In my car's stereo: Example — Playing In The Shadows
I generally have an album in my car's stereo for about a week before I change it for something new. Occassionally, I switch back to one of my favourite albums depending on my mood, but I try to listen to an album I haven't listened to before.
After my review of 3 Doors Down's latest album, it dawned on me music critic is more difficult than I thought, and I'm not going to attempt to review albums to such an extent again. I'll leave that to the professionals, but I will give some of my thoughts on the album at the end of each week.
This week, I have been listening to Example's latest album, Playing In The Shadows. I saw Example perform at the Hippodrome nightclub in Kingston a few weeks ago and I was very impressed. He wouldn't usually be someone I would listen to a great deal, but decided to give his albums a go. I have been pleasantly surprised by this album — I love the mixture of hip-hop and dubstep, and many of the songs would go down well in a club, with the dubstep drops and memorable sing-a-long choruses. With production work by Calvin Harris, Nero, Chase & Status, Faithless and Skream, there are some great results.
The album's past singles were Changed The Way You Kissed Me, a trance influenced song, and Example's first UK number one single; Stay Awake produced by Nero; and Natural Distaster, a collaboration with Laidback Luke. The current (at time of writing) single is Midnight Run, which is a much more heartfelt song, and not so 'clubby' and energetic than his previous singles.
Other favourite songs include the Chase & Status produced title track Playing In The Shadows, and the piano ballad CD bonus track, Lying To Yourself.
