Album Review/Gig Review: Ball Park Music, Puddinghead

I attended Ball Park Music's album release for Puddinghead* on Saturday the 3rd of May at the Corner Hotel. It was the best gig/concert/music performance thing that I have ever been to. And that says a whole lot. Everything about it was perfect the support acts, the music, the crowd, the venue, the weather. I booked the tickets a while ago as I planned to go with some friends who went with me to the San Cisco performance around the same time last year. I saved the album to my Spotify and I couldn't stop playing it. So you could say I really liked the album as it stood. But as soon as I heard it live, along with many of my favourite Ball Park Music songs from previous albums, it turned to true love. (excuse my clicheness (it's a word)).

The thing I loved most about Ball Park Music's performance was the fact that they really put on a show, they entertained and I think that's the thing that has started to lack from performances lately. Artists tend to just play their songs exactly as they are on their albums, without changing a thing and with as little interaction as possible. But both Ball Park Music, Papa vs Pretty and Holy Holy (the support acts), really talked to the people who had paid to see them. Ball Park Music, especially, changed their songs up a little with longer guitar/drum solos and I remember during one of their songs (I can't remember which one) they had a massive break in which Sam changed into a leopard print dressing gown, leaving the audience in suspense, before they went on to completing the song.

Anyway onto the actual album. Ball Park Music are a band from Brisbane, Australia made up of frontman Sam Cromack (guitar/vocals), Jennifer Boyce (bass/backing vocals), Paul Furness (keys/trombone), and twins Dean Hanson (guitar/backing vocals) and Daniel Hanson (drums/backing vocals). They released they're first EP back in the April of 2009 which was titled Rolling on the Floor, Laughing Ourselves to Sleep. They have released three full albums in total which include; Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, Museum and now Puddinghead. Puddinghead managed to reach number 2 on the Australian iTunes Chart, which is a massive achievement for the band. The most popular songs on the record was the leading single She Only Loves Me When I'm There, as well as Trippin' the Light Fantastic and Everything is Shit Except My Friendship With You. 

She Only Loves Me When I'm There:
This was the first song that really caught my attention and separated itself from the others. It starts off slowly with merely a synth accompanying Cromack's amazing voice. Then it breaks out into a strong drum beat and a fab electric guitar riff. The song continues to build before exploding into the lyric the song is titled after, 'SHE ONLY LOVES ME WHEN I'M THERE'. The song concludes by bringing you right back to where you started, slow, with a synth and ending on a high note (literally: ba doom tsh).

Trippin' the Light Fantastic:
Again this song starts off slow with a synth accompanying the fast-paced and well written lyrics. This proceeds into a voice-altered/electro-feeling 'trippin' the lights fantastic' to act as a hook-line and to assist with the transition from verse to chorus. This song is very energetic and I love the mix of the horns and electric guitars. A high-light on the album and amazing live.

Everything is Shit Except My Friendship With You: 
This track begins with a really lovely and easy-listening guitar riff which is carried throughout the first  verse. After the short verse there are a few bars which consist solely of drums and electric guitars which really helps to bring the energy levels up in the song and assists in preparing you for the chorus. The chorus itself is incredibly fun with a simple harmony just to bring something extra.

I give Puddinghead a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

*You can purchase this album from iTunes, and you can check out Ball Park Music's website at: http://www.ballparkmusic.com/home

The Craving of Being Different - but not too different because then you're just weird

Person 1: What does craze even mean?

Person 2: It's a word you use when something's ultra popular.

Person 1: But isn't it 'cool' to be 'different' and 'alternative'.

Person 2: Yes, exactly.

Person 1: Well then isn't being 'different' a craze.

Person 2: Of course.

I have to physically restrain my eyes from doing a full 360°C whenever I see a photo on instagram or a status on facebook that depicts a teenage girl so obviously trying to be as different as she can without tripping and face-planting over the line of coolness drawn out by the unknown. This whole alternative craze right now is so painstakingly contradictory that alternative has lost it's meaning completely.

The unwritten rule book of what is 'cool' states that; 'to be alternative is to follow all the trends first and to find music that will inevitably become popular in a few months first - not to have your own ideas and opinions and express them in the way you live your life.' Therefore to be alternative, the cool way is to not be different at all, but it's to be MAINSTREAM, completely and utterly MAINSTREAM (are your eyes stinging yet try-hards?). 

But alternative can be interpreted in so many different ways. My definition is that to be alternative you must have your own opinions and feelings about things, no matter if they're popular or, on the other side of the spectrum,  seen as complete trash. To be alternative is to be original. And to be original is to be yourself, not some edited and controlled version of it.

*I'm sorry if you didn't catch the sarcasm of this entire post, but it was there.