My new favourite artists/bands

Now that it is coming to the end of the year 2017, I am aware of which bands and artists have grown into my favourites over the year.  There has been a mixture of genres I have become a lot more aware of due to the positive influence of many different characters around me encouraging me to listen to new, more underground styles of music. 

All of the people in my life have varied music tastes meaning that each year I have more and more influences.   I delved deeper into genres this year such as emo (and emo rap), rock, indie, blues, alternative R&/B/Hip Hop and even Tropical House just from being around fans of the genres and catching on to their interest.

The first band I became a new fan of this year/end of last year is Wolf Alice...

Wolf Alice are a four-piece Australian alternative rock band who bring a completely new sound to the music scene.  Lead singer Ellie Rowsell has become a huge musical inspiration to me personally because her vocals at times are calming and pretty, yet she can switch into a whiney screaming tone that displays her power in the songs as a female vocalist as well as excellent versatility.  This year Wolf Alice were nominated 'best British band' by NME and this hardly surprised me as the originality of both of their albums so far has become very apparent among indie music fans.  Wolf Alice have a mixture of songs, some tell stories with musical influences from artists like the XX and Kitty Empire, whereas some are exciting rock ballads that demonstrate heavy influences from 90's grunge and even folk.  I saw them live earlier in the year at Reading festival and it is safe to say they are even better live.  They put on a real show and sounded identical to their tracks. I could tell a lot of people in the crowd, similarly to me were specifically excited about Wolf Alice being at the festival as most of the crowd enjoyed moshing and jumping up and down to the hard hitting Wolf Alice instrumentals.  The more they played, the more people they attracted into the tent and the crowd grew throughout as people walking nearby could tell this band were a big thing based on crowd reaction.  Some of my personal favourite tracks by them are; Yuk Foo, Don't delete the kisses, Moaning Lisa smile, Bros and You're a germ.

Wolf Alice's music

The second band that I have only properly discovered this year is emo rock band Brand New.  This band have been a big name in the rock music scene for quite some time but I was only made aware of them by a friend earlier this year.  The band have 8 albums so far, some of which are released demo albums but the main three favourites of mine are 'Daisy', 'the Devil and God are raging inside me' and 'Deja Entendu.'  Coincidentally, these three albums are the band's most popular ones, mainly because they have the most striking songs lyrically and instrumentally.  Some of Brand New's songs tell stories of great tragedies and struggles in their own lives.  Some of the lyrics are hard-hitting and it is fair to say that some songs are not for the faint-hearted.  Brand New have become my favourite band this year because I relate to so many of their songs in many ways, and they inspire my own melody writing more than any other musical artist this year.  Their main genre influences are grunge, blues, folk and rock, and some of their bridges are the best you've ever heard in songs (if you like rock music.)the album



The third artist that I have become a huge fan of this year is well known alternative artist Florence and The Machine, in particular her newest album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.  Since I was very young I have loved Florence's music, but it was only this year that I looked into her album tracks.  Her newest album is so whimsical, haunted and soulful and I LOVE it.  Each song on the deluxe album is very different in many ways however you do tend to hear the typical Florence and the
Machine style production  (heavy majestic drums, soprano choirs and complicated song structure) in each song to give it that signature sound.
The album looks into themes such as love, witchcraft and longing.
My newer favourite songs of Florence's include;

-Make Up Your Mind

- Various Storms and Saints

-Long and lost

-Which Witch

Another artist I feel I definitely need to mention is Banks, the female alternative R&B artist who released one of my now favourite albums 'The Altar.'  Banks can be compared to artists such as Lady Gaga and Sia but also ones like Lorde and Rihannah.  She has an amazing vibrato tone to her voice that almost makes all of her songs addictive.  I was completely struck when I heard the album's single 'Trainwreck' on Radio 1 for the first time.  This song is my favourite song and will probably be my most streamed on spotify this year.  It is full of empowerment, haunting sounds, electronics, suspensful basslines and cinematic production.  There are many vocal layers in this song which is probably one of the main reasons it is so powerful, but Banks showed a completely new side to her voice in this song, the angry and sultry vocal on this track massively differentiates from her original innocent and pretty storytelling vocals on album 'Goddess' in tracks like 'Someone new.'  The altar was written based on Banks' previous experience of an abusive relationship that she is now out of and more empowered than ever.  I loved that!  A demonstrating track would be 'Change', another great song that tells a story with imitation lyrics about emotional manipulation from her previous male partner... 

"You would say I need attention just because I put on makeup to ironically look good for you"- bringing up a difficult memory of hers when her ex-partner clearly challenged her for wearing makeup because he felt his masculine power in the relationship was threatened.

"You'd say baby don't go I didnt know i'll change I swear I'll change I swear"- imitating someone who has hurt her begging her forgiveness on a regular basis and not actually going anywhere with it.

"You say it aint your fault because you had an emotionally abusive dad"- telling more of the story, showing that her ex used excuses from his personal life in order to feel justified in order to emotianlly abuse her.  The album






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