Music

Fakers Release Toxic City

21st Feb 2023 — Leave a comment

The flames of punk wrath begin as a flicker between two burning twigs before becoming a forest fire.

Fakers

Fakers encompass this inferno, their guitar riffs ablaze, drumbeats petrol to the flames. Their track Toxic city speaks of destruction, a city buried under itself due to the disrespect and damage of its people. The weight of neglect, an internal rupture, it’s life in an environmental dystopia. The soul sliced into by the systems that sets boundaries, the loss of self, a wasteland of individualism. These cynical observations, the rhythm of rebellion, remind us that not all systems serve us, sometimes to scream is to survive, never surrender and never do so silently.

The essence of punk is the anthem of the individual, championing authenticity and self-expression. The desire for change, the defiance that leads to its birth is all brandished into the punk legacy. Denial of conformity, down with he established society, you become a ruler of anarchy. A contradiction of the force you are fighting, surely any structure is one that should be defied. You cannot disapprove of systems because this in itself is a system. 

“Ain’t no jobs to pay your way
Can’t get the hours to slave away
Sit and think, it’s a fucking bore
Start to stink, stewing in your sores”

Toxic City

Fakers keep the flames of punk burning, a booming beacon, a promise of better times prevailing.If you want to shake a bit of that system off, fight for your right to be who you are then head to their next gig supporting Republica at The Hairy Dog in Derby on the 25th of February. Get tickets here

The solipsism of punk, the world only exists if I am here to perceive it, may be refreshing to sip from if you are feeling anti-establishment. Protests, petitions, campaigns, a need for people to listen are all evidence of rage being redesigned for good. Wrath with no direction is madness, if you’re mad don’t throw a fit, take action, make change.

Tennov

30th Jan 2023 — Leave a comment

Otala’s lastest song Tenov is groundbreaking in its discussion about grief, the depseration one feels when someone they were devoted to dies. This loss of self in the loss of someone else and the onset of crisis this can become.

Otala

We are all haunted by the looming headstone of an empty grave,we have see friends and family fall, their demise a reminder that we shall one day join them. What do we let fade when we focus on what is gone? Those that sleep will surley stir again, eyes stark in the daylight, but what about those that stay shut?

Tennov is written in a 4/4 time signature to reflect the ongoing cycle of love,loss and grief. The beuaty of love is that it can be lost and it is perhaps with this knowledge that we should look after it, cherish it try to make it last. Just because someone has been buried, or burned or lost does not mean the love you had for them has to die too. Losing someone is a lonely place, you isolate yourself in an effort to immortalize them in your memory.

Tennov

As a punk quintent Otala really capture the anger and exhasution of grief in Tennov which explores themes of anger, denial, helplessness. Its narrrative offers a foreboding hand down a darkened path, the mind of death and darkness. This forest of forelonging crowds our vision and we are buried in the woods, pining for all that is gone.

Grief is a mutual experience, a loved one shielded in wood once stood tall now lies still. We are left to die without them by our side. Dorothy Tennov wrote about the expereince of being in Love, researching individual cases, we may all expereince different verions of love but we will all suffer the same loss. We are in debt to those we have lost, the love we shared, the lessons learned from each other. We pay not in our suffering, each tear cried is not a currency, but with our desicion to rejoice, celebrate life as if they were still living it so they can vicariously laugh and cry with you.

The lyrics that stick out to me in Tennov are:

“Sometimes I wonder what would be and what will be if you took my hand. Red and swollen it rests in my palm. An careless act of selfishness but it could never be a lie”.

Otala are really making their mark in the music industry, with up coming gigs on the 3rd of February in The George Tavern London, The Bodega in Nottignham on the 24th of March and april the 9th in the New Adelphi Club in Hull. Click here to buy tickets!

Miley Cyrus Releases Flowers

19th Jan 2023 — Leave a comment

Who’s ready for an Endless Summer Vacation?

Miley Cyrus Flowers

After a two-year hiatus Miley Cyrus is back with a banging break up anthem.

Flowers is an ode to self-love, empowerment, and self-preservation. It is Yves Saint Laurent clad battle move against broken hearts, it’s the sound of a new era for Miley Cyrus.

The song has a lot of direct references to her marriage with, now ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth as well as some easter eggs hidden in the accompanying music video. The lyrics “Built a home and watched it burn” are a double entendre representing the Woolsey Fire of 2018 that destroyed the pairs home in Malibu as well as the incidents between the couple that razed their relationship. The song itself was released on the 13th of January-Hemsworth’s birthday further emphasising who this song may be about.

The theme of independence and empowerment run throughout the video with Miley dancing with herself, working out and ‘talking to herself for hours’. This is buttressed by the apparent back drop for this video, set in Los Angeles the mansion we see Cyrus strut in and swim in is supposedly her own Studio city home although some fan theories think it is the house where Hemsworth is alleged to have had affairs in.

However, Miley addressed cheating claims in 2019 saying “I can admit to a lot of things, but I refuse to admit that my marriage ended because of cheating. Liam and I have been together for a decade. I’ve said it before and it remains true, I love Liam and always will.”

It has also been suggested that the suit Miley wears in the mansion is meant to replicate the suit Hemsworth wore the night when he told Cyrus to behave whilst she was dancing on a red carpet. Fan have even analysed the YSL gown Cyrus wears at the start of the music video, wondering if its shade to the golden dress Jennifer Lawrence wore at the hunger games premier in 2012 although we think this is a bit of a stretch.

The most repeated reference to Hemsworth is the actual tune of the song. Sampled from Bruno Mars Flowers mirrors ‘When I was your man’ which Hemsworth apparently dedicated to Cyrus during their engagement. Although these rumours are yet to be confirmed it is a power move from Miley to take these words back and use them as her own sword.

Although this is clearly a breakup banger it is also a romantic ballad to the self. Remember you can love yourself better than anyone can, you can stick your favourite songs on and dance on your own, get dressed up and have nowhere to go. it is the relationship we share with ourselves which is the most important to our own preservation. cherish each other loudly but cherish yourself louder.

Flowers is part of Miley’s new album Endless summer vacation is set to release March 10. It will be the eighth studio album. Cyrus has described it as her “Love letter to L.A”.

Album trailer

“The music and imagery of ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ [serves] as a reflection of the strength she’s found in focusing on both her physical and mental well-being,” reads the official news release.

After hosting a NYE concert/party with Godmother Dolly Parton, dropping Flowers, and an upcoming album it is clear 2023 is Miley’s year.

Now wipe your eyes and go buy some flowers in your best gold suit.