Album of the Week: Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby

Y'all probably thought I'm dead or something, but I just had a few crazy months. I really hope that I'm back on track now, so maybe I'll finally get to catch up on all the reviews. The records are literally piling up on my desk, it's ridiculous.

The first album I'd like to discuss today is Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez. It was released on August 14th and features 16 songs. The title of each song refers to something you definitely know from your childhood, e.g. Sippy Cup or Play Date or Teddy Bear. However, the themes aren't really about childhoods, but rather about problems you face as an adult.
Song number one immediately names the album and talks about the struggle of keeping friends while dealing with inner struggles. Do you know what it feels like to see one person after the other leave you? Maybe you're different than them for whatever reason, they don't understand your mindset, but you tell yourself it's not you it's them. Maybe you cry a lot and they see it as some sort of weakness when it's not, sometimes "your heart's too big for your body, it's where your feelings hide. They're pouring out where everyone can see." None of that matters though because sooner or later you'll find someone who looks at you and will see themselves because no matter how different you think you are, there's always someone who will understand.
This album is fucking real, excuse my language, but it's true. Dollhouse is only the second song, but it talks about the picture perfect family which is a damn mess behind the curtains. All of us know this one family that looks totally perfect on the outside, but none of us know what happens inside their four walls. We don't see the cheating husband or the son who's addicted to drugs. the mother who drinks, we don't see how desperately this family tries to hold everything together for the sake of not showing what's really going on. So next time you want to talk bad about that family, think of that they could possibly have to deal with.
Melanie goes on wrapping real lyrics into a relaxed tune, but don't let yourself just enjoy the sound - pay attention to these lyrics because they're extremely important and will definitely make you think.
Carousel is about love that doesn't work. She clearly says that "it's all fun and games until somebody falls in love" because that's when things become complicated, sometimes they even turn into a freak show. If it's unrequited love you spend way too much time chasing the person and it's like a fairytale because it's not real. 
Personally, I find Soap pretty interesting because Melanie uses a bath tub as a metaphor for herself and her actions: never say too much because otherwise the tub overflows (like her emotions?), and again it's about love  but this time it kills you because you "threw a toaster in the bathtub."
Training Wheels is for those of us who always want to be safe, the ones who always go the safe way. No risks, no crazy things. If you use your training wheels all your life, you'll never know how much you would have been capable of without them, you see? So take them off, listen to this song and let them go because someone will always be around and carrying band-aids in case you fall and hurt your skin.
Pity Party is one that hit me on a personal level because I'm the kind of person who tries not to drown in self-pity no matter what. In fact, I'm the kind of person who rather bottles my emotions up until I explode. This song is an anthem for people who embrace their sadness and throw a pity party for themselves - when the party is over, they move on. 
Tag, You're It deals with the topic of sexual assault, and through this song the atmosphere of the album changes. What used to sound like cotton candy tastes, is now dark and creepy - the experiences shaped the protagonist (let's just call them that) in a form that they do not care about boundaries or pretty much anything anymore, for example Pacify Her is about ruining someone's relationship because "You don’t love her, stop lying with those words."
Mrs. Potato Head covers the issue of unrealistic beauty standards of today's society. I'm sure you're all aware of the mentality that you only live a fulfilling life if you wear a certain size and your face looks a certain way because "no one will love you if you're unattractive" 
Remember how the protagonist was chasing their love in Carousel? Well, they gave that up pretty quickly: In Play Date there's a line that goes like this: "I'm tired of always chasing, chasing after you. I don't give a fuck about you anyways, whoever said I gave a shit about you?" You can now see the development I was referring to.
Teddy Bear picks up the subject of domestic violence: in many cases, the relationship is all great and lovely and the partner is like a teddy bear until they change into this aggressive person - "You were comforting and quiet, how did love become so violent?"
Most victims can't do anything about their situation because they're paralyzed and don't know what to do. However, if they find the courage to kick their partner out the way the protagonist of this song does, the violence doesn't stop. It shows up through phone calls and stalking and physological terror. 

All in all, Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez is an album everybody should listen to no matter what genre you usually like. This review focused mainly on lyrics, but as you can see the lyrics of this album are extremely important and socially aware which is rather rare these days. Melanie is a damn talented songwriter, singer and her music is absolutely honest. There's no sugarcoating of anything that goes wrong in our society - this woman keeps things real, so I feel like it's my duty to force everyone I know to listen to this album and to give this woman all the support. 

Concert Review: 5 Seconds of Summer at Olympiahalle Munich, Germany

Honestly y'all, I've been dealing with the worst post concert depression ever but I feel like I got this now.

Our first challenge of the day was finding the venue, and believe me it was not an easy one. We also had to be at the venue at 5.45pm for the M&G, so we were kinda very stressed about not making it in time. However, after asking a bunch of really nice security people we found the right entrance and were totally ready to meet the boys. They weren't ready until 45 minutes later, so you can imagine how nervous everyone around me was (to be fair, I really pulled myself together to remain calm). When it was finally time, we were guided downstairs aka backstage, where they made us line up in pairs of two, so we wouldn't lose too much time. After a couple more minutes, the boys finally walked in; unfortunately there wasn't much time at all, so all we could do was say hi and hug, take a picture and leave again. I'm still sad about that yes because I genuinely believe that these four boys are really nice, especially Michael. He made sure that all of us were okay and he tried to have conversations as much as the lack of time let him, so that was neat (I was way too stressed to say anything apart from hi, I didn't even declare my undying love for him can you believe). Long story short: as soon as the M&G started it was over and we had to head inside the venue. 

We had tickets for the front, and I was really surprised about how relaxed the crowd around me was. Nobody wanted to push their way to the front because all of us had more than enough space to move, it was lovely. We actually stood in the fifth row, so the view to the stage was amazing. 
Before they were associated with 5sos, I've never heard anything about Hey Violet, so I had zero expectations which is always a good thing. Their set was short of course, but they quickly managed to heat up the crowd, to get everybody to dance and sing along. I actually like their sound, it was fun to listen to them and watch them perform, and they really killed their cover of Blank Space, I was impressed. So yes, if you have any prejudice towards them, do yourself a favour and leave it at the doors so you won't miss out on a great performance.
It didn't take the 5sos crew too long to rearrange the stage, so soon after Hey Violet, the boys finally entered the stage. They opened their set with End Up Here which is one of their strongest songs I believe, and the crowd went wild immediately. Up next was Out of my Limit which is the song that made me fall for them in the first place, so you can imagine how happy I was to hear it live. They put a new song on the list as well: Permanent Vacation. Honestly I've only heard it like twice and it goes so hard. Straight into your ear and most likely straight into your heart because the vocals are on point and so are the lyrics. It's really fascinating how they nail basically all of their songs lyrics wise. Anyway, before they play the song they ask the crowd for a little help: Michael's side is responsible for the nana part, Luke's group for the clapping and Calum's side does the hey hey. I was on Calum's side and it sounded like Mikey's side let him down a little but I guess all of us were just too busy enjoying the song itself. Also if the whole album will be as strong as this song God will hopefully have mercy on all of us.
The next song that really got to me was Long Way Home. Luke's intro was the most beautiful thing because basically the crowd sang and I get chills only thinking about it. This band is really connected to the crowd in a way I haven't experienced it before.
After getting somebody on stage before Rejects and playing Heartache on the big Screen, they gave us a little break by playing a few slower songs. 
I was so unbelievably emotional during Wrapped Around Your Finger mainly because Michael sings so much in it but also because the whole venue became very emotional. This song just makes my heart ache a lot it's so beautiful. However, they weren't done with making me sad yet: Amnesia was up next and looking back I'm surprised I didn't shed a single tear; I was certainly ready to curl into a ball on the floor.
I also have to talk about Everything I Didn't Say because Calum started it with a solo and I feel like this guy is underappreciated. I don't even know enough english words to describe what I'm trying to say, but if you still think these boys aren't talented, you need to reevaluate your life. 
They picked up the pace again with Green Day's American Idiot and at a few points I was seriously concerned for Michael's voice: he was a little sick, but it didn't keep him from giving his absolute best.
You know the show is getting to an end when She Looks So Perfect is played. I'm still a little meh about this song, I would run away with Michael though if he showed up with a plane ticket and a shiny diamond ring with my name on it. 
Good Girls is one of the funniest songs ever to be honest, mainly because of the line "she can speak french, I think she's fluent." Apparently the boys didn't know that speaking french can have a completely different meaning in german, which makes it even funnier. 
5sos wrapped things up with What I Like About You and left behind one big mess. I saw a bunch of girls sobbing while they left the venue, I saw a whole lot waiting for the band outside and I have to say that I've been sad and emotional ever since we left the venue as well. It's fascinating how 5sos have this strong relationship to their fans, it's fascinating how they play in a different city almost every day and still always give their best like it's the first show of the tour. It might sound unprofessional but I love this band with all my heart and I'm so grateful that I got the chance to watch them do what they love so much. They might be "just four boys from Australia", but they create something special and I'm so glad that I know about them because they make life a little easier at least.

So yes, thanks to Universal Germany for letting me experience all of this, I'm so happy this happened.

Album of the Week: One Direction - Four

One Direction were still five members when they released their current album Four; now they're four members doing the wild job of touring to promote this album.
The first song on the record is also the first single of the new album: “Steal My Girl” comes along with a catchy tune and typical boyband lyrics about this special girl they want to keep because “she belongs to [them].” Can somebody please tell them that girls don't belong to anybody but themselves?
Steal My Girl seems to be the exception though because song number two, “Ready To Run”, immediately convinces with grown-up lyrics and it shines through that One Direction have distanced themselves from their past sound. Ready To Run already foreshadows what to expect.
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” is a legit question, but unfortunately they don't know the answer either. What's interesting is that by now, they don't explicitly sing about girls anymore, but they use the neutral pronoun “you”.
One Direction have made “a long way from the playground” in a very short period of time, they've matured a lot since Midnight Memories, and “18” is only another way to prove that. This track is different from past songs because it's not the boy chases girl because she's so pretty anymore; this track talks about deep emotions that have grown for a while now, it talks about making mistakes and learning from them, it talks about how to love means to try.
Song number five has to be my favourite one ever: “Girl Almighty” quickly became the anthem for girls all over the world; there's just something about this song that boosts my confidence. Maybe it's Liam singing “I get down on my knees for you” because that's exactly how girls should be celebrated.
The atmosphere is becoming thoughtful again when “Fool's Gold” kicks in and we're back at deep lyrics. This song is for those who were betrayed, who have this one person in their life who keeps playing with them but they aren't able to leave. It's for those who know that their relationship won't go anywhere, but they still hold on tight.
This album is a rollercoaster: from sad and deep songs you're pushed to up tempo tracks like “No Control”: certainly there's nothing sad about someone telling you that they're “waking up beside you, I'm a loaded gun” and that they're all yours and got no control. This song is probably the farthest away from the cliché boyband material people still associate One Direction with, what makes it even more important than it already is.
With “Fireproof” the relaxed tunes are back with harmonies that are on point, and “Spaces” follows this with lots of phrases that could keep you up all night evaluating your own life. In light of recent events, the question of “Who's gonna be the first to say good bye” can be answered with Zayn, and the rest is dealt with in secret. Obviously, the spaces between Zayn and his life as a famous band member kept getting deeper until he couldn't do it anymore. The question for their management would be “Will we ever learn? When will we learn?” because it's only logic that something like this was going to happen when the band never gets a proper break.
The last song on the album is also the one that's the most fun: “Act My Age” has this Irish vibe as it tells the story of somebody who still enjoys their life even when they're “fat and old.” It also perfectly shows that One Direction take their job seriously, but they can take a step back as well and laugh about themselves.
All in all, Four is the best album One Direction have relased so far. It's the perfect prove to show how much these boys have grown and matured during their five years as a band. They've reached the point where they can make the music they like which is an important step in their career, whether they're four or five members.

New Discovery: Monday's Mona Lisa

I've been back on twitter for roughly two days, and I already discovered a handful of amazing bands. I'd like to talk about one of them today: Monday's Mona Lisa from Florida.

Their debut EP Who I Want To Be contains five songs which definitely deserve your attention.

Start, the first song on the record, immediately convinces with a catchy tune and well-worked lyrics; it's the kind of song you listen to when you're in a good mood and want to celebrate that.
Up next is Demon, a slower, more thoughtful track which reminds me of Twin Atlantic (who are amazing, so there's that.) What's so great about this song is that you can identify with the lyrics so easily, and the vocals deliver the emotions of the song very clearly.
Want To Be is up next and with this guitar part we're already off to a great start. Apart from that, we get meaningful lyrics again and you get so caught up in the song that you only notice that it's over when What's He Got On Me is on with some fresh, faster tunes and the potential of staying in your head for a while.
Last but not least, there's Hurt. The title probably speaks for itself, so you can expect a stripped down song with acoustic guitars and a piano; you can expect sad lyrics with sad vocals and you can expect wanting to hear more than these five songs.
Monday's Mona Lisa definitely have everything a band needs to make it big, now they only need more people to appreciate and support them. Go and download their EP on their website (it's free so) and give them a follow/thumbs up/subscribe on/to their social networks! Supporting upcoming bands is super important, especially when they're this talented!

ALSO if you really want to help these guys out, do the following: 

• comment as often as possible on the following videos: [x] & [x]
• like their facebook page (link is up there)
• tell your friends to join the game!

Album Of The Week: 5 Seconds Of Summer & their self-titled

To be honest this isn't just my album of this week, it's been my album of every week since it's been released, which was on June 27th (sidenote: I had to look the date up and it slightly shocked me because it feels like the album just dropped two days ago).
It also slightly annoys me how people mock this band just because they're four teenage boys who are currently opening for One Direction. First: Who cares and second: why does that bother you so much? I could rant about this for the next ten years, so let's move on to the actual album.

The band's most popular song, She Looks So Perfect, opens the record with a nice riff and  the story of a girl wearing American Apparel underwear - the lyrics might not be the deepest you'll ever come across, but it's most likely not the goal of this song to make you question all of your life choices.

Don't Stop, song number two, picks up the atmosphere of SLSP and convinces with catchy tunes and a good mood. 

Apologies to whoever cares, but I usually skip song munber three: Good Girls. I'm just not really feeling the sound of it and the story behind it doesn't really impress me either (I mean, good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught might be an existing thing, but in my opinion it's not something that delivers a good base for a song.)

What I'm extremely happy about is the fact that Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low helped the boys with a few songs (if you want to play a game called "guess the Alex songs", I highly encourage you to do so, you'll definitely hear it): Kiss Me Kiss Me is one of them. I don't know what it is, but Alex has this musical fingerprint so to speak which he leaves in every song he writes, and he didn't miss this one either. It kind of reminds me of All Time Low's Nothing Personal era.

When I first got into 5sos, I already knew they were probably young (aka younger than me), but I hadn't expected their vocalist to be 17 (he's 18 in the meantime, but still), and their oldest member is their drummer who's 20 now. Obviously this age thing brings a few difficulties sometimes, so the boys wrote a song about it: 18. I don't think I have to say much about this one, just pay some attention to the lyrics and you'll see the difficulties I'm talking about.
After a handful of rather fast and loud songs, the guys show that they can be quiet as well: Everything I Didn't Say and Beside You deal with the flip side of being a touring musician. I can only imagine what it feels like to drop off your special one at the airport and let him travel the world while you sit at home and wait for him (mad respect for all the couples who actually manage this).
End Up Here puts an end to the sad mood: it's fast, it's catchy and it contains fantastic vocals. The story behind it makes me chuckle every single time because it's basically about the loser boy who gets to be with the fantastic girl who is so out of his league that his friends suggest he should lock her down before she can run. I'm pretty sure that it's the other way around in the meanwhile.
Another Alex-song is coming up and I definitely see and hear All Time Low perform this one as well: Long Way Home comes with a mental music video right away (at least I immediately see a couple driving around aimlessly for hours just so they can be together. So, if anybody connected to 5sos is reading this right now, I'll gladly play a role in this video if you ever decide to make one). 

Heartbreak Girl was the very first song of 5sos I ever heard and it's one of my favourites ever since. I'm not gonna start a feminist rant about the ridiculous concept of being "friendzoned" now, so let's just say that the song is good regardless of the topic.

English Love Affair might be the song that made the fandom speculate the most. Who is this English love affair? And who is the lucky boy who got involved? I heard a few rumours concerning these questions, but I won't discuss them here. If you'd like to share your opinions, hit me up!

Their current single Amnesia was written by the Madden brothers and I just love it. Y'all know that I'm a sucker for acoustic songs, so this song is super important. Both Luke and Calum are really talented vocalists, and I think their voices can shine even more than usual in this song (another sidenote: Michael and Ashton have amazing voices as well and sometimes it makes me sad that they don't get to sing more often).

Michael does some vocals in Social Casualty but this one and the next song (Never Be) are unfortunately filed under: songs I skip. I don't know what's my problem with Social Casualty, but Never Be is too slow for my taste, it lacks a little energy. The chorus is amazing actually, but I'm not feeling the rest.

However, Voodoo Doll is one of my favourites as well. When I got into this band it was like this: my best friend introduced me to them, I had no idea who was who and kept mixing up Luke and Ashton, I listened to Out Of My Limit and I was sold. Since then I feel like there's some higher force keeping me here even though I sometimes wish I didn't know them (my bank account would definitely be happier).

Kudos to you if you read all of this, but I just really like this album, so I thought every song deserved a little something. In all honesty, it makes me angry when people are all mean and mock this band because this is their first full-length album and it's already pretty amazing, so I'm quite excited to see where this whole thing is going. Also it's lame to say that only teenage girls enjoy this album because boys can like this just as much and it's not very punk rock to keep yourself from listening to a certain band because some people associate them with One Direction.

Concert Review: Miss May I and Of Mice & Men in Munich, Germany

Hi hello how are you guys doing? Sorry as usual for not updating regularly, but the past week has been pure chaos and pure awesomeness. I didn't even get around to check out the pictures I took until this afternoon, so you're the first to see them. Anyway!! I went to see Of Mice & Men last week in Munich and let me tell you that was the craziest show I've ever attended. We arrived at the venue super early, so we had a lot of time to kill but it was worth it because I met Phil, Aaron and Tino before the show!

(Alan was running around as well but he was busy and Austin was nowhere to be seen.)

I was really excited to hear my favourite songs live, and to my absolute luck they played them all (O.G. Loko, Let Live, Would You Still Be There and Second & Sebring)! Seeing these guys live was absolutely incredible, what can I say. I've been waiting for this to happen forever, so I was just so happy when it finally happened! Even though the venue was small so there weren't that many people, the atmosphere was unbelievable. People just went completely nuts - I've never sweated this much during a show, I've never felt more alive. 

Miss May I supported the show, and if you haven't heard of them, I highly recommend you go and check them out, they were fantastic! The energy they brought with them was perfect to prepare the audience for what was about to come!

I was so nervous when it was finally time for Of Mice & Men to play, you can probably imagine. And suddenly they were just there and played the songs I've been living with for so long and up to this point none of their existence had felt real, you know what I mean? It took me a moment to process that it was really them so close to me, it was unbelievable.

Austin's presence was just crazy. One moment he looked so angry and aggressive, the next moment he looked at the audience and the biggest smile spread on his face. I honestly live for the moments when band members just show how happy they are to be able to do what they love so much. 

As usual, the show was over way too soon. I could have stayed in that tiny club for the rest of the night and have them play every single song they ever wrote, oh well. However, Tino, Phil and Aaron came outside after the show again to take pictures and just talk, it was fantastic. We spent almost an hour just chatting to Phil and Tino, and they were so excited when I showed them my tattoo! Tino even thanked me for getting it done I was like wait what I'm the one who has to thank you but he just laughed and went "this looks amazing". Aaron asked me if it hurt to get it done and when I said that it was alright actually, he told me that his tattoo hurt terribly, and his explanation was that "maybe I'm just a big baby". 

So yeah, this was definitely one of the best concerts I've attended so far; I took home a few bruises, a few new friends and the memory of super nice band members. If you ever get the chance to meet them, give them some love because they're the most positive, genuine people I've came across in a while! 

New Song: Double Lined Minority - White Flag

Hey everyone! You might wonder why I'm blogging the third time this week (quite unusual I know), but one of the bands I've been working with before released their new song today! If you don't remember Double Lined Minority (shame on you!) you can catch up here. 

Their new song, White Flag, unites everything a good pop punk song needs: a catchy tune, a handful of fantastic guitar solos and lyrics which will go straight to your brain. The first time I listened to it, I accidentally started dancing around my room. During the second time, I could hum along, and after the third time I already knew parts of the lyrics by heart (at least the chorus).
After getting to hear this song, I'm pretty excited for the rest of the album! 


Listen to White Flag here, and if (when) you like what you hear, go ahead and give these guys a thumbs up! 

Songs that are very important: A Playlist

I feel like I've neglected this blog quite a lot lately, so I thought it's time for another playlist! This one is full of songs which are super duper important to me, I hope you enjoy it!

• All Time Low - Jasey Rae
• All Time Low - Time Bomb
• All Time Low - Backseat Serenade
• Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking
• letlive. - Empty Elvis
• letlive. - Younger
• Of Mice & Men - Second & Sebring
• Of Mice & Men - The Great Hendowski
• Of Mice & Men - You're Not Alone
• Pierce The Veil - Hold On Till May
• Tonight Alive - Come Home
• We Are The In Crowd - Attention
• 30 Seconds To Mars - Alibi

This isn't the fanciest playlist you'll ever come across, but it'll do to share some special songs. Which songs are important for you? Share them with me in the comments!

Album Of The Week: This Wild Life - Clouded

Don't judge a book by its cover. I never used this proverb in a serious context, but when you talk about This Wild Life, it's pretty accurate. Kevin and Anthony look like the perfect example for hardcore guys with hardcore tunes, but as soon as you press play and actually expect some heavy sounds, you'll be quite surprised.
This Wild Life only need guitars and Kevin's voice to convince you, and they only needed one song from Clouded to convince me: Concrete went straight to my mind and has been staying there ever since. No More Bad Days slowly has been developing into my life motto lately because Kevin is right when he sings "no more bad days for you my dear". Maybe it'll work, maybe not (I shall give this experiment a try and will report the results!). Apart from uplifting lyrics, Kevin's vocals feel like you're being wrapped in a warm blanket after a stupid day, especially in History, Roots And Branches or Better With You. 
This Wild Life give you the perfect soundtrack for rainy days, for stressful days, for days when you have to take a step back from all the metalcore you've been listening to for weeks (I certainly enjoy some calmer tunes from time to time).
Looking Back is one of my favourite songs on the record, simply because of its lyrics. It reminds me a lot of my own story when it's about taking two steps forward and three steps back, or when it's about this thing called life getting harder every year. It's not a negative song at all though because "it's gotta get easier from here, I had to learn to life without looking back" and I personally think that's one of the most important aspects of life. No matter what happened, don't look back. I also share the last part of the song where it says: "One thing I've learned is that good things will not fall in my lap. I had to work harder and longer, be smarter and stronger than the person right beside me. Have the confidence and common sense to know there's still something inside me. I gave my very best, with the purest intent and I'll be proud when I look back."

This Wild Life are such an important band, and I really hope they'll be more and more successful during the next few years. I appreciate these songs so much because they're so passionate and pure and honest.

Album Of The Week: One Direction - Midnight Memories

Once upon a time, there appeared a text post on my dash on tumblr (yes, I spend a lot of time there), which went along these lines: "I'm so punk rock I listen to whatever I like." I'm probably not the best example for some "punk rock" girl, but I do listen to whatever I like, which includes One Direction. It's not that I have their whole discography on my iPod, but I regularly have this phase where I open spotify, make my way to their current album Midnight Memories and listen to it. Most of the time this happens at 2am or later. I just realised that I've never listened to the whole album before, so it's about time to do that!

Best Song Ever

This is my main 2am jam, so yes I can sing along, and at that point of time I'd probably even say that this song is pretty good (still not the best song ever, come on). It's so catchy, how can you possibly resist it??

Story of My Life

I can literally feel how I turn 13 all over again, and I'm pretty sure that I'd be all over these guys if I actually was 13 right now (you know, the yes-it's-a-good-idea-to-plaster-your-room-with-their-faces phase). And now that we're doing this whole confession thing, I think they're cute (Louis wins though) and I really like this song no matter what time it is. You can despise them as much as you want, but you can't deny that they're talented singers. If my dad likes this song, your argument is invalid anyway. 

Diana

Oh, it's time to dance again!! Jesus, whoever is responsible for these songs really knows how to create some catchy tunes. Let's move on, shall we.

Midnight Memories

This one reminds me of another song, but I can't think of which one. I linked you to a live version on purpose because for me this looks and sounds a bit like they're trying to take some steps away from the boyband-image and put quite some effort in making their voices sound all raspy and rockstarish! I certainly like it!

You & I

Ah, things are becoming calmer again, that's good. I'm actually waiting for the day that I can recognise them by their voices because then I'll be in too deep and then it won't be long until I consider to actually go and see them in concert. The only thing that's keeping me from doing that is the fanbase. No offense, I'm sure that some of them are all adorable and nice, but I've seen enough trouble they caused to have my opinion and I don't feel like starting a fight with a bunch of hysterical kids. 

Don't Forget Where You Belong

If that's not an important message then I don't know what else you need. Are they singing about themselves? Ah yes, that's a nice song. 

Strong

This sounds faster again, good. There are eleven songs left on this album, holy smokes. Somebody understands the concept of making fans happy, eh? This song is all right, but that's all I have to say so let's move on.

Happily

Is it rude that the lyrics make me chuckle? I hope it's not, I don't mean to be mean (bless the English language). But yes, this sounds really happy, I shall bookmark it for future (sad) reference.

Right Now

I think I figured out which voice belongs to Harry Styles, that's at least a start! And you know what? I prefer the catchy, happy songs a lot over these dramatic ones. 

Little Black Dress

The beginning sounds like it belongs to some rock song, how brilliant is that. I bet that nobody who isn't a fan of One Direction could guess that this isn't part of their discography. This is good, I like it!

Through The Dark

Lovely start actually. I can't stress enough how they deserve a lot more credit than they get from some people. Here's your daily reminder that it's not cool to degrade certain artists because you think they're ridiculous and shouldn't be seen as artists (Justin Bieber is a different kind of story because he obviously pisses off people without even singing)! So stop making feel people like shit because they like a certain type of music!

Something Great

Let's see if this one is something great. The beginning is a bit boring, I'm waiting for the great chorus! Wait, that was it? Nah, sorry but this could be a lot better. 

Little White Lies

Does this belong to the little black dress? At least I'm not tempted to fall asleep while listening to this one, and I think I might know which voice belongs to Niall. I'm making more progress than expected. 

Better Than Words

Yeah, "dancing on the ceiling" is better than words, I agree. Cheesy love song here we go, my inner teenager likes it, the 21-year-old who's typing this right now can't hit skip fast enough.

Why Don't We Go There

Oh yes, I like this one. If I'll actually get this album, I already see it coming that I'll dance down the street while listening to this, oh dear. 

Does He Know

The end is near! No, it wasn't that bad, no sarcasm involved. 18 songs are just a long way to go. This one is all right, nothing striking about it to be honest.

Alive

The lyrics in the chorus are quite nice, the rest isn't too impressive, but then again I'm not sure if this song is intended for impressing anybody!?

Half A Heart

We made it! And now that you went on this crazy journey with me, you might as well admit that One Direction aren't half as bad as you thought they were. I couldn't listen to their stuff 24/7, but at certain times and during certain emotions, some of these songs are really good! 

Album Of The Week: Hands Like Houses - Unimagine

Hello and happy Sunday my fellow music lovers! I recently started reading the Divergent series (I'll probably review it in a video soon), which makes me forget everything. When I mean everything, food is included, so I almost forgot to upload a review today. Last night I got the new Punk Goes 90's, on which I found a band called Hands Like Houses. They covered Torn, originally by Natalia Imbruglia, and it was the only song on this album I actually liked, so I proceeded to have a closer listen to them. Due to this, I discovered Unimagine, the band's current album, which I'll talk about in this post.

I haven't listened to Hands Like Houses before, so I only had a slight idea of what to expect. I was honestly prepared for some breakdowns and screaming, but nothing like that happened. In fact, I got some new, refreshing rock songs.

I really like the dramatic touch with which Developments kicks off the record. It actually inspires me a lot for the stories I write, and I'm very thankful for that.
The first line of the second song Introduced Species is something I thought to myself a million times during the last few years. I never had a place where I had the feeling that I belonged, that I could be the way I was, until I stumbled into this part of the music scene. I haven't met a single person who shares my taste in music and judges me for my looks or my "depression" or whatever people judge me for, I stopped caring a while ago, thanks to this music. 

What I really like about Hands Like Houses is the energy they convey, and how this energy makes me feel like there's nothing I couldn't do, for example in Shapeshifters, when he sings "We will be unbreakable!"
With Oceandust, the band shows that they can be quiet and sensitive as well. The drums and any electric instruments leave and are replaced by a piano and acoustic guitars during the biggest part of the song, but Oceandust still possesses a tiny rock part when an e-guitar appears for a couple of seconds. 

The last four songs on Unimagine form a great ending of a brilliant record. The very last song, A Fire On A Hill, closes the record and if you weren't fully convinced of this band and their work until this point, you will like them after the last tune faded. 

Album Of The Week: The Pretty Reckless - Going To Hell

Hello my fellow music lovers! In case you were wondering, I decided to make Sunday the day for weekly album reviews, yaay! *clapping in the background*

I was looking through my music folder to find something I haven't already discussed, and I found this:

If you still have this image of Taylor Momsen as Gossip Girl's Jenny Humphrey in your mind, welcome to the club. However, you and I urgently have to update this image because Taylor drifted away from the role of cute Jenny, and now spices up the music world with her band The Pretty Reckless. Going To Hell is the band's second album and was released on March 12th. 

Follow Me Down, the first song on the album, already gives a taste for the band's talent as a whole. Of course there's Taylor with her powerful voice, but she's supported by fantastic musicians who know exactly what to do to make her voice stand out.
Up next is the song that names the record: Going To Hell, which sounds like a prayer at first but ends up being about certain sins and being married to the devil. 

As loud and fierce Taylor can sound, as quiet and soft she can be. House On A Hill works without screeching guitars, it's emotional and still as powerful as the louder songs. This record is like a rollercoaster; after going down with some calm tunes, Sweet Things picks up the pace again, goes all the way up and picks up where  Heaven Knows left off: the topic of the devil appears again, but just when you think you're settling into Taylor screaming, there's a short interlude called Dear Sister and the rollercoaster goes down again. It almost sounds like a lullaby, and it's already over just when you start enjoying the calmness of it. 

With Absolution comes back the fierceness, it's going up again for around 4 minutes before Blame Me is taking you downwards again. This time the stay down there is a little bit longer because after Blame Me, there's the next interlude: Burn. 

The next two songs take you all the way up again, and to finish your ride to hell, Waiting for a Friend takes you down again, so you can get out and either leave, or get in again for another round. 

Since we need more women in this scene anyway, I'm really glad that Taylor Momsen and The Pretty Reckless are part of it and show that women can be loud and wild just as much as men can be. If you won't check this album out, you'll definitely miss out.

Album Of The Week: The 1975

Hello my fellow music lovers, I should really get my stuff together and blog regularly, shouldn't I. I'll try to fix one day of the week where I'll post whatever comes to my mind, we'll see how that goes. Anyway, this post isn't to ramble about my blogging skills, but to ramble about some new tunes I recently treated my ears with. 

The 1975 are a four-piece band from Manchester, UK, and their self-titled album is also their debut album.
They've been appearing on my dashboard on tumblr for quite a while now, it just took me a while to become aware of them and to give them a listen. When I finally went to my best friend Spotify to check them out, Chocolate was the first song I listened to and that was the moment I fell in love. I immediately fell for Matty's voice (his accent took care of the rest), I fell for the easy sound which feels like a light summer breeze on your skin, and I caught myself acting out my personal music video to Sex more than once. Listening to this album makes you forget everything around you, and no matter how bad your day was, the tracks on this record make you feel better as soon as you press play. If you're upset, Robbers, 12, She Way Out or The City will calm you down; if you feel like celebrating, Chocolate, Sex and  Heart Out will be your tunes. In case you just want to relax a little, the rest of the album will be perfect. Long story short: The 1975 deliver songs for every situation you could possibly encounter, and that's just a beautiful thing.
If you live for acoustic versions of your favourite songs just like I do, I highly recommend you to check out some acoustic songs Matt Healy did, for example this one, or this one. 

I dare to predict that this band will create more  fantastic things in the future, at least as fantastic as their debut album. 

Concert Review: Ryan Keen, My First Band & Sunrise Avenue in Stuttgart, Germany

Hey everyone, I hope all is well! My semester break started a couple of days ago and I haven't really done anything productive so far, apart from attending my first concert in 2014!!
 Most of my readers aren't from Europe, so I'm even more excited to introduce a fantastic band from Finland: Sunrise Avenue. I bought their first record in 2006 and I haven't lost it, so that was already a promising sign. I have to admit that I didn't listen to their music properly for ages (unless one of their songs was on the radio), but their vocalist was on the last season of The Voice Of Germany and that drew my attention back to the band itself (yeah he's quite cute, that was a reason, too, but shhh). Luckily I have a friend who's also crushing on Samu big times, so we immediately agreed on going when we found out that they played in my city. 

Shortly after we arrived at the venue, a security guard came out and started to hand out bracelets. This was probably the best-organised concert I've been to so far: The venue consisted of three parts: The first part directly in front of the stage, a middle part and the rest. The security guard explained that those with a pink bracelet were entitled to stand in the first part, so you can guess what we did:

Thanks to these bracelets we actually ended up in the third row and I celebrated a little when there was nobody taller than me standing in front of me (just for the record: that rarely happens). However, since my friend is quite tall, there were two girls standing behind her who tried to argue with her ("You're too tall, how dare you standing in the front???") and this is one of the reasons why I prefer concerts where most of the crowd consists of guys. They don't turn into hysterical balls of too much excitement and they certainly don't try to argue with you because you're "too tall." 

I have to admit that I usually don't have the highest expectations when it comes to supporting acts, but this time I was proven so wrong it was fantastic. Ryan Keen, a singer/songwriter from Britain, was up first and it took him only one song to capture the whole crowd. I've never experienced it before that a crowd was so into the first act, but Ryan had this warm aura which totally fascinated me. He could have played for the rest of the evening and I would have enjoyed it a whole lot. 

He reminded me of John Mayer and Ed Sheeran, so if you like any of them, you should give Ryan a listen (you should give him a listen anyway, he's one of the most talented artists I've seen live)!

Up next were My First Band. Again I had no expectations, and again I had a whole lot of fun! My First Band slighty have the sound of The Killers, they just added some more fun to their performance. I'm not a big dancer, but I danced through their whole performance because it was impossible to stand still.  These guys perfectly managed to transfer their joy of playing to the whole crowd.

As much fun as I had with the supporting acts, I was really excited when it was finally time for Sunrise Avenue. I only knew a handful of songs, but in the end it didn't even matter. They played a big part of their current album Unholy Ground what was great because getting new songs to listen to is always a fantastic thing. However, my favourite moments were those when they played the old songs everybody knew, for example I Don't Dance (hell yes we all danced), Hollywood Hills or Fairytale Gone Bad. Fairytale Gone Bad was my favourite moment of the whole show because the crowd basically sang the biggest part of the song alone and I just love seeing the pure joy and happiness in the band members' faces when that happens. 

The whole thing happened on Valentine's Day and I'm not going to lie - I felt absolutely fantastic when I could tell everybody that I finally had plans on that day which didn't include eating ice cream and being mad at couples. And it was just really cute when Samu asked what Happy Valentine's Day means in German and you know the whatsapp emoticon with the hearts as eyes? Yeah, that was me from the moment the show started until a day or so after.
Sunrise Avenue will be back in my area in August and I honestly can't wait to see them again.

Happy Fobruary!!

Yes, it's been exactly one year since Fall Out Boy went off their hiatus and I think we should celebrate! I'm not going to ramble about how fast this year went by or how so many things changed; instead, I'll show you my Top 11 FOB songs (in no particular order because I'm not able to pick my very favourite)! Put on your war paint and let's go!

1. I Don't Care
   This is the soundtrack of my life. Do I need to elaborate on that (just quoting my literary studies teacher here)? Yes? Well, there is probably a handful of things I genuinely care about - things like music, books, tv-shows, my family (you didn't see that one coming, did ya) aaaand cheese. The list of things I genuinely don't care about could probably fill a book, so thank you Fall Out Boy for writing this song.
2. (Coffee's For Closers)
   This one is just really catchy and the phrase "Change will come" forms a very important part of my development as a person. If my 15-year-old self would know me today, it would run away screaming and this tells me that I made some pretty good decisions during the last couple of months.
3. What A Catch, Donnie
   "I got troubled thoughts and a self-esteem to match, what a catch." - What a catch indeed.
4. Dance, DanceJust watch and enjoy this music video because it's simply brilliant. And while you do so, do what they say and dance a little!
5. Sugar, We're Goin' DownDear Fall Out Boy,
   you definitely are more than I bargained for, yes. I'd also love to understand the lyrics of this song, but there are only little fragments I can figure out, the rest is made of jhkrgfrghlreg. That's all actually.
   Love, Carina
6. Thriller"We dedicate this song to anybody who people said could never make it, to the fans that held us down till everybody came around." - thanks for that.
7. The Take Over, The Break's Over"Baby, seasons change but people don't!" - this is one of the phrases that keeps me up at night because I can't stop reflecting it. I mean, people do change, either for better or for worse. Or are these changes we see only a surface and deep down we're actually not able to change? What do you guys think?
8. Thnks fr th mmrsHow genius is it to cut out the vowels of a song title because your management told you to shorten the song titles? That's what Patrick Stump did and this is the ultimate proof for this band being 100% badass. This is also the song that made me fall for them in the first place. 
9. Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy TonightI honestly don't know anybody who listens to FOB and doesn't like this song, so I don't have much to say about it.
10. The PhoenixWhenever I listen to this song I become super excited and feel like I can manage everything I want and yeeah!! and then I walk into the kitchen to make some cereal and realise that I forgot to buy milk and then I'm like oh but hey, at least one of my favourite bands is back, what do I need milk for!?
11. Miss Missing YouThis is by far my favourite song on the new record. I suppose we all know the feeling of missing somebody, but sooner or later it's time to get over the "missing" process and you move on with your life. And then you lie awake at 3am and wonder how it actually felt to miss this person because they became less and less important and thinking about them became less and less of a priority.
    This song also contains one of my favourite lyrics ever: "Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger, the person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger." It's actually sad how accurate this is, isn't it?

What are your favourite FOB songs? Leave them in the comments! 

Album Of The Week: Bastille - Bad Blood

Happy New Year guys! I hope you had a great start into 2014, I certainly did (not so much but let's not talk about it)! I got myself two little Christmas presents which I haven't showed you yet, so here you go:

Today I'd like to spend a few minutes on the british boys with the strongest accents I've ever heard. Just pay a little attention and you'll notice it.

Bad Blood kicks off with Bastille's most famous song: Pompeii. I've heard this song more than a gazillion times now, but I'm still singing along without being sick of it and that's a sign for a really really good song in my eyes.
Song number two is also another very popular song: Things We Lost In The Fire. I don't know about you guys, but I always try to imitate his accent while singing along, I mean where's the fun if you don't do that!?
Bastille have this very unique sound which I haven't heard in any other band so far and that's mostly why I like them so much. Bad Blood just puts you in a good mood with songs like Weight Of Living, Flaws or Laura Palmer. And then there are these quiet, thoughtful songs mixed between the happy songs, for example Overjoyed, Oblivion or Daniel In The Den.
Bad Blood tells twelve unique stories, it takes you on an adventure through good and bad times, it makes you think about your own past and all the good and bad things you experienced. With this album, Bastille showed what a talented band they are and I'm quite excited to hear more from them. 

Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass - A Playlist

Hey guys, how's it going? I hope you already opened the first part of your advent calendar (I didn't because I left it at home but that only means that I can open 5 or 6 parts at once aw yeah) and I also hope you're getting into the Christmas mood! In case you're struggling with it, I came up with a little playlist for all of you who are too punk rock for classic Christmas songs. Enjoy and feel free to play it on Christmas Eve!

Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas

I have to admit that I'm perfectly fine with the original as well, even though I'll probably hear it five million times before it's even Christmas. Obviously a few guitars here and there never harm though, do they.


All Time Low - Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass

What can I say, ain't no playlist without All Time Low, eh. 


Issues - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

I'm new to this band but Tyler has a fantastic voice and this cover definitely is a win. 


My Chemical Romance - All I Want For Christmas Is You

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE TO COME BACK OKAY
sorry for shouting but I'm still waiting for them to come back like "lol that was just a joke we're back kids what's up??" 


Bowling For Soup - Feliz Navidad

That's the best version I found of this song, not gonna lie. 


All Time Low - Fool's Holiday

Alex Gaskarth's voice just makes me emotional sometimes and I couldn't spare you this song. 


Blink 182 - Won't Be Home For Christmas

I don't even have anything to say about this one. 


WHAM! - Last Christmas

Yeah I had to put the original as the last song, it's too good not to do so. 


These are the songs I found and like, so if you have some more great punk Christmas songs, feel free to share them in the comments or send me an e-mail (never-enoughmusic@hotmail.com) or tweet me @neverenoughm or come say hi on tumblr (x)! 

Impericon Never Say Die Tour: Northlane, Hundredth, Hand Of Mercy, Betraying The Martyrs, I Killed The Prom Queen, Carnifex and Emmure

Hey guys, in case you were wondering: I'm still alive, university is going good and I was at the Impericon Never Say Die tour last sunday! It was one of my best concert experiences so far, but let's start at the beginning. 

We arrived at the venue around 5pm, my interview with Northlane was scheduled for 5.30 so we walked around the venue for a while until somebody who looked like he belonged to one of the bands, sent us backstage to look for the guys. That's what we did and we ran into Nic from Northlane right away. He took us inside to look for Adrian and Alex who were up for the interview but we couldn't find Alex, so Nic jumped in:

Originally, the interview was longer but due to some technical issues, I had to cut out some parts. However, Northlane will hopefully be back in Germany next year, so we'll be able to catch up.

Thanks to Nic and Adrian for having us!

My interview with Hand Of Mercy was scheduled for 7.30pm, so we had almost 2 hours to kill and went inside again. HOM also opened the show and we didn't want to miss that, so we got a spot in the first row and waited until it started. 

The boys from Sydney kicked ass and were the perfect opening act. They had so much energy which they easily transferred to the crowd - they were exactly what you'd expect at a gig like that.

Northlane were up next and unfortunately we only managed to see half of their set because of the next interview. However, these guys exceeded my expectations. Adrian might not look like it, but he can sound very angry and combined with the rest of the band supporting him, Northlane showed why they belong in this genre.

As I said, we had to leave their set earlier for the interview with Hand Of Mercy. I had no idea how their tour manager looked like, so we decided to wait at their merch table until Dawson showed up and I asked him about the interview. A few minutes later Dawson, Josh, Saskia (who filmed) and I were on the way to the band's tourbus, what was the highlight of my career as a journalist so far. 

The quality is terrible because the only lighting we had were two little lights on the bus but the sound is alright so just concentrate on that. 

After interview #2, we went back to the venue because the interview with I Killed The Prom Queen was up next. Again we went to their merch table and when Jona wasn't surrounded by a gazillion of people anymore, I went to talk to him and that's the outcome of it: 

Huge shoutout to all the band members for being so easy-going and uncomplicated and thanks to all of them for having us!

Now that all the interviews were done, we went back inside to watch Betraying The Martyrs. It was my second time that I saw them and they tore the place apart just like I thought they would. It's a little sad that their drummer couldn't make it to this tour because he's stuck in Russia but nevertheless the band had the best show of the evening. Furthermore, Aaron reminds me so much of Mitch Lucker, I don't know why but I keep thinking about this. 

The last band we watched was I Killed The Prom Queen, of course. They absolutely convinced me with fantastic guitar solos and an amazing show. As Jona said, their album will be released next year, so keep an eye on that, it'll be worth it!

We couldn't stay for Carnifex and Emmure but nevertheless I had a terrific night! If you haven't already done it, I highly recommend you go and check out these bands, you won't regret it!