It's been three years since Fall Out Boy's previous album 'American Beauty/ American Psycho' with 2018 ushering in a new and refreshing sounding new album
'M A  N   I    A'. The feedback from fans has definitely been mixed with a new, more electronic Fall Out Boy sound, which for me works incredibly well.

Artist: Panic! At The Disco   Album Title: Death Of A Bachelor   Genre: Rock Release Date: 15 January 2016   Buy It: iTunes | Amazon

Death Of A Bachelor is Panic! At The Disco's anticipated fifth album - especially as Brendon Urie (vocalist) is the only member of the band remaining. However, don't let that mislead you, the album in it's entirety was written and produced by Brendon himself! Despite this, under the Panic! At The Disco name, Brendon has released another incredible album.

Image Source

Coasts are a rock band, originally from Bristol, that I have been loving for most of last year into this year. The band's eagerly awaited debut self-titled album is due to be released on 22 January 2016, including tracks such as A Rush Of Blood and You.

Artist: Years & Years   Album Title: Communion   Genre: Electronic Release Date: 10 July 2015   Buy It: iTunes Deluxe |  Amazon

Communion is the debut album from electro-pop group Years & Years, released on the 10 July 2015. The band are most well known for their singles King, Desire and Shine, all reaching high places in the charts. I wasn't hooked on the band straight away - I liked their music but I wouldn't actively seek it out to listen to it. Therefore, I wasn't sure what to expect from Communion but nonetheless I was blown away upon release day.

It has been another wonderful year for new music as well as previous albums making a return. For this instalment of 2015 favourites, I will be sharing my favourite albums from throughout the year. Like last year, I found this really difficult but have finally come up with my top six albums from the year. These albums are ones that I have loved throughout the year (or since their release) and therefore albums release in the past few weeks can't fall into this category - I have also decided that the albums chosen do not have to be released this year.

Artist: Sigma   Album Title: Life   Genere: Dance   Release Date: 4 December 2015 Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard   Listen: YouTube Playlist | Spotify | Deezer

Life is the debut album from electronic duo Sigma and an album that I have been looking forward to for months. Unfortunately for me, the album fell short of my expectations leaving me slightly disappointed - I do like the album but I don't love it. Life shows many different sides to the duo's sound including more melodic tracks such as Life contrasted with more full on drum and bass ones such as Lighters.
I particularly like Life because of its melodic sound, making it the calmest track on the album. Despite being calm, there is still a slight build up to heard despite there never actually being a drop. This left me slightly disappointed because I really liked how the track was being set up and yet there was nothing that followed. Having said that, I really like the vocal (Bartoven) and found that it worked well with the slower pace of Life and therefore meant that the song was often in my head.
A track that I thoroughly like is The Reason, featuring the vocal of Nicole Jackson. The track hits it off straight away and maintains the pace throughout most of the song, slowing briefly in the verses to enable the build up to the chorus to be set up again. The Reason captures the drum and bass element that I originally loved from Sigma as well of reminding me of other drum and bass songs I used to listen to.
Another favourite track off the album is Broken Promises featuring the vocal of Maverick Sabre - an artist I like anyway. Similar to The Reason, Broken Promises embodies the drum and bass sound that I love from the duo. However, there is a brief section of the song I'm not keen on but is outweighed by how much I like the rest of the song.
Overall, I do like Sigma's album but I found it a bit of a let down to what I had been expecting from previous releases and their live shows. Having said that, there are tracks on Life that I do like such as a The Reason and Good Times (featuring Ella Eyre, track I have mentioned before) but many of the tracks lack for me or I eventually find them quite repetitive. As always, this is only my opinion and you may completely disagree so please do listen to the album yourself to make up your own mind!

Artist: Ellie Goulding   Album Title: Delirium   Genre: Pop   Release Date: 6 November 2015   Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard

Delirium is the eagerly awaited third album from British pop princess Ellie Goulding. The album includes the single On My Mind as well Outside, a collaboration with Calvin Harris on the deluxe version of the album (although also released on Calvin's album, Motion). The album shows Ellie's growth as an artist and therefore is fairly different to her previous album Halcyon Days - often the change in sound works, others not so much. I particularly like the introduction to the album using a sort of operatic tone to set the album, similar to Halcyon Days, before flowing into the first track on Delirium - Aftertaste. Aftertaste kicks up the tempo from the slow introduction into a much more upbeat and ultimately uplifting track - a theme throughout most of the album.
Something In The Way You Move is the first track on the album which falls into my favourite tracks. I think it's really catchy and makes you want to move around - that sums up everything I love about it.
Following on is my next favourite, Keep On Dancin'. It opens with quite a distorted sounding sample as well as quite calm and to a certain extent possibly seen as a bit eerie. The track then begins to build up before the climax and change of pace for the chorus - this momentum is then carried throughout the rest of the song. There is a brief section in the bridge in which the track slows again before returning once again to the faster pace that the listener has become used to.
Codes is possibly my favourite of the tracks on Delirium because it follows the upbeat, catchy and feel good theme throughout. I also particularly love the lyrics which add to the catchiness but also are relatable to lot of people when it comes to relationships and possibly even can be applied to friendships. I think Codes is the most upbeat track off the entire album - even when it slows from its usual speed, it's still quite upbeat.
Other tracks I particularly like on Delirium are; Holding On For Life and The Greatest.
Tracks that I'm not so keen on are; Around U, Don't Panic and I Do What I Love. I find these three tracks quite repetitive and therefore more annoying than any of the tracks. I Do What I Love is a track I definitely do not love, vocally and production wise it sounds so different and therefore doesn't work for me.
Overall, I really like Delirium but some tracks really let it down for me.

For this edition of themed playlists, I have decided to put one together of artists to watch (formally known as the up and coming artist series). The playlist includes artists that I have previously mentioned since running the series as well as others that I am yet to write about.
Spotify links are below.


If the embedded version of the Spotify is not working, click here.

Image Source

Anne-Marie is probably most known at the minute for being on the singers that tour with Rudimental. However now she is on her way to creating her own music career away from Rudimental. She features on many of the tracks on Rudimental's second album We The Generation as well as Wretch 32's latest single Alright With Me.
Anne-Marie released her debut EP Karate in the summer of 2015, including tracks Karate, Gemini and Stole. Since she has released Do It Right and more recently, Boy. Her debut album is in the works through Rudimental's label, Major Toms.



I have be fortunate enough to see Anne-Marie perform live with Rudimental at last years V Festival in which she maintained the high amount of energy that previous Rudimental artists have bought such as Becky Hill, Ella Eyre and Sinead Harnett. I definitely think that Anne-Marie is going to be one to watch in the next few months and years to see how see attacks the music world through her own music.
On a final note, I want to mention All That Love - my favourite track from We The Generation that Anne-Marie featured in. To read more about that, click here.

Artist: Rudimental   Album Title: We The Generation   Genre: Dance    Release Date: 2 October 2015   Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard | Amazon

We The Generation is the all important second album from Rudimental. For their second album, Rudimental have clearly tried to experiment with different sounds to develop themselves, something that I can say that I think they have done effectively. Despite the experimentation with new sounds, certain tracks still have the presence of the old sound with the beats and all important trumpet. I'd say the new sound is much lighter than the previous and as an album as a whole tries to capture the goodness of life.
The tracks feature the new artists that Rudimental have taken under their wing such as Anne-Marie and Will Heard as well returning artists like Ella Eyre, Sinead Harnett and MNEK. I love many of the tracks on the album with two or three that I'm not so keen on but for an album of 18 tracks, I'd say that is not bad at all!
Excluding the singles as I usually do, my favourite tracks from the deluxe edition of We The Generation as All That Love (ft Anne-Marie), Run (ft Will Heard) and Too Cool (ft Ella Eyre). These are all tracks that are in the later part of the album - only Too Cool being available on the standard edition.
All That Love is, in comparison to other tracks on the album, quite chilled out in that it is much slower with a much deeper sound. The opening section of the track uses a beautiful strings section which I thinks sets up the track so well. This enables Anne-Marie's voice to really shown, especially in the verses, as well as allowing the listener to pay even closer attention to the lyrics of the song.
Run on the other hand, is a lot more upbeat and energetic - clearly noticeable in the chorus. This is an obvious contrast to the verses which are much slower and what I'd call more performance based - hopefully you'll see what I mean when listening to it! The verses provide an anticipated build up to the chorus before once again returning afterwards to its original pace. This track might not be as popular as others, I know it took me a few listens to really pay attention to it before Run got stuck in my head for days on end, but please give it a chance!
Other tracks that I want to mention that are singles from the album are Love Ain't Just A Word, Rumour Mill and I Will For Love.
Overall, I'd say that We The Generation has definitely enabled Rudimental to progress their sound at a great level but still capturing the old sound. Although every track isn't for me, a great majority are loved and therefore the few that I'm not keen on. I'd highly recommend We The Generation as it is such a feel good and dance album!

Artist: Bring Me The Horizon   Album Title: That's The Spirit   Genre: Rock    Release Date: 11 September 2015   Buy It: iTunes | Amazon

There has been an awful lot of hype surrounding the eagerly awaited new album from Bring Me The Horizon. Ever since I first heard the new sound they were trying to capture I have been on board, making this album even more anticipated for me. It's fair to say that it didn't disappoint, resulting in That's The Spirit becoming the first album I have ever given a ten out of ten to!
Doomed kicks off the album giving the listener a slight taste of what it to follow in the next ten tracks before kicking the album off in full swing with Happy Song. This is followed by the tracks that we have already heard including Throne and True Friends.
In my eyes, the album is split into three different sections depending on the different tracks and what style they are in. Doomed to True Friends provide the first section before a calmer Follow You provides a brief respite for the listener. This is then followed with What You Need, Avalanche and Run which provide the next three tracks in this section. The second section is my favourite on the album because it has my two favourite tracks on the album - What You Need and Avalanche.
What You Need begins much calmer and softer in comparison to the chorus which is much more hard hitting to carry on the momentum of the opening tracks. The chorus consists of the raw sound with layers of guitars and drums to give it the full desired impact. This then carries on into the next track which is Avalanche.
Avalanche gets into full swing straight away, hooking the listener in straight away before slowing down slightly to allow Oli's vocal to be heard much better. However, the choruses are the only sections in which the track slows. Avalanche is also the track which has my favourite line of the album in; I need a cure for me 'cause the square doesn't fit the circle.
Another track I haven't mentioned that I particularly like is Blasphemy. Likewise to Avalanche, Blasphemy kicks in straight away, slows at the chorus and has lyrics that I particularly like.
To finalise, I think that That's The Spirit is a great step up from Sempiternal and will go down in Bring Me The Horizon history as one of their best albums.

Artist: Don Broco   Album Title: Automatic   Genre: Rock   Release Date: 7 August 2015 Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | Amazon

Automatic is the eagerly awaited second album from Don Broco and one that I have been very excited to listen to after hearing the band's first album, Priorities. The album shows a large development in Don Broco's sound in comparison to their debut - Automatic displays a much larger range of styles throughout the entire album. Because of this, I can say that I much prefer Automatic to Priorities as there is always something different in every track whilst still capturing the rock essence.
My favourite tracks on the album are Tough On You and Fire.
One of the main things I love about Tough On You is the contrast between the verses and the chorus. The verses of the track are much calmer whereas the chorus captures the raw and layered sound that I talk about so often and that I love an awful lot. I also love the lyrics, once again especially in the chorus. I do like the verses as they add more to the story in terms of lyrics but overall I much prefer the chorus.
Fire on the other hand has the raw sound from the very moment that the track begins. Likewise to Tough On You, I prefer the chorus to the verse simply because I find it so easy to sing along as well as it putting me in a good mood afterwards. I can also see this track being incredible live with the crowd shouting the lyrics back at the band.
I also found that all of the tracks on the album flow really well together making Automatic a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I would highly recommend Automatic as I love it ever since its release!

Artist: Jamie xx
Album Title: In Colour
Release Date: 29 May 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 11
Tracks Deluxe: -
Buy It:
Amazon
iTunes

Jamie xx and The xx are musicians that I would never imagine myself listening to but I find them strangely captivating because they are like nothing else I have ever listened to or come across. Their music is often quite chilled out but has very prominent beats throughout the songs giving it a lot of punch and therefore manages to keep me interested. Normally with chilled out music I can get bored easily because there isn't much going on for me to listen to.
I first came across Jamie xx on Radio 1 simply because I couldn't decide what I wanted to listen to and was being lazy about it. Loud Places ft Romy was then played on the radio and I loved it immediately - I featured it in my May 2015 Music Favourites. The album itself starts with the chilled out tracks you would expect from Jamie xx. This provides such an easy listen and be used at any time whether that be revision, trying to sleep or just trying to relax.
I would say my favourite tracks on the album are the ones that feature the vocal of Romy - there is something about her voice that adds so much to the track and really gives out a chilled feeling. These tracks are Loud Places and SeeSaw.
Loud Places I have mentioned before and despite being a single I love it still! (I like to pick songs that aren't released as singles to get a better idea of the album.) I really like that the tracks features everyday sounding samples and in a way makes the track seem more casual like you could hear it while you were walking about with traffic going by - that is what I can imagine from it. As I have mentioned earlier, the tracks have strong beats throughout which add a lot of depth to the sound and therefore keeps me captivated.
On the other hand, the vocal in SeeSaw isn't as prominent as it is in Loud Places. This is because the beats in this track are much louder and therefore take the forefront of it. Obviously the vocal can be heard throughout but it isn't used as much as in Loud Places. For this reason, I also think that SeeSaw is more chilled out then Loud Places because there isn't as much to focus on and the listener isn't distracted by the vocal as much meaning that they won't be singing along.
Something I didn't like about the album is the track I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times). This is the only track on the album that swears and the only one that is completely different to the others. Under normal circumstances I think I would have liked a shake up but I got so used to the tone of the album that when I heard this track it completely shook me up.
A final thing I want to mention is that although 90% of the tracks are chilled out, they sound nothing like each other - they may have similar tones and layout but sound so different and that is what keeps it interesting.

Artist: Alesso
Album Title: Forever
Release Date: 25 May 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 14
Tracks Deluxe: 17
Buy It: 
iTunes Standard
iTunes Deluxe

Forever is an album that I am struggling to review honestly as I have quite a lot of conflicting feelings towards it. For me, the album starts off slowly with the only new material the audience hearing being two introduction tracks which admittedly didn't get me hooked straight away. The album then follow with Heroes, Tear The Roof Up and Cool - all songs that the audience has already heard before and unless the listener particularly loves those songs, can loose interest in the album quite quickly. Saying all that, Forever does redeem itself when the new music is played - from Cool onwards. The tracks that I hadn't heard before impressed me more and enabled me to continue listening to the album with some interest.
A particular favourite of mine on the album was Sweet Escape which I mentioned in my May 2015 Music Favourites: Part Two. As I said in that review, I love the combination of instruments used to create a different sound to something I would expect from Alesso or to what I usually listen to. The meaning behind the song I also find beautiful! It about being free to do what you want with nothing to get in the way; Nothing can stop us now. I really like songs that have the concept as I find them really empowering and give me the motivation I can quite often need to just do what I want and not worry about other people.
Another track I like on the album is In My Blood*. This track always makes me want to dance and just have a good time as I feel like it would be such a good song in aa DJ set. In My Blood features many different layers of sounds which I have always said ends up being the tracks I love the most simply because it has so much variation. The track stands out even more because it is much more upbeat than  the track previous and following - it also has the ability to get stuck in your head. One thing I would say about In My Blood is that I feel like the drop could have been done a bit better - the sound of it becomes very distorted to the rest of the track and I'm not sure if I like that. Saying that, it does make that particular section of the song stand out even more.
Overall, I think that the album takes a while to get going but once is does it sounds great!

*At the time of writing this there were no uploads of the track that were suitable to link.

Artist: Madeon
Album Title: Adventure
Release Date: 30 March 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 12
Track Deluxe: 18
Buy It: 
Amazon - Standard
Amazon - Deluxe
iTunes - Standard
iTunes - Deluxe

Madeon is an artist that I remember listening to when I was younger and was one the first dance artists that I particularly liked. His debut album Adventure captures everything I love about his music providing, for me, such a happy sounding album that never fails to put me in a good mood and make me want to dance along with it. The album is very different to anything I usually listen to providing me with a well needed change.
My current favourite tracks on the album are Pay No Mind and Finale - however it is constantly changing.
Pay No Mind features The Passion Pit who are a band that I found myself listening to and enjoying more recently. The track follows on with the idea of a happy album as this track just makes me want to dance even if I'm sitting down. If you're not one to dance then the vocal is also incredible to sing along to - particularly the chorus. Pay No Mind is very upbeat which may sound obvious but is nothing like I have heard before making it stand out even more. The beat is also very prominent throughout the entire track which I think adds to it even more.
Finale features the vocals of Nicholas Petricca who I have not heard of before but who I feel did a very good job on the track. I also really like the vocals in this track and how they fit with each point in the music - you will understand what I mean if you listen to the track. Finale also features many different sections. By this I mean it starts very upbeat with lots of kicks from the drums before slowing down to enable the vocal section to take place. This is repeated twice in the track to provide variation throughout and to provide a sufficient ending to a very upbeat song.
As a whole I really like this album however there are a few songs that I'm not so keen on. For example, OK and La Lune. I don't think Madeon did anything wrong with these songs, there are just songs that I prefer so much more.

Background Image

For this instalment of Up and Coming Artists I am going to be talking to you about Tori Kelly, and American singer songwriter. She may be most well known in the UK for her collaboration with Professor Green on a track called Lullaby. She has also toured with Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. Tori is an artist that I have been following for nearly a year now and is someone I have found to be very genuine with her music. On her track Nobody Love, her vocal sounds as good during an acoustic session as it does on the record. I particularly like artists that I are very honest when recording and therefore sound similar live.
The video below is a performance of Nobody Love for Vevo Dscvr.


I'll admit that I was surprised to like her music because her voice is very good in that, I think, it sounds so good that it's not individual. Now to you that might not make a lot of sense but generally I like artists that have a kink in their voice may that makes them stand out even more to me - that's why I really love Ella Eyre's voice and are not so keen on Ariana Grande's.
However, there was something about Tori Kelly that made me abandon that tradition that I stand by and invest my time looking into her music and I highly recommend that you do the same!

Tori's album is currently up for pre-order in the US and Australia.