Music-Drop Magazine

Film Pitch  Don't you think all these modern films are made for the 'younger' audience? These fastest and angry films and the like? Remember the good old days? Yeah the 70s... no there wasn't a potential nuclear winter constantly seconds away. Shut up! Remember the good old days when we used to hang out with our friends and go roller discoing? Those were the days. What was I saying? Sorry the memory isn't what it used to be... Anyway there's this huge film watching audience which isn't targeted by the current crop of films so we should make the most of this by putting two iconic stars of target audience's youth and have them going through things old people go through. Like free buses or frequent bowel movements. Of course it'll have to be about death. I mean we all go through it right? It's not far from the forefront of your mind when Jimmy doesn't even call on father's day, brat! We don't want it too dour though so make sure th...

Film Pitch Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman play tone deaf lounge singers. Yes Tootsie & Clyde Barrow. It's written and directed by Elaine May, half of the famous Nichols & May double act and directer of classic rom com The Heartbreak Kid. So these two lounge singers, despite their lack of talent or support, decide to take a make it or break it gig in a fictional middle eastern country in the middle of a civil war where they naturally find themselves embroiled in the political conflict and are played by both sides like CIA agent Charles Grodin and French beauty Isabelle Adjani, who plays some sort of Arabian freedom fighter who dresses as a boy for most of the film. Flawless casting, I know. Hijinks are had, feelings are felt and we all leave the cinema with our wallets full because who wouldn't want to see such a star-studded box office treat. Critics Say It was ripped to shreds. It lost money, damaged careers and has been a synonym in Hollywood for terri...

In 1973 Bowie released Pin Ups , a relatively uninspired cash grab that was meant to capitalise on his newfound success after Ziggy Stardust. The record features 12 covers of Bowie’s favourite songs from artists like The Who, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds. However two of the songs Bowie recorded on the record are covers of a less celebrated band; The Pretty Things. The Pretty Things are a band founded by Phil May & Dick Taylor (A original Rolling Stone) who helped create some of the rawest music of the pre-punk era. They were wild (They were banned from New Zealand due to their tour antics) and boundary pushing (They wrote the first ever rock opera before The Who’s Tommy.) When Bowie was a member of the London scene of the 1960s he was a close follower of The Pretty Things and this in turn lead up to his inclusion of two of their songs on his record. However is that where there relationship ends?   Oh You Pretty Things! Is Bowie’s 1971...

It’s time to look at singer-songwriter Weyes Blood’s latest record, her first sub-pop release, Titanic Rising . Weyes Blood is an artist who has been working for years at crafting her sound. She’s the sort of artist who you’ve perhaps stumbled upon and listened to once on a late night of YouTube recommendations. You sit there intrigued by her sound of the carpenters meeting the 21 st century and sit mellowed out to her songs until suddenly its over and its forgettable, it simply doesn’t grab you, assault your ears and force you to remember it. Instead you look at the name Weyes Blood and think ‘hey I kind of like her.’ For me that was my experience with her song Do You Need My Love from Front Row Seat To Earth (2016) , I liked it but I didn’t love it. It soared, it was beautiful but it was shy of great. With Titanic Rising her sound hasn’t changed exactly. She hasn’t left the Karen Carpenter comparison behind but she no longer sounds quite so pastiche. ...

If any event has come to dominate 2016 it might have been the death of David Bowie. It was emotionally impacting for millions and it set the tone to that on-going meme of “Fuck 2016.” It took me maybe 3 months to listen to Blackstar, not because I was necessarily emotionally distraught but I did love Bowie, I felt a connection to him which I shared with no other artist, as a child his shadow lay over my family and as an adult he came to represent individuality and outsider feeling, two things I personally connect to.  I’ve also been fortunate enough to interview his long-time producer Tony Visconti for my university paper which has only tightened my love towards Bowie. The cover was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who did all his covers since Heathen Due to all of that I didn’t want to listen to this album which was instantly dubbed his best since 1980's  Scary Monsters and perhaps even before that, and I wanted to hear it without the fact that this wou...

2016 was the year of Beyoncé more than any other music artist. It was the year where she became political, the year she got critical acclaim and the year she redefined the concept of a surprise album and the music video.  I’m not a fan of Beyoncé. Sure she’s released a fair few catchy pop songs that I’ve not minded and I’ve always appreciated that she has a good set of lungs, I also enjoyed her singing Etta James’ At Last at President Obama’s inauguration. I also didn't mind her sister Solange , but I’ve never been a fan of Beyoncé. Lemonade is an album I expected to hate, I expected to listen to it and think “why is this so well thought of?” then I’d complain until I bored even myself and then I’d never pick up the album again, that’s what I expected. The artwork for the sixth studio album of Beyonce released in April 2016.  Expectations though are made to be broken by Beyoncé. Because Lemonade is one of the best albums of the year, although I can’t ...