The Evan Whitton Blog: After Hours

Corey Taylor - CMF2 - The Singles, Reviewed Corey Taylor is one of the best known frontmen in modern metal, fronting not only nu-metal juggernauts Slipknot for over 25 years, but also alternative metal band Stone Sour. In both he displayed himself to be a very skilled vocalist, solid lyricist and pretty good songwriter, so the shift to solo material seemed inevitable. However, despite not liking, and in fact pretty much hating his debut ‘CMFT’ in 2020, although perhaps being a little harsh in retrospect, upon announcement of it’s follow up ‘CMF2’, set for release on September 15th, I still went into the singles optimistic at the prospect of improvement, so let’s see. Post Traumatic Blues What this track seems to put across quite well is Corey taking perhaps a more classically “rock” song, but giving it a heavy metal sense of aggression and speed. The nearly 35 second long intro was maybe unnecessary and it could’ve probably just started with the drums, which themselves have a really co...

The Chemical Brothers - For That Beautiful Feeling - The Singles, Reviewed Starting out in 1989 as The Dust Brothers before rebranding in 1995, The Chemical Brothers are one of the biggest and best loved names in the big beat scene, along with other artists like The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and Apollo 440. While maybe not my personal favourite in the genre, they certainly are a great introduction, combining expectantly huge, thumping, danceable beats, catchy melodies and eclectic samples to great effect, with the hits like ‘Block Rockin Beats’, ‘Hey Girl, Hey Boy’ and ‘Galvanise’ to show for it. Now, 4 years after their well received ‘No Geography’ album, Ed and Tom are back with their brand new record ‘For That Beautiful Feeling’, releasing on 8th September. So let’s get sunk into these singles, shall we? Live Again (Ft. Halo Maud) Starting out with a muffled, funky, Daft Punk style beat and odd, soulful vocal chops, quickly you start to hear the washes of anthemic, psychedelic synths sl...

Willie J Healey - Bunny - The Singles, Reviewed Willie J Healey honestly isn’t someone I paid a huge amount of attention to up until fairly recently. When his album ‘Twin Heavy’ came out in August 2020, it was getting a lot of very good reviews from people I know, but I wasn’t really to interested, mainly because it’s apparent “retro rock” sound kind of put me in mind of a lot of really naff, corny rock revival bands like Greta Van Fleet, or maybe Arctic Monkeys more recently playing about with glam, and so I decided to keep my distance. However, after finally giving it a listen last year, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Willie does indeed play with a fair few retro guitar pop and glam-rock influences, his sound being fairly described as, shall we say, quite Beatles-y, but with a liveliness and a sense of happiness and fun that was basically absent with his contemporaries, and so since then, he’s stayed on my radar. So now, three years on, Willie is set to release his new album ‘Bunny...

Night Drive - Position II - The Singles, Reviewed Night Drive are a duo that only came to my attention fairly recently. While trying to put together a playlist for my Youtube series ‘The Not-So-Forensic Records Society’, one of their tracks showed up in the recommendations, and after listening I was instantly hooked. They operate within the fairly popular retro avenue of synthwave, but there’s much more than pointless nostalgia at play here, as they offer up moody, nocturnal washes of bass and synthesisers over danceable beats, supplemented by a dramatic sometimes downtrodden, highly catchy vocal presence. But since their debut album in 2017, aside from a few standalone singles, it’s been a little quiet on the musical front. Now though, they’ve re-emerged as a trio, with a brand new EP: a follow up to their debut release called ‘Position II’, coming out on August 4th. So, let’s get stuck into these singles. Summerwaves Now this is the Night Drive we all know and love. Starting out with...

Post Malone -  Austin - The Singles, Reviewed Post Malone is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in modern popular music. After bursting onto the rap scene with his 2016 ‘White Iverson’ single, and later his 2017 album ‘Stoney’, he quickly gained an audience with his unique mix of styles, combining elements of pop-rap with flourishes of country guitar, alongside heartbroken and braggadocious lyrics, but still with an ear and indeed voice for an irresistible pop hook. He went onto develop this further with what many, including myself, may consider to be his best album: ‘beerbongs and bentleys’ in 2018. It wasn’t a perfect record by any means, but showed his pre-established skills amplified to very high levels indeed, with a fair few hit singles along with it. Following that though, while I enjoyed a few tracks from 2019’s ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’, there were also a fair few that just didn’t interest me, a problem that worsened with ‘12 Carat Toothache’ two years later. Now though, it...

Billy Nomates 'CACTI UK Tour' Review at Leeds Stylus - Alt-Pop Songstress is One of the Most Compelling Performers in Modern Music Tor Maries AKA  Billy Nomates is easily one of my favourite artists of the past three years. Originally emerging out of the post-punk revival scene of the late 2010’s, and releasing her brilliant self titled album in August 2020, she soon made the full fledged transition into hard edged alternative pop with the great ‘Emergency Telephone’ EP the following year. Most recently, she released the album CACTI in January, without doubt her most accessible release, and all the more brilliant because of it. Although saying that, the sense of abrasive punk spikiness was still present in full force, and it’s that contrast that makes her music so interesting, on top of being a brilliant performer, vocalist, and songwriter to boot. So, given how I enjoyed the album so much, as well as how great her previous tours have been, I just had to get tickets to her new ...

Tim Vine - 'Breeeep!' Review at  King's Hall, Ilkley - New Show Sees the Dad Joke King as Daft as Ever, and Happy to Revisit the Hits Tim Vine could very much be framed as a comedian calling back to a bygone era. His repertoire of rapid-fire puns, stupid songs and daft homemade props feels like somewhat of a callback to the old-school variety performers. That's not to say that Tim is simply a novelty act though, as the pure unadulterated sense of silliness he purveys is something I think only he (and perhaps his good friend Milton Jones) could carry off. So because he was one of the first comedians I ever got into, I've been a big fan of Tim for a long time, owning nearly all of his DVDs, but despite that, I'd never seen him live. So when I learned some tickets were going spare for his new show 'Breeeep!' at the King's Hall that evening, I couldn't have said yes faster. When we got there, while not an important point, I did think it was funny tha...