.


It was all uphill from there for him; Reilly's first single "Gimme A call" reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in it's first week of release, followed by the release of his debut album "Words on the floor" in 2009 (which I swiftly bought) and the recent release of "Hello, I'm Tommy Reilly" in June this year (which was quickly bookmarked on Spotify and will be purchased once I have moneys). One of my favourite tracks on his new album, is the hidden one, I dreamt of New York. Consistent with Tommy's previous work, the song is beautifully written, with lyrics that make me just melt; "I dreamt I'd swing from a bungee cord, or travel the whole wide world, but now I'm completely sure you're what I'm living for."

I have followed Tommy from day one, since then his music has been safely anchored on my mp3, phone and iTunes. My pet musical hate is over-produced, over-credited, polished songs which are unauthentic and un-personal to the singer (You know what really grinds my gears: songs where the singer isn't even singing in their original accent; especially if it's a Brit singing in an american accent. Oh, and while I'm ranting, Alysha Dixon "Drummer boy" is the worst song I've ever heard - and I've heard Katy Perry). Tom has an enticingly rustic, Scottish singing voice, gloriously unpolished and authentic; his personality shines through in his stage presence, in every song and it's music that I listen to rather than just hear. 

I enjoy the live versions of his songs more than I do the produced ones, mainly because I love raw talent and live music, but also because his voice has more emotion which outshines the instruments; that being said, I also do love his produced songs, they may be the same songs, but they're different in so many ways - he is so under appreciated it's sickening! Although Tommy is one of my favourite songwriters, high up in my list of must-listen-to's is his acoustic rendition of "Mr Brightside" by the killers, and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying it bought tears to my eyes. In my opinion, Reilly has remained humble throughout his whole time in the lime light, replying to my Myspace messages and thanking people personally for their support. Definitely a lovable character, excellent musician/singer/songwriter and all 'round stand up guy (not just because I have a huge crush on him either).


Visit Tommy's website here and get to your nearest record store and purchase some of his acoustical genius.


Tommy Reilly wins at life.


P & L 
Voodle

Kings of Leon? We'll see.

Possible album cover

I used to be a massive fan of Kings of Leon, I had all three albums and even went to see them in America in 2005 for around $7, that was until 'We Own The Night' came screaming into the charts and straight onto the phones of chavs on busses everywhere two years ago. It wasn't just the fact that 'Sex on fire' was being played about seventeen times a night in a chav-esque club in Wrexham - It was quite a good record. It was that the foursome became so undesirably arrogant and even started falling out with each other over royalties, and following a screaming breakdown from the lead-singer in 2009, there were numerous rumors of the band splitting. Although to be honest, I didn't buy the fourth album they released because I didn't like it - it was a lot lighter than their usual Southern rock-influenced sound - but the moment KOL were evicted from my heart and CD collection, was when shell suit disgustingtons started playing club mixes of their high profile records out loud on public transport, disturbing my humble journey. Despite this, I'm actually quite excited about the release of their fifth album 'Come Around Sundown', which will hit UK shelves 18th October '10 and a day later for the US, to see if the boys have had a chance to calm down, deflate their egos and return to classic Kings - If not, it'll be a blast watching their slow demise... again.

Awesome.

P & L
Voodle

Ear Candy

Best Coast - Crazy for you (released July 27th '10)

Chilled out and different. Best Coast purposely produced 'Crazy for you' in a retro fashion but rarely digressed from the garage-rock mould. The lyrics aren't sophisticated or complicated, a handful of which and a few bars are more than often put on a loop making for a frustratingly repetitive listen, but perfect for background music or vegging in the sun. I opted for listening to it whilst dancing around in the kitchen in pyjama shorts with a whisk, cooking pasta'n'sauce. I don't think it will be a cue-creator at HMV but it's definitely worth a listen.

Read an interview with lead singer Bethany Cosentine and get free album streaming at http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/features/best_coast


P & L
Voodle