By Max Barsby: CJ Li is a singer/songwriter from Vancouver, Canada. She’s currently unsigned but with over 1,300 subscribers on her Youtube channel, and one album already under her belt, prior to her most recent release, she’s not doing too badly.
Her most recent release is the ten-track Music in My Soul, which is truly a brilliant piece of work, so much so it has got Li interest from major record labels. The most noticeable difference between this album and her previous, What If is Li’s improved vocal performance and that coupled with excellent musicianship and production, create an excellent end result.
The first track on the album is Something Beautiful, previously released as a digital single. It is a brilliant opening to the album, edging you in carefully with a slow start before kicking in. Musically it is brilliant, the best performance coming from bass player Patrick Lee, especially in the second verse.
The second track Serves You Right is one of my favourites. It has a mixture of slow verses and a fast chorus and both bass and guitar are excellent, we also start to see the lyrical capability of Li shine through in this track. The end of this track did trigger memories of the first album of Li’s fellow Canadian singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne, but I’m sure that’s something Li’s heard only too often.
After the first two tracks, track three, Fall But We Flourish is fairly average, but once again the lyrics show Li’s ability and penchant for ballsy in your face pop-rock songs.
If nothing else, track four, Powertrippin’ in Your Underwear has possibly one of the most brilliant song titles I’ve ever come across, purely due to absurdity. This track is a fun song that will immediately catch your ear. Once again the lyrics are brilliant and this will be one of the songs that will definitely get stuck in your head.
Track five is the album title track and token rock album ballad. I have a few problems with this song, aside from of course the double negative at the start: “I don’t need nobody” which always makes me cringe. Firstly the line “There’s always been one thing that I really didn’t know” doesn’t seem to fit in with the verse and Li even has to sing it faster to make it do so. Also though Li’s vocal performance is brilliant in the verses, it really falls down in the chorus. What I really do like about this song is the use of violin and piano, which really do add something to the song’s overall feel. The album contains a Japanese version of this song as bonus track, though I was disappointed to find only the chorus was in Japanese, but perhaps to have the whole song in the language is asking too much of Li’s Japanese ability.
Circus is a crazy, funky song, totally different from anything Li has ever done before. It is somewhat reminiscent of some of the tracks on Lily Allen’s album, It’s Not Me, It’s You and that is by no means a bad thing.
Track seven is Monique’s Song (Your Smile) dedicated to Monique Ishikawa who tragically died at the age of nineteen in a car accident at the Canada/US border in late May 1998. Li was so moved by her story wrote the song in memory of her and was later thrilled to hear that Monique’s father has heard the song and messaged her saying: “This is stunningly good. Wish [she] were around to hear it.” [Quote taken from cjli.net]. The song isn’t a typical tearjerker, ballad memorial song, instead its upbeat and happy focusing on the good bits of Monique’s life and is also one of the best songs on the album.
Track eight is That’s How The Story Goes and is without a doubt the best song on the album. We know Li likes ballsy songs, but this is the heaviest song Li has released and I demand more. The lead guitar on this track in phenomenal and since no single guitarist is mentioned in the CD insert I cannot say who performs it, but I commend them. On top of that, once again Li astounds me with her lyrical ability and on this track she really comes into her own.
Track nine Pizza in Your Belly is the final track aside from the bonus and a fans’ favourite. The song is a complete nonsense song and is another funky track to sit alongside Circus. Once again Patrick Lee’s bass playing is excellent and you can really hear the happiness in Li’s voice as she sings this one.
All in all CJ Li has created a brilliant album and very little bad can be said about it. This young Canadian has a bright future ahead of her and as long as she keeps singing they’ll always be music to put a smile on my face.
A physical copy of Music in My Soul can be bought on CJ Li’s website: www.cjli.net or you can get a digital copy on itunes.
You can follow CJ Li’s escapades on her Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/cjlimusic.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Alex Day – The World is Mine (I Don’t Know Anything) album review
By Max Barsby: Alex Day (20) is a London based Youtube musician and video blogger, known to many by his Youtube username, nerimon. He is signed to indie record label DFTBA Records that was created by Youtube personalities Alan Lastufka and Hank Green, specifically so musicians who received fame through Youtube could distribute albums and merchandise to their fanbase.
Day has already released one album and one three-track EP with DFTBA as well as one album with his band Chameleon Circuit who write songs about the popular British sci-fi show, Doctor Who.
Day’s second album The World Is Mine (I Don’t Know Anything) is noticeably different from his first album Parrot Stories. Many of the tracks in Parrot Stories were acoustically based, while in The World Is Mine many have digital sounds in them, intermixed with piano, guitars, bass and drums. The best track on the album by far is the title track, while the worst is track eight, Stay With Me.
The first track on the album You and Me will instantly strike fans of Parrot Stories as something new. The whole song has a fairytale feel about it, until it picks up later. I would like to point out that I feel that the bass at the start of the song is too overpowering and I don’t understand the ending of the song where the song picks up speed and gets loader before ending abruptly as the next song starts.
The second track on the album is Georgia. Fans will recognise this song from Day’s Youtube channel where he did an acoustic version of the song back in September of 2009. The song is a light-hearted comedic song based around a piece of paper Day found in the street that had written on it ‘Do you want Georgia to leave?’ above two columns marked yes and no and each had several names under each column. Musically the song fits with its theme and is fun and uplifting though after becoming so used to the acoustic version it does seem a little overpowering, but that’s more down to personal taste than anything else.
Heart on my Sleeve is the third track on the album. The verses are very R&B and dance inspired and this fits with the lyrics, for example:
“We say we’re being truthful, but I can’t get near you when I do. I just can’t shake the image of my hands exploring you.”
The chorus on the other hand is totally different and is light-heated and poppy which does contrast with the lyrics somewhat. The song is made up almost entirely of digital sounds, but this fits with the song’s genre. This is one of the strongest songs on the album.
The fourth song is the title track and is by far the strongest song on the album. It starts simply with Day singing and some beautiful piano provided by Day’s fellow Youtuber, friend and producer Tom Milsom, emphasised by some inconspicuous bass. As the song goes on it picks up with at first some slow simple drumming and later guitars and digital sounds. Lyrically this song is absolutely brilliant; it tells an excellent story while incorporating some brilliant rhymes. The chorus too is brilliantly catchy and this song will undoubtedly be the one you’ll still be singing to yourself a week later.
The fifth track on the album, The Time of Your Life was previewed just over a month ago on Day’s Youtube channel, accompanied with a humourous video based around a self-assembly, robotic girlfriend. The music of the song is made up entirely of digital sounds, though this is by no means bad and works well for the song, as along with the clever lyrics it is one of the stronger songs on the album.
The sixth track Living on the Underground, is a song about Day’s clear discomfort about travelling on the London Underground and thus the feelings he expresses in the lyrics will be familiar to anyone who has travelled on it. It cleverly incorporates sounds from The Underground into the beginning and end of the song, but it falls down musically as I feel there is far too much instrumentation.
I heard an exclusive, acoustic version of the seventh track on the album Missing You, when I went to see Alex Day live in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk on the 22nd of May this year and I fell in love with the song then and the album version didn’t disappoint. The song’s music is made up of some beautiful piano and digital sounds, which together create a brilliant tune that really catches your attention. The lyrics are once again clever, though I don’t think Day’s voice is at it’s best in this song.
Track eight Dead and Gone is a solemn track, sang from the point-of-view of an old man presumably singing to his wife, talking about the end of their life and how times have changed. This may seem an odd subject for a twenty-year-old, but it certainly shows Day’s versatility. The song is primarily made up of piano and strings accompanied by a background crackling so it sounds like a record being played on a turntable, linking with the age of the protagonist. All in all it is a brilliant song and a bit of a tearjerker and another one of the better songs on the album.
Track nine Stay With Me is the weakest track on the album. It puts one in mind of a really bad pop song from the 80’s. The music, entirely digital is boring and repetitive while the drums that come in later don’t fit with the rest of the song at all. The lyrics too are boring and basic and Day has proven he can do so much better. This song is listenable as part of the album, but only just.
Not Just Yet, the final track on the album is not one of the strongest, but certainly is interesting. Its an upbeat end to the album and has a surprising Caribbean feel to it, the lyrics though are far from special.
This album is an interesting set of different songs and is very different to Parrot Stories and so is quite surprising. Alex Day is not a great vocalist, but most of the time makes up for this with brilliant lyrics. I feel that although there are some great tracks on this album it is a shame that there is such a great difference in quality between the best track The World Is Mine and the worst; Stay With Me. What I do think is that Alex Day has a great musical future ahead of him and I hope to one day hear his songs on the radio.
The World Is Mine can be listened to in full on Alex Day’s website: www.alexdaymusic.com and you can buy a physical copy of the album on www.dftba.com or you can get a digital copy on itunes or amazon mp3.
Day has already released one album and one three-track EP with DFTBA as well as one album with his band Chameleon Circuit who write songs about the popular British sci-fi show, Doctor Who.
Day’s second album The World Is Mine (I Don’t Know Anything) is noticeably different from his first album Parrot Stories. Many of the tracks in Parrot Stories were acoustically based, while in The World Is Mine many have digital sounds in them, intermixed with piano, guitars, bass and drums. The best track on the album by far is the title track, while the worst is track eight, Stay With Me.
The first track on the album You and Me will instantly strike fans of Parrot Stories as something new. The whole song has a fairytale feel about it, until it picks up later. I would like to point out that I feel that the bass at the start of the song is too overpowering and I don’t understand the ending of the song where the song picks up speed and gets loader before ending abruptly as the next song starts.
The second track on the album is Georgia. Fans will recognise this song from Day’s Youtube channel where he did an acoustic version of the song back in September of 2009. The song is a light-hearted comedic song based around a piece of paper Day found in the street that had written on it ‘Do you want Georgia to leave?’ above two columns marked yes and no and each had several names under each column. Musically the song fits with its theme and is fun and uplifting though after becoming so used to the acoustic version it does seem a little overpowering, but that’s more down to personal taste than anything else.
Heart on my Sleeve is the third track on the album. The verses are very R&B and dance inspired and this fits with the lyrics, for example:
“We say we’re being truthful, but I can’t get near you when I do. I just can’t shake the image of my hands exploring you.”
The chorus on the other hand is totally different and is light-heated and poppy which does contrast with the lyrics somewhat. The song is made up almost entirely of digital sounds, but this fits with the song’s genre. This is one of the strongest songs on the album.
The fourth song is the title track and is by far the strongest song on the album. It starts simply with Day singing and some beautiful piano provided by Day’s fellow Youtuber, friend and producer Tom Milsom, emphasised by some inconspicuous bass. As the song goes on it picks up with at first some slow simple drumming and later guitars and digital sounds. Lyrically this song is absolutely brilliant; it tells an excellent story while incorporating some brilliant rhymes. The chorus too is brilliantly catchy and this song will undoubtedly be the one you’ll still be singing to yourself a week later.
The fifth track on the album, The Time of Your Life was previewed just over a month ago on Day’s Youtube channel, accompanied with a humourous video based around a self-assembly, robotic girlfriend. The music of the song is made up entirely of digital sounds, though this is by no means bad and works well for the song, as along with the clever lyrics it is one of the stronger songs on the album.
The sixth track Living on the Underground, is a song about Day’s clear discomfort about travelling on the London Underground and thus the feelings he expresses in the lyrics will be familiar to anyone who has travelled on it. It cleverly incorporates sounds from The Underground into the beginning and end of the song, but it falls down musically as I feel there is far too much instrumentation.
I heard an exclusive, acoustic version of the seventh track on the album Missing You, when I went to see Alex Day live in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk on the 22nd of May this year and I fell in love with the song then and the album version didn’t disappoint. The song’s music is made up of some beautiful piano and digital sounds, which together create a brilliant tune that really catches your attention. The lyrics are once again clever, though I don’t think Day’s voice is at it’s best in this song.
Track eight Dead and Gone is a solemn track, sang from the point-of-view of an old man presumably singing to his wife, talking about the end of their life and how times have changed. This may seem an odd subject for a twenty-year-old, but it certainly shows Day’s versatility. The song is primarily made up of piano and strings accompanied by a background crackling so it sounds like a record being played on a turntable, linking with the age of the protagonist. All in all it is a brilliant song and a bit of a tearjerker and another one of the better songs on the album.
Track nine Stay With Me is the weakest track on the album. It puts one in mind of a really bad pop song from the 80’s. The music, entirely digital is boring and repetitive while the drums that come in later don’t fit with the rest of the song at all. The lyrics too are boring and basic and Day has proven he can do so much better. This song is listenable as part of the album, but only just.
Not Just Yet, the final track on the album is not one of the strongest, but certainly is interesting. Its an upbeat end to the album and has a surprising Caribbean feel to it, the lyrics though are far from special.
This album is an interesting set of different songs and is very different to Parrot Stories and so is quite surprising. Alex Day is not a great vocalist, but most of the time makes up for this with brilliant lyrics. I feel that although there are some great tracks on this album it is a shame that there is such a great difference in quality between the best track The World Is Mine and the worst; Stay With Me. What I do think is that Alex Day has a great musical future ahead of him and I hope to one day hear his songs on the radio.
The World Is Mine can be listened to in full on Alex Day’s website: www.alexdaymusic.com and you can buy a physical copy of the album on www.dftba.com or you can get a digital copy on itunes or amazon mp3.
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