SONG FOR THE MOMENT: LIANNE LA HAVAS-BITTERSWEET

4/5

Is Your Love Sweet Enough?

Alone in Tokyo, some new Lianne La Havas is exactly what this writer lost in translation in Japan needs to take me back home and remind me of a bittersweet memory I used to know. Hiatuses of almost a half decade are all good when the 'Blood' of the last album still sounds as fresh as the 'Unstoppable' and 'Green and Gold' roots double-bill opener the moment it played, now five years later. A sensational sophomore album that was even bigger and better than the definitive debut classic 'Is Your Love Big Enough' from the best of British, who now 'Lost and Found' is no longer 'Elusive' like one of her outstanding numbers. And this new one is about to set the Spotify streams soaring as soon as it highly anticapted and eagerly awaited plays. The first R&B keys playing like something that sounds somewhere between Floetry and Jill Scott for a singer that is about to channel her Sade side, switching up her sound again. All whilst remaining true to self comfortable and creating her catalogue in her 30th year around the sun.

'Bittersweet' is a beautiful, happy return for many a fan tweeting and asking for new material like thrift shopping for threads. And in our digital age of overshared trends nothing fits like this nuanced and nostalgic taste of an old soul. You want to talk about range? How about vocal range? Modern music needs artists like Lianne La Havas back right now. From the pink blood and 'Green and Gold' Jamaican roots, to the red of a Colors music video vocal debut in a real big fit. This artist belongs with Adele and Leeds legend Corinne Bailey Rae as the best of the best. Even internationally beyond the British Isles. This is why the late, great Prince announced his last 'Hit N Run' tour live from her London living room, before putting her backing and vocal interludes on his 'Art Official Cage' album as a "no such thing as me or mine" affirmation, before finding his way back home. A sign off like prolific producer Pharrell's one for the 'Alaska' range talent of last years best artist and album (sorry Billie) Maggie Rogers. Neither amazing artist making their own career and luck needed it. But how cool was it?

"Please stop asking, "Do you still love me?"/Don't have much to say, let's speak in the morning/Please don't do this, I'm too far away/Don't know what to tell you, babe", she opens with bitter honesty for her first track in years. Lamenting a love lost before either party wants to admit it. We've all been there and it's all so unfair. But Havas' hallmark sound deals with it the best way she can through singing through the pain. The 'Wonderful', 'Midnight' and 'Don't Wake Me Up' singer leaves no room for doubt like the Unstoppable, undeniable cover versions of Dionne Warwick's 'I Say A Little Prayer', Alt-J's 'Warm Foothills' and 'Baltimore' by Nina Simone you vibe with on the score of her Spotify soundtrack. But now she makes the perfect playlist that's all bitter and sweet, culminating with real and raw lyrics like, "I slept all Friday and he couldn't get through/If we're good tomorrow, does that make it true?/Not completely, we're pickin' that fight everyday/This s###'s goin' nowhere, baby", that we all need in a modern day and way, filtered through the fake. The only thing 'Bittersweet' about Lianne's return is the name of the song for its perfect photograph album artwork and the full release that's surely forthcoming. As the sun goes down there's no more hanging around now. Born again from all the broken pieces do you feel that post Winter mist of Summer rain? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

REVIEW: BEST COAST-ALWAYS TOMORROW

4/5

Coast To Most. 

Awesomely atmospheric like the haze of a midnight malaise that transcends as your mind transforms to what matters, "these California nights" live atop the landmark Capitol Records tower in Los Angeles is as scene setting as that titled last album off the Best Coast in 2015. But now there's 'Always Tomorrow' a half decade later. And like 'Heaven Sent' there's catchy tracks like what we hope is only the common cold from the jump in the "wait, wait, wait for you" of the 'Different Light' for a city that seems alien in twilight. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno are back as the King James and A.D. like dynamic duo of music in the city of angels. Laker looking to heaven sent give us another classic like 'Fade Away', 'The Only Place' and 'Crazy For You'. Like a Rolling Stone magazine generation from Santa Monica to Malibu, or Marina Del Rey to Lana Del Rey, right now the sounds of California swing like the sixties with the power of a woman at the Joplin or Joni like forefront for all you Mama and Papas. You only have to see the Paul Thomas Anderson directed Haim hallmark music videos for one of the most anticipated albums of the year to see just how instant vintage classic everything is getting off the Sunset Strip. 'Everything Has Changed'. But as Bethany sings "I used to drink nothing but water and whiskey" about putting the bottle down and picking herself up finding happiness in another and not another round, Best Coast like a Brooklyn baby still belong here as the best on the West Coast.

Snoop Dogg hasn't even got it like this. From Long Beach to Compton. On 'For The First Time', Beth and Bruno bring us something that in testament sounds like a throwback, but it's a brand new day as Cosentino compellingly sings, "the demons inside of me might have finally been set free." Top down driving down the road of her recovery to another ode to getting happy and healthy, which is exactly what we need in a time were cancel culture seems as fickle as Hollywood, as we are killing each other, let alone ourselves. 'Graceless Kids'...it sure seems like that, but this track has that power and beauty. As "the Queen of the graceless kids" a week after Norah Jones brought her Puss N Boots country, alt-folk supergroup back, shows she can write a song just as simply lyrically good as the diamond mined 'Come Away With Me', singer as she says, "I might pretend like I don't care/Most of the time I swear I don't/Oh, on the days where nothing makes sense/Please just remember that I love you the most". On 'Wreckage' Best's Beth gets more of her own way. Although in the recovery department relapse is a threat and as she sings, "so if I'm good now why do I feel like a failure almost everyday" she knows. Acknowledging that even when we put the broken pieces back together, there's still cracks. We're still fighting with what we've beat. It's all part of the 'Rollercoaster' as Cosentino and Bobb take us up and down like a merry go round on this track. But as Bethany sings, "breathe it in/breathe it out" on 'Master Of My Own Mind' she becomes one as she focuses to get a fix on her self like she does the picks of her guitar. And it all sounds so good. For every bad day there's the second chance of tomorrow.

'Master' breaks into a masterful musical pitch change from the guitar HERo and a man with more instruments than a good doctor. Medical or "f### the police" N.W.A. Dre. The Wild West saloon sounding 'True' could find itself in the most stetson Western parts of this city as this lovely love song in the exact elixir for a heartbreak hangover. But for a perfect partnership that has scored hits and favourites like 'I Wanna Know', 'I Don't Know Why', 'Up All Night' and 'Dreaming All Night', the standout 'Seeing Red' like a raging bull beautifully begins like it ends in nostalgic neon like something straight out the storm drains of a Ryan Gosling 'Drive' soundtrack nightcall. 'Make It Last' is a track that will do exactly that too for this lasting legendary legacy of this rock group...always. Whilst 'Tomorrow' also brings us the cool 'Used To Be' closer on a collection you can just let play as you plug in, tune your radio to auxillary and drive from the bright lights of the big city 'till all you see is sun, sand, sea and you and me. As Beth beautifully sings,"Did you forget about me?/I'm sure that you're trying to/Though I don't want it to be true/It's only been a year/But I've let go of so much fear/And I just want what's best for you", could you even lament lost love more lovingly? The words just fit like life's poetry. And now one of the best rock outfits just got tighter. This album is Los Angeles timeless all the way to the city French window view under the palm tree shade of some album artwork that looks like its stayed at the 'Hotel California' for a classic concept that really flies like The Eagles. In Los Angeles to start a tragic 2020 we've already lost Kobe And GiGi. Times seem hard on the boulevard with broken dreams the Green Day same. But still like momma knows this coast is still best, there's 'Always Tomorrow'. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Different Light', 'Seeing Red', 'Used To Be'. 

REVIEW: BTS-MAP OF THE SOUL: 7

4/5

The Seventh Seal. 

Map your way to Seoul, South Korea to go to the source of K-Pop juggernaut BTS and you will find the soul of this idol generation persona. Mania hasn't been this manic since The Beatles made one direction to the Ed Sullivan Show (or these guys genius 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert' homage in black and white, don't adjust your sets) and left more U.S. teenagers screaming than 'American Horror Story'. In the middle of a trendy thrift store downtown last year in Seoul, Korea I heard one of their earliest, greatest hits 'Spring Day' playing sometime in September like it was the sunrise start of the season for the start of my adventure in the Far East. That's just how atmospheric it was and not just for me. With the energy of the public vibing to this record in-store like it was a live show. Beautiful. Like the fact that from The Graham Norton Show in my jolly old England, to Fallon, to Ellen. To a Time magazine cover and stirring, uplifting speeches at the U.N. lead by R.M., these boys have been inspiring a whole new generation they lead from the new school exchange to love themselves like the idols that they and we all are. It's a message that timely is as beautiful as it is powerful and one we all need now. From the soul of South Korea where suicide in young people famous and alike has reached epidemic levels, to the watching world struggling just as much as they are surviving with inspiration like this. But right now South Korea is more than on the map. No matter what the North or a dictator like Trump have said. He doesn't like the Oscar winning 'Best Picture' and international one 'Parasite'? But it sounds like a biography about him (word to Bette Midler for the joke inspo) and like the 'Parasite' production Twitter said, he's probably salty because he can't read the one-inch subtitles. But from Oscars to Grammy families and Best Picture's to Best International Acts, even in Korean, none of BTS legendary lyrics and moving message is lost in translation. The future is in Seoul.

Seventh year. Seven members. Seventh seal. Seventh album. 'Map Of The Soul 7'. "All seven and we'll watch them fall", these young prince's smoke 'em all. Now nothing will stand in their 'Love Yourself' way. From YouTube movies to Spotify interactive albums. They own the playlist of the streaming digital age like the core of Korea does. And this landmark album lands just at the right time with the Best Picture painting a portrait of Asia being the continent on the map with this year's 2020 Olympic Games being held in Tokyo, Japan. This time last year the 'Map Of The Soul' was all about 'Persona' on an extended play. And some of those tracks that floored us make the final cut here like a greatest hits package for this interactive album. From the idols biggest hit yet 'Boy With Luv' featuring a Stan like Haim or Matthew McConaughey (or myself. I love BTS more than I should love myself), Halsey hallmark, to the cool grooves of 'Make It Right'. The "remedy" of the Parisian perfect beautiful ballad 'Jamais Vu' and the Army roll call of 'Dionysus'. But it's the 'Intro: Persona' from R.M. as masterful as his 'mono' playlist album classic that really sets things off again like the take them to school video for this rap monster who has bars like convenience stores have Snickers no matter how you say it. "Persona/Who the hell am I/I just wanna go I just wanna fly/I just wanna give you all the voices till I die/I just wanna give you, all the shoulders when you cry." These boys can really rhyme and they know hip-hop like the Supreme Seoul know how to 80's Tommy Hilfiger and Kangol dress and Run-DMC walk this way. And if you don't agree than how about the camera phone flash and SNL like 'Mic Drop' of Suga's 'Shadow' interlude that acts as the into to all 'Map's' new tracks? Setting off the real portion of this new album as he goes off like this wasn't pop for the masked singers graffiti laced lyrics, to go video that goes bar for bar with R.M.'s 'Persona' like it was a battle rap. "Look down, it's gotten even bigger/I run but the shadow follows, as dark as the light's intense/I'm afraid, flying high is terrifying/No one told me how lonely it is up there/I can leap in the air but also plunge, now I know/Running away could be an option too, pause/People say there's splendor in the bright ligtht/But my growing shadow swallows me and I become a monster". Friedrich Nietzsche in a world of misery said, "when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you" and this is Method Man deep. DAMN! See what I and he just said? Now that doesn't need a translation. 아닌! 

Let's get it. Let get it. Let's get it. Let's get it. Now how about a 'Chicken Noodle Soup' with a soda and a Becky G assist on the side as we "let it rain" and "clear it out"? How he turned the worlds most annoying song and dance into a cool classic is bucking crazy! Because your hope and my hope J-Hope's swagger is on 100 right now for his own solo outing. Fast and Furious cereal cars, Han drift drag smoke screeching around him whilst he gives it up in the coolest drip and jump drops on the hood, rhyming like a baller in his b-boy stance. "Popping, rocking, hopping, tutting, Dougie, flexin, swagging." Woah! It's been one hot summer of Hope. And now the nicest 'Ego' continues on the 'Outro' and Big Hit exclusive that shows not only can he rap too, but he can make a party anthem like no other in this dynamite Dionysus discography as versatile as this groups hairdresser, all on his own. Just like the vibrant video that sees him giant fall into a seasonal slumber, leaning over to blow out the candles and strike a pose for an old family photo. Before hitting a Kingsman like Saville Row tailor in this trailer (how BTS use these music video trailers to promote their albums like movies is genius and amazing in its mastering, setting the new industry standard) before driving a new Vegas, Tokyo and Seoul like neon like their hair strip as heart paddles resuscitate him to the reclining drivers seat of a vintage, ruby red Mercedes as we ride shotgun. Just let J-Hope and that infectious smile be J-Hope. "We're now going to progress to some steps which are a bit more difficult". There's nothing like this. "Ready, set, begin". And there's nothing quite like this Seventh heaven as Hope sings, "I don't care/So we're here/The way is shinin'/Keep goin' on" like the icon is idol is. From a vocal off with Aussie ruling legend Sia, to the beautiful 'Black Swan' as powerful as Portman with its classic chereography. This album is all killer no 'Filter' in this selfie selfish age. From the 'Louder Than Bombs' bass boost explosion, to the track that really goes in and puts 'ON' in a military grade, music video dance off like the click, clack of 'Ugh'. The rhymes are sick and these boys are slick all the way to the atmospheric '00.00 (Zero Hour)' when Jimin, V and that "worldwide handsome" one are up still working. This is there time and like Jungkook on 'My Time' says, "24, feels like I became a grown-up faster than everyone else/My life has been a movie, all the time/I ran to where the sun rises every single night/It's like I've been to someone's tomorrow/The boy who found the world too big/Keep on runnin’ errday, mic pic it up/Friends ridin’ subway, I’ll be in the airplane mode/All over the world rock on, I made my own lotto/But is it too fast? There're traces of losses/Don't know what to do with, am I livin' this right? Why am I alone in a different time and space?" Now approaching just a quarter of their life in celebrity crisis, if you don't think these world weary travellers and changers are wise to how this industry really influences than forget Google translate for these maps, what time zone are you on? Here today, but not gone tomorrow with the signature sound, 'Inner Child' of these forever 'Friends' like these titan tracks eternal like the emotion of 'Forever Rain'. This K-Pop mega-superstar collective like the industry itself seems 'Bulletproof' as they shoot for the magnificent 'Moon'. You only need to hear it on 'Respect', "should I go or stay. Put your hands in the air" and your two fingers together in salute. But without them this wouldn't be the way. With intuition, mysticism, inner wisdom, and a deep inward knowing, number 7 might get you to heaven like Chanel. This awakening and enlightening digit seven like strength and spiritual awakening is divine. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'On (Feat. Sia)', 'Interlude: Shadow', 'Outro: Ego'. 

REVIEW: PUSS N BOOTS-SISTER

4/5

Sister Act.  

After a very Murray Christmas, when the country folk of supergroup Puss N Boots put a 'Dear Santa' EP out with the milk and cookies (and don't forget the carrot for Rudolph). A calender cycle after duetting with the 'Lost In Translation' actor of Sofia Coppola's heartwarming hotel prison purgatory, somewhere in a Winters New York fairytale. The spiritual 'Sisters' of Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper have given us a New Year we can all fall in love with this Valentines. Lovingly arm wrapped up from the cold like a scarf with the February 14th release of their debut album follow up. One which shows there's no such thing as no fun even with no fools in their future as they rearview away like Sarandon and Davis, tuning into Dolly in the country F.M. Station. The great 'Great Romancer' off their Yuletide seasonal sessions make it onto this cut too, as unlike Mariah all Puss N Boots still want after Christmas "is an answer". A Christmas chronicle gift from Chris Cringle like Kurt Russell that is Rat Pack right next to the stocking fillers of She and Him, Sia and John Legend's 'A Legendary Christmas' album that is candy cane gunning for Michael Buble's position uptop the tree. With the halfway house between an EP and full record LP, seven track 'Begin Again' last year, Norah Jones introduced us to a new Spotify age way of releasing music by the playlist pick. And now the diamond 'Come Away With Me' singer who has made records with everyone from Dangermouse and Jack White, to the Peter Malick group and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong for the Everley Brothers (with their classic cover album favourite 'Foreverly') brings us the sophomore set of her Puss N Boots supergroup like she already has with The Little Willie's (say again) of a Willie Nelson tribute band. And as the icon with almost as many collaborative records as fellow underrated one Ben Harper gets black and white atmospheric like the albums artwork at the back of a bar, this second act with her smoky siblings is all sister, sister, sister.

Six years ago 'No Fools, No Fun' debuting out the gates left London on a 'Bull Rider' for the 'Pines' and covered 'Jesus etc', 'Down By The River' for some lovely live takes. 'Sister' sits right next to that as a compelling, cohesive set which starts from the inspired instrumental of the classic 'Jamola' standard, before Puss N Boots' Jones, Popper and Dobson all take turns on taking the lead on the openings of the next three tracks. Norah on the instant vintage backroom, 'It's Not Easy' sings, "please stay on the line/and tell me what to do/if you break my heart/I'll do the same to you," for something that could 'Fall' right next to some of her fondest favourites from her deluxe discography. And if you thought that line was lasting there's 'Nothing You Can Do' with "found my direction/something I can keep above the ground and never lose my way again". They may have been fun...but is sounds like the fools really have well and truly gone. 'Lucky' like the gentle country strum and feather drum of "these days can rush away/don't look down/it's already gone/it's already broken." Wise words over a song that could pass you by like the Summer breeze that is just the Spring of a season away, even when we think we are all wrapped up in Winter. Time like nostalgia flies. Can you believe its been over a half decade since these boots walked towards getting together for their first album? Well between 'You and Me' and the smooth songs that play like they've always been around in the corner pocket of a seat next to the pool table, nursing a couple of smooth stroked fingers and a smouldering ashtray, it's like they've never left. Sounding so familiar as these songs we are only just hearing for the first time. Leaving their fingerprints on our old souls and smartphone playlists in this digital age still scratching for vinyl. 'You Don't Know' how good it was as Jones songs "I'm always in my head/it's the only place you are." For those legendary like lyrics that will always last like the legacies made before them in this country's bluesy genre, that from Dolly 9 to 5, to Cash ruling everything around us from Nashville to Tennessee is all about you and me and the love we share. Whether unspoken or sang out loud for everyone dancing with someone to love to hear on this lonely, open roadside. Take a motel break with 'It's A Wonderful Lie' and learn that even without this love you can "still get by on (your) own".

'Sister's' title track has Puss N Boots doing it for themselves as they pick each other up like a country version of Destiny Child's 'Girl'. "Sister there's a right from wrong/Won't you listen to my song/I can't let you go on", they sing. Together. For each other. Forever. Even if, "you can take my money/you can take my man". Nothing can keep this blue big three apart. Even the "busted heart" of 'The Razor Song' that cuts like a jagged edge, as they harmonise "these city lights are hung up like the stars/you'll hang your hat on anything that shines." Cutting a perfect picture of someone distracted by the big city and not the bright lights that wait for him a subway to the suburbs home. The beautiful 'Angel Dream' hauntingly watches over you like a "dream" and "lifeline" that's "drifting through space". "I saw an angel/I saw my face/I can only thank God it was not too late", Jones jonzes on some of her deepest and subtly darkest, stirringly written vocals yet. "What you do when you got no money/What do you do when the car breaks down/You don't cry/You don't cry," the Boots resolve on 'Same Ol' Bull####". But "no car, no phone, no money, no home, no man, no hand, no food, no school" it's not a case of new day/same s### for Puss. "You got to mellow out!" And then the ode to honey 'Joey' isn't a "how you doin'" to the 'Friends' star (sorry Matt LeBlanc), but one of the "Joey if you're hurting so am I", sweetest best. But who cares if it's greener on the other side because the classic closer shows 'The Grass Is Blue' for the blues outfit. As Norah nuances "I just can't make it one day without you/unless I pretend the opposite is true/Rivers flow backwards/Valleys are high/Mountains are level/Truth is a lie/I'm perfectly fine and I don't miss you/And the sky is grey and the grass is blue", can you think of an artist that amazes today that is so contemporary and compelling and paints a perfect lyrical picture, all whilst directly, straight to the heart of matters telling us like it is? Well how about her 'Sisters'? With the boots strapped back on just after Santa took his off, we only hope this Puss purrs at our porch before we fall into another Christmas like last. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Jamola', 'Angel Dream', 'The Grass Is Blue'.