N E W J A K E B U G G A L B U M

                Surprisingly (or not?) I am a huge fan of alternative/ folk/ blues music. Relevant because my FAVORITE musician has just released a new album, and here I am writing a potentially irrelevant review of it. I say just because I needed a week or so of listening time before I really formed an opinion, I believe the official release date was June 17^th or so?

                Jake Bugg- a UK musician has won me over, musically and otherwise. He’s released 3 albums thus far and I’ve been a fan of all 3. The first was a self-titled debut album, the one with lightning bolt on the track list. You may not know him, but you’ll certainly know this song, it’s been used in adverts and was the theme song that Gatorade assigned to Usain Bolt for his TV advert after the 2012 Summer Olympics. After the 2012 release of his album he went on a world tour, ended in California, and set to work on his second album. Shangria La, produced with Rick Rubin, may have only been written and recorded just a year after the first album, but sounded musically more mature and advanced without actually changing Bugg’s gritty, raw, and real sound. He again signed some of his music off the second album to be used in adverts, and one of the songs is featured in “The Fault in Our Stars”. Bugg quickly turned back to the touring scene and did almost two full world tours (ahem, which I was lucky enough to see part of). After most likely wearing himself down, he went on a sort of hiatus… until recently.

                The most amazing part to me, is his consistency in sound, and rhythm. While his albums feature ballads, acoustic tracks and hardcore rock music, he keeps a sort of reliability in style that is kind of rare when musicians change producers. He writes his own music, and is heavily involved in the production of his tracks and I think that’s what had made his first two albums such a success. This being said, I am really enjoying the newest album, although I find it to be a bit different than the others. Not bad different, just… different.

                When the first word came out that he’d be making a third album, in an interview he had said he was looking to make a sound with more of a ‘country’ vibe. I was skeptical. And rightly so, because he ended up partnering up with Mike D- the lead of The Beastie Boys to make some of the album. It is called On My One, and was released just about two weeks ago, I find the tracks on this album to reflect that greatly. There isn’t the gentle mix of soft ballads and hard rock, on this album it’s either bluesy acoustic, or loud rock, with heavy picking and loud bass. EXCEPT for the one track that basically could have come straight off The Beastie Boys latest album. I certainly do not know if this album will be a favorite of his current fan base, but I certainly like it. It’s one of those where it’s almost so bad- that it’s good, like very good.  If you’re into alternative and folk- check him out, MAKE SURE you don’t give up on him, some of the songs (new or otherwise) just need more than one listen, others need many more than one… if you check him out, let me know what you think!

Here's a YouTube playlist if you're interested -

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN_VJ8EBWmB_3p6uCfyK-vy3lSPrArN1q

That’s all for now, Enjoy!!

                                                                                                                                                                Cheers!! xoxo