Checking Pulse - Aimeé

Here's another new band for you lot to check out. I have only just recently become obsessed with this band, and I'm sure they will get a lot more fans the more people who listen to them. There is no band I can think of that is at all like them. Some of my friends have said that the line-up is pretty similar and possibly a younger version of The Pretty Reckless, but the comparisons go out of the window after listening to this awesome track. They are really unique and there is definitely a place on the chart for these guys. If they gain enough popularity, which I can definitely see happening, since music channels like Scuzz and Lava TV are obsessed with playing this music video, then this band will definitely achieve UK success and hopefully worldwide, but let's take one step at a time, right? I first saw this music video on Lava TV (which is now called "Greatest Hits TV", but they still have a show for Lava called: "Lava Showcase" which promotes new songs from bands along with unsigned bands), and had the song stuck in my head. Today, it's been in my head again, the song is so catchy that I'd be surprised if there is someone out there that doesn't get it stuck in their head.

Checking Pulse is a 4-piece electro pop/rock band comprising of Emily Wilson, Adam Hughes, Henry Hopkins and Chris Ridgers. They describe their sound as a mixture of Paramore, You Me At Six, Lady Gaga and Forever the Sickest Kids, which I have to admit is quite a mixture, and definitely suggests they are unique in their music, in my opinion. I can definitely see this band becoming really big, they could be the UK's answer to Paramore, if they get enough popularity, which I'm sure they will sometime soon.

I love this song, it's so catchy as you probably know, and it has just a perfect meaningful story that people can relate to. I really like Emily's voice it is really nice to listen to and I'm definitely going to buy all their singles and CD's as they are soon to be the next big thing (I hope). I like the chorus as well with the rhymes at the end such as "Her make-up is running down her face, so wasted she won't give up the chase", they are simple yet really effective, and I can't stop clicking the repeat button, as I'm loving this song! The song is about this girl called Aimeé, who is best friends with Emily, only Emily has seen behind "all her lies" and behind "her pretty eyes", and has decided to break up the friendship between them.

The music video is perfect, it relates well with the meaning of the song, and although it isn't exact, it doesn't need to be, they show everything they need to and also shows Checking Pulse performing on a stage which shows what they are like live which is always good. According to their website, many people who have seen them have expressed views saying that they are a hell of a lot better live than on the CD, which is such a great comment, and I'm eager to see them live.

On YouTube they have amassed 4,000 hits so far for this music video, which isn't too bad since some bands get less than that. However I hope this number goes way up as they definitely deserve it. Checking Pulse has mentioned that the girl who plays Aimeé is a model, however I really think Emily shines out at you and is prettier than the girl who plays Aimeé, sorry.

The storyline is amazing and is definitely interesting. I like trying to spot where all the band members are, they appear in certain clips in the background, which is fascinating as it shows a true representation of a house-party, that isn't out of control. I like the ending it works fine, but I do think it would have been that little bit better if you saw Aimeé crying at the end, as it would link perfectly with "her make-up is running down her face". However not everything can be perfect, and I also believe I'll be playing this song again and again and again, and I am really looking forward for this band to get success as they clearly deserve it, and they have totally captured me in their perfect essence of music, there is definitely a place for them in music.

Overall, without being biased, I have to give this video this rating, because it's fun to watch, it's well-thought through, I really am obsessed with the song, and everything works out nicely, especially the picture at the end, which explains a lot. I like the band being on stage, they seem very up-lifting and I'm on the look-out for when they tour, so hopefully I can catch them. For those of you who are now interested in this band (and I hope you are) here's the Checking Pulse website: http://www.checkingpulse.com/ and those of you who want the CD, go to the store and order it, which is exactly what I'm going to do now.

Paramore - Decode


Now I have to admit, this is one of Paramore's greatest songs, but then again I think they all are phenomenal. So yes I'm probably being biased, since I saw this band live way back in 2008. Their support acts were Kids In Glass Houses, and New Found Glory, both of which we were unaware of back then. I went with Tink09 and Hollagram Star, two great people, and we had the best time ever. Back in 2008 this song wasn't released so we didn't get to hear them sing this, unfortunately, however there has been many past songs that were amazing, and so it definitely was one of my highlights, and we were standing on tables and everything.
This song was released as the frontal soundtrack of the film Twilight. Hayley Williams really wanted to get involved with this movie, since her band mates had bought her all four books of the Twilight Sega, so she could read them while she was flying. When she finished the books she had already started the lyrics to the song in her head so she felt like she needed to write a song for it's soundtrack. She has been quoted as saying: "Twilight really caught my attention and held it. I'm really excited to see the book adapted to film and excited that our band gets to be a part of the phenomenon. I chose the title "Decode" because the song is about the building tension, awkwardness, anger and confusion between Bella and Edward. Bella's mind is the only one which Edward can't read and I feel like that's a big part of the first book and one of the obstacles for them to overcome. It's one added tension that makes the story even better." She wrote this song with the help of Josh Farro and Taylor York.

Paramore currently consists of Hayley Williams, Taylor York and Jeremy Davis. However back in 2008 the band were a five-piece band who also consisted of the Farro Brothers who are Josh Farro and Zac Farro, who soon became former members in 2010. The brothers decided to split from the band after the release of "Playing God" as it argued with their christian beliefs. Recently, however, they have been quoted as saying many harmful things about Paramore, which has confused a lot of people on what the real reason was behind the split. However Paramore came back with their transformer's hit: "Monster" and has a new single out really soon, which I cannot wait for.

This song failed to do well here in the UK, it managed to get to number 52 which is okay considering it wasn't promoted much here. They managed high success in the US and in Canada and in Australia and New Zealand, with this song. Although this song is amazing and should have done a lot better, how I think their most recent singles make up for what happened with this song. I hope they continue with their success and I can definitely see them ending up being one of many rock band greats, they will be up there along side Aerosmith and Bon Jovi and Queen.

The music video has had a lot of comments, with over 50 million YouTube hits. One of the main comments people have said is that Hayley will make a better Bella than Kristen Stewart does. I think this is a very controversial comment that comes up from time to time,some people like Kristen where as others don't think she is good enough, however the people who created the film obviously though she deserved the role and so I really wish people would stop saying she isn't a good actress, because if that was true then she wouldn't have been casted as Bella.

I like how this music video has a story line, the members of the band are in the twilight forest, they are acting as tracker vampires, during some scenes. I really like Hayley's hair it is dramatic and very noticeable against the dark and sinister woods. I like how some Twilight clips are included within this soundtrack music video, and they kind of go together with the band's clips. I also like the autumn (or fall) leaves that are scattered around the band and the song really connects well with the Forrest around them.

Overall I love this song and so does Tink09 and Hollagram Star. We are obsessed with Paramore, so please expect more and more of their music videos appearing here and there on this blog, and I hope you all agree with the comments I have made, and also my rating. The twilight films are really good, and the reason why Paramore never wrote and recorded any more songs for the new films is because they didn't want to be the Twilight band, which people can understand.

Benny Benassi Featuring Gary Go - Cinema

I haven't heard this song much, I remember it gaining top 20 status in the UK singles chart a few months ago, but I don't think I actually listened to it fully until today. I was flipping (as usual) on the music channels, and there was nothing else on, so I watched this music video and I was just surprised at how catchy the song is, and I've had it in my head all day. But I haven't got a clue what the music video is about, I understand parts of it but I believe it is pretty weird.

Benny Benassi has released loads of singles and albums, and has remixed quite a lot of well known songs. But this is the first time I've heard of him, so I really am interested in exploring his other singles. This song was written by Benny Benassi and Alle Benassi who both appear in this music video, if it's really them. Along with Gary Go who also appears in this music video (he is the first one to sit in the chair). Gary Go is a British singer who has released a few singles back in 2009, but that's about it. This single could possibly help him to do well in the UK chart, or not.

I really like this song, it kind of reminds me of The Saturdays single "All Fired Up", but also I think it's quite similar to Avicii Featuring Sebastien Drums "My Feelings For You". I could so see this song being in all the clubs and I am quite surprised the song only managed to get to number 20, as I think it is quite a cute and interesting song. The lyrics are pretty adorable at times, and I can't stop singing them "you are a cinema, I could watch you forever". The sound behind it is really catchy and very dance-like. You wouldn't expect these lyrics would go with this music but it fits perfectly and this song will definitely be stuck in my head for a while.

As I have previously mentioned, I do not understand this music video, therefore it goes in to my list of music videos I do not understand. At the moment I have only one other music video in that list, which is: Kids In Glass Houses "Matters At All". I'm sure there will be many more appearing in this imaginary list pretty soon, and I really can't wait to see which other music videos confuse me.

I have to admit, I do like the helmet idea and how it is possible that they are watching a part of their past, well that's how I think of it. And that all these girls are people they like and they go to this place so they could watch their girlfriends forever. Even though there is only one girl, she plays different characters. Which I find really interesting. But then I don't get the last part because Benny Benassi's girl walks in with her own card. Does that mean she thinks he is also a cinema and she can watch him forever?

This music video really does confuse me and I've tried lots of different ideas, like, the three guys didn't know who the people they were watching, as if they were dreams, so that would make sense that she surprised them. Maybe these three girls are supposed to be dead and so the only way Benny Benassi, Alle Benassi and Gary Go can remember them is to go to this place and watch them forever, this also would explain the ending. However these are just theories, and there is nothing online that supports any of my ideas, so this music video has definitely totally baffled me.

Overall I really like the song and I can't stop listening to it. However the music video, although has a really great idea and I really do like it, has mystified and puzzled me making me unsure if I like this music video or not. I can't wait to see what other music videos they have released and I hope this is the only one that will puzzle me. I hope you all think my rating is fair, and I'm sorry if people have come on her hoping I have an answer to what this music video means. I'd be interested in your thoughts....
Buy on iTunes

New Release: Box Bottom Featuring Big Babba - Bounce 'N' Boom

I am obsessed with this song, it's definitely Tink09's fault, we went on holiday for a weekend, and because of the Vimto advert we became obsessed and we must have listened to this song about a dozen times, the best part was when we were on this really bouncy road and we had this song on too, if we had known that we could have sent in a video of ourselves to be included in this music video, we definitely would of. Tink09 wants to make sure we're on a bumpy road whenever she hears this song, and if she can't find one she'll just pretend we are.

Box Bottom and Big Babba, are fairly new on the scene and it's interesting to find out that there is only limited information on the Internet. All I can find is Box Bottom's facebook and YouTube pages, aren't that helpful. Anyway, I've been searching as some of the YouTube comments, and from Box Bottom there was a comment saying that Radio 1 has refused to play this song, I am aware this has happened a few times before, such as Same Difference's "Shine On Forever [Photo Frame]". But Box Bottom and Big Babba is closing in on the Top 40 on the UK iTunes Chart, can they succeed in making Radio 1 play this song on Sunday's Official Chart show? I sure hope so.

This song is obviously all about fun and what some young people get up to. For those of you who are unaware for whatever reason "Blackberry's glow in the dark" is about a mobile phone called a blackberry and not the fruit. I also love the bit in the lyrics that goes: "We live, we love, we hate, we cry, we rise, we fall we reach, we try, we live for dub, so feel the rise" I think it definitely represents life in general, people do all of those things, well apart from "live for dub", you might live for pop or dance or rock or you might hate music altogether, but I really don't think you could fit in "music" so they went with dub which is this song's genre sort of, since there are many different variations of dub music.

I have to admit I don't see any other way they could of done this music video. It is very well put together and there are a few cross-references with the song. but there is an occasion when I think some things don't go very well. I really like the bike ramp into the water, and although if that water ever dries up there's bound to be tonnes of bikes left over. I also find it funny when you see that one person who didn't make the ramp and ended up falling over. Occasionally I feel sorry for him because surely he would've hurt himself, but he didn't look hurt so we're allowed to laugh. I also get worried for the ones who hit the water before the bike, what if the bike hit them? Well maybe I'm worrying too much.

I like he ending especially with the blackberry's, they actually "glow in the dark" and "glow in the park". but there are some bits such as the guy with the snake on his shoulders who is miming the song, and I sometimes think it is irrelevant, did they not get better videos from other people? And I'm sorry if that is actually Box Bottom or Big Babba. I do think it's a shame we don't see them, or they aren't pointed out to us, it'll just be nice to see them, at the end of the day it's their music video, why can't they be in it?

I like other video shots, such as the band playing, and the school children singing along. I think the blond girl on the bike is a really good reference to life passing by and trying to live for each moment. I like the party, and I also like the bit with the people in the car because that is definitely me and Tink09 when we're going out, we just wish we could of sent a video of ourselves in.

Overall I really like this music video and this song and even though it has been done before it is still a good idea, and it would have been interesting if we could have viewed all the different videos they received, they must have gotten loads. I have to give a valid rating to be honest, and people, DOWNLOAD this song now, we need it to chart within the top 40!

Linkin Park - In The End

This was possibly the first Linkin Park song I ever heard, and this song definitely was what drew my attention to this band. To be totally honest, with my hands up, I have never ever watched this music video before today. I don't have a clue why; it has never come up on the music channels, or it's either been on when I haven't been watching, or when I'm flipping through. But I have to admit it is quite bizarre. But this song is so amazing that it gets stuck in my head every now and again, and it's all to do with the radio stations playing this song every time I listen to them. And I still don't know the lyrics off by heart yet, which is usually a good thing, because if I knew the lyrics it would never get stuck in my head again, and I really don't like it when that happens.

Linkin Park, as I have recently mentioned a couple of times, are a 6-piece rock band consisting of Chester Bennington (vocals on chorus), Mike Shinoda (vocals on verses), Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Joseph Hahn, and Dave Farrell. I definitely like the way in which this song is sung, and the use of the two lead vocalists, it kind of splits the song up, and kind of suggests that it is real, and I don't really know what it is about it, but it makes the band stand out over many other bands, and they seem to do well when they split the vocals up (well lately they haven't been doing too well here in the UK, compared to the high charter of number 8 this song managed to achieve, but still...) I have to admit many bands have tried this concept, some have done well with it such as Evanescence (who only did it for their first song, but still managed to get a number 1), and some have done poorly such as We Are The In Crowd (although they are a fairly new band so they could still turn it around, hopefully). This song was released as their fourth single from their first studio album: Hybrid Theory, which people believe is their best album they've ever released, but people say that about most bands, because their first studio album is usually raw and fresh and new, and it's quite hard for bands to compete with the popularity of their first album.

As far as I can work out from the lyrics, it suggests a betrayal. It suggests that they trusted someone and to be stabbed in the back instead, and they tried so hard and only "got so far", could suggest that they tried to be with someone and it obviously wasn't working out, "but in the end, it doesn't even matter". It sounds as if they are over the betrayal and are realising that she/he wasn't a good friend in the first place. Don't quote me on that, I could be totally wrong and I'm sorry if I am, but that's what I get out of the song and what I can interpret from it. I'm not sure if it is such a good song to turn into a music video, would there be much you could do to link it? I'm not entirely sure and I have to admit as much as I want to not like the music video because I don't see the connection, I kind of find it enjoyable to watch. I'm blaming the song, it's possessed me into liking the music video.

Starting with Mike Shinoda and his rapping, he is usually seen in a wasteland, where thorny vines are appearing out of the ground and enclosing around him and shattering into dust. And then during the second verse grass and plants are sprouting up around him. When Chester Bennington sings the choruses he is standing on top of a platform with gargoyles on the edges. There is a door behind him which is shaped as a trapezoid (which is the lower half of a triangle). Near the end of the video the sky turns grey and it starts to pour down with rain, and the band still plays on. When the rain stops you are left with the piano playing, which also starts the song. And the camera pans outwards revealing the wasteland where Mike Shinoda was rapping, and it is now a lush Greenland. Also a whale pops up here and there although the significance is not as obvious.

I really like the concept of this video, it is very thought out and extremely imaginable and also out-of-the-box kind of thing. For those of you who haven't worked it out yet, the music video mostly uses CGI animation. The band originally performed this at 2001's Ozzfest tour, and it was also filmed there, then editing came in so that it became the way the band wanted it to be. The wasteland signifies the betrayal, and that it is quite hard and difficult to get over, but the vines and the grass and the plants covers it up, and suggests that "In the end, it doesn't even matter". I like the ending as well when it shows what used to be the wasteland. It kind of suggests that they've started a fresh, or even, they are better off now.

The band decided to let water pipes off during their performance at Ozzfest tour, which is how they managed to show the rain in the music video, and also proves that a hell of a lot of planning was involved. Now onto the whale... The whale appears quite a lot and is quite different. It was Joe Hahn's idea to put it in, although he has yet to reveal why he did it apart from the fact that "it made sense" to him.  The only idea some people have come up with is that the whale could be identified as a "space whale" which takes the concept that life (or time) is too short for one to absorb all its mass surroundings. Which definitely goes alongside the song.

I'm not totally sure what all the statues are for, the only thing I can think of is that they first decided on the wastelands and then thought that the band had to be on top of something because they performed on stage during Ozzfest tour. On top of the statue is a winged soldier this is similar to the front cover of Hybrid Theory.

Overall I really do like this music video, and can now see the similarities with the song, and I have to admit, I think it is a very clever and a very ambitious music video that I could probably watch again and again. Some people may not understand the links at first (like I did), but it doesn't take an expert to see a few of them, and there is probably a lot more behind it than what I have uncovered. I hope you all agree that this music video deserves this rating, and I hope to see more weird and different music videos from this fantastic band.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)