Happy birthday to us! It hardly feels like six years since the blog started to catalogue our musings on songs we happen to come across, so glad to still be doing if after all these years. Our thanks go out to all of you for reading the blog, and more recently, to all of you for listening to our recently launched podcast (shameless plug: don't forget to subscribe on iTunes!), and of course, to all of you wonderful makers of fine music, for whom your absence would have stopped this blog making its way past day 1.
And on this anniversary, let's take a minute to recognise one of our favourite songs of 2017 so far that we haven't covered on the blog up until now. Isle of Wight duo CHAMPS first caught our attention at the tail end of 2013 with the track "Savannah." Their new single, "The Garden Is Overgrown", is a pulsating synth-pop number with a cracking chorus at its heart, and bodes well for their upcoming album.
So here we have it, five whole years of running The Metaphorical Boat. Where has the time gone? (No really, where has the time gone? Can any physicists help me with that conundrum?). When I first registered the name on Blogger just so I could write some half-formed thoughts about a band I heard in a bar in Nashville, I had no idea that it would still still be going strong after such a length of time, but here we are.
The five years of running TMB has been one of my most rewarding experiences, and it has led to some great opportunities. I've got to write for some of my favourite publications, including getting to write gig reviews for the website for one of my favourite radio show, Across The Line (although admittedly, looking back at some of my reviews from their archive, there's a few things I might have changed if I were reviewing them today. The 3th paragraph of this one, for example).
I've also had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people who had first come across me as a result of this blog, and whom I would never had had the opportunity to meet if I had just kept my opinions about music to myself. And of course, there is so much fantastic, enriching music that I would not have come across unless this blog existed, and so to every maker of music, whether you're signed to the biggest record label in the world or are self-sufficient, whether you're making music solely for money or solely for the heck of it, you have my most sincere gratitude.
Music blogging has changed a bit since I started 5 years ago. The amount of music blogs appears to have steadily decreased in that time - The Hype Machine is currently tracking 701 music blogs (including yours truly), which is down by a few hundred since 2011, and it seems as if people are more likely to turn to music recommendation services like Spotify for new music than they are a music blog. However, that doesn't mean that the two services cannot happily coexist.
Up until the end of the year I was a bit of a Spotify sceptic, only really using it if there's a song I can't hear anywhere else. However, since then I've been won over by their Discover Weekly feature (which recommends songs to you based on what you listen to), and as a result I'm listening to a lot more new music than I had previously, which as a result has filtered into me writing about more music on the blog. It's also helped to introduce me to music that I otherwise would have immediate dismissed. I didn't realise that I enjoyed Tuareg music, but then along comes a band like Imarhan on my playlist and I'm immediately hooked -
And Spotify recommendation playlists end up relying on blogs too. I've had a few cases where someone has come across a song on Spotify, loved it, then visited TMB to learn more about the artist and get some more context into them. And there's evidence that if a song is getting a buzz on blogs, then Spotify are more likely to favorably add the song to one of their highly influential, lucrative playlists, even if the band is unsigned. So there's still room for music blogs, even if the focus appears to have shifted slightly.
So here's to the first 5 years of The Metaphorical Boat. Hopefully there'll be several more to come, even if we've slowed things down a bit for the last wee while. Thanks to every one of you who has ever taken the time to read any of our thoughts on the blog, and thanks to all you wonderful makers of fine music, without whom we would never have got past day 1. To see us out, here is what is possibly our favourite song of 2016 so far, "Auld Wives" by Bear's Den, a song that mixes folk music with 80s synth-pop so majestically -
Time for our annual self-congratulatory post, as yesterday, The Metaphorical Boat marked it's fourth year of existence. Go us!
Last year when we were marking this particular milestone, I mentioned that there was uncertainty as to whether the blog would remain afloat by the time we reached the same stage this year. As you can see, we did indeed make it in the end, although we've slowed things down to only a handful of posts each month, which are usually a lot more brief than what we would have tended to post.
There's a few things that we would have liked to cover, but never got around to. For example, the debut album from Public Service Broadcasting was my favourite album of 2013, yet we hadn't got around to reviewing their like reviewing their sophomore album. So I might as well do that now, albeit a bit more briefly than I would have intended:
"Although "The Race For Space" doesn't have the same strength of material as "Inform - Educate - Entertain", as a unified body of work, based around the theme of space exploration, it is much more coherent. The addition of live vocals on the title track and "Valentina" add an ethereal air to the proceedings, and the broadening of PSB's sound palette is very refreshing."
And that's another load off our mind.
So here's to another year at The Metaphorical Boat. Many thanks to anyone who's ever read or listened to anything that we've posted here, and thanks to everyone who makes fantastic music, without whom this blog would never have made it past its first day. We hope to be around writing about some fantastic music for the foreseeable future, but as real life begins to take us further away from music, you can never be too sure.
And to finish off this post is a new-ish song from one of the bands that we've been writing about on this blog from the very beginning, Wonder Villains. They recently covered Stiff Little Fingers' punk classic "Alternative Ulster" for the film Shooting For Socrates, adding a more electronic-pop flavour to the original.
Get out the party poppers, uncork the champagne, and get the oversized Batternberg ready, for today is a monumental occasion for your humble Captain, for today marks The Metaphorical Boat's third birthday. It's been an absolute pleasure writing about lots of wonderful music over the past few years, and I have personally enjoyed every minute of it.
A lot has happened for myself in the 12 months since this blog turned 2 years old. I was really humbled to be a member of the academy who helped to judge the inaugural Northern Ireland Music Prize (deservedly won by Foy Vance). I hope will come back even stronger when the next one is awarded later this year - it's great to see some of the talent we have here get some recognition.
In addition to this blog, I have also been honoured to write for some fantastic other websites for the first time in the past year -
I've interviewed two of my favourite artists, Public Service Broadcasting and Wonder Villains, for the brilliant local music website Chordblossom. The guys behind the website are genuinely some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to get to know, and the Northern Irish music scene is incredibly lucky to have such passionate people championing their music. They're not too bad at football either...
I've also been writing album reviews for one of the best UK music websites, Drowned In Sound. I have been an avid reader of the website for many, many years, and has probably influenced the development of my taste in music more than any other music publication, so being able to write for the website is a real honour.
And last but not least, I've been a moderator and Fresh Faves reviewer for the wonderful Fresh On The Net. It was the shows that Tom Robinson hosts on BBC 6music championing new and under appreciated music that inspired me to set up this blog all those years ago, so it's an absolute pleasure to get involved with the website.
Here are some notable posts that have appeared on the blog since our last birthday -
So it's been a great three years here for The Metaphorical Boat. However, for the first time since we've hit a yearly milestone, I am not sure whether we will still be afloat this time next year. The last year has also seen me make the transition from underemployed graduate to full-time work, which does take a chunk of time away from this blog. However, as I have said before, the moment this blog stops being something I love doing and instead feels like a chore, I will stop running it. For the time being, I have no intention of stopping any time soon, and I'm hardly the only blogger who juggles work with writing about wonderful music. However, as we all know, reality can be a cruel mistress.
But that negativity can hold for another day, so let's end this on a positive note, like this music video of Wonder Villains getting to meet their hero, Gianfranco Zola -
Thank you to everyone who's read this blog, and to all makers of fine, fine, music. If if weren't for all you guys, this blog would never have made it past the first week.
Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the moment that The Metaphorical Boat first set sail on the choppy waters of the blogosphere. It's been a pleasure being able to write about so much great music over the past 730 days, and I truly hope that I will continue to be able to do so for the next few years. I'd like to thank every one of you who have taken time to read and visit this blog, even if it's only been for a few seconds, as well as every artist who has written some of the fine songs that have featured on this blog since it's inception in July 2011. If it wasn't for all of you, this blog wouldn't have made it past the first week.
Here's to several more years of music that floats my Metaphorical Boat, as we continue to dwell upon the biggest musical questions of the day, such as "what makes music such a universal experience?", "will there ever be a better album than "Coming Up"?", and "if you are at a festival wearing a band t-shirt, and whilst walking about the festival site the lead singer of said group comes over to you and points out that you're wearing their band's shirt, what is the appropriate course of action to take?"*
Here are some of the notable posts that have appeared on the blog since our last birthday, a mixture of both the most popular posts and those that I'm most proud of:
The 1975 - Sex - the most clicked-on post in the site's history by a country mile.
Album Review: Suede - Bloodsports - probably the most difficult album review I've had to write, although in hindsight I was probably a bit more vicious that I should have been.
And now the celebrations can begin. Battenberg and Caramacs for all. And by all, I mean me.
*Inspired by my recent attendance at the Glasgowbury Festival. To save my blushes, I'm withholding the name of the group in question, although if you saw me at the festival you'll know who it is. In any event, my reaction was probably incorrect.
Today marks the one year anniversary of The Metaphorical Boat first setting sail. How time flies.
When I first started the blog on Sunday 24th July 2011, my aim was to promote new music that I really enjoyed that I didn't think was getting enough attention. I was inspired to start it following trip I took to Nashville, Tennessee back in March last year.
During my stay, I went to a showcase gig in which 8 artists were performing for the opportunity to grab a slot on the Bonnaroo Festival. As the winner was to be decided based on audience votes, many of the acts put on extravagant performances that were largely style over substance. However, the final band that played on the night did not need any of that to grab my attention. Just really fantastic songs. They were Big Surr, and I fell in love with them almost instantly. Unfortunately they didn't win the competition in the end, but I was won over by their shoegaze sound, and even bought a copy of their cassette at the end of the evening.
The next day, I went onto the internet to see how much had been written about the group. I was disappointed to discover that there was next to nothing written about them on the internet. Annoyed, I told myself that I would start a blog that would highlight some of the best artists that deserved to be shouted from the rooftops. It took me a few months, but having moved back to Belfast from America, I set up The Metaphorical Boat, with my first post being about Big Surr. Since writing about the group they seemed to have slowed things down a bit, although just yesterday they put a new song on YouTube, "Cicada Summer", which gives me hope that they might break through just yet.
Since then, I've written about lots of fantastic artists, many of them from my own particular neck of the woods, and I really love hearing from new and emerging artists who make fantastic music. I've always said that if this blog begins to feel like a chore I would cease updating it immediately, but so far I've sincerely enjoyed running it. When I hear that someone has discovered their new favourite artist after TMB has posted about it, it makes this endeavor worthwhile.
Anyway, I think I've indulged myself a little too much already, so I'll just finish by saying that you to all of you who read this blog, and to all the musicians I've featured for making such wonderful music. If it wasn't for your wonderful songs, this blog would never have got past day 1. Thank you all.
Here's to many more years of music that floats my Metaphorical Boat.
