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Bong Mines Entertainment (15 KP) rated VOLUME 1 by Tash in Music

Sep 2, 2019

VOLUME 1 by Tash

2019 | Soul

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Album Rating

Tash is a talented singer-songwriter and gifted musician from Australia. Not too long ago, she released a music video for her lovely single, entitled, “The Signs”.

“I wrote ‘The Signs’ in a similar headspace to the way I wrote ‘DREAMING’. It’s about feeling suspicious that omens exist and that maybe I’d done something to deserve my own misfortune. I don’t actually believe in any of that stuff, but at the time I’d probably had a weird week and started wondering if opening umbrellas indoors is the cause of it.” – Tash

The audiovisual, equipped with a classic ‘80s flare, opt for sprinkles of VHS frames and subtle animation.

Also, the music video follows a relaxed Tash as she travels sonically through the bustling city at nighttime.

‘The Signs’ is featured on Tash’s latest EP, entitled, “VOLUME 1”. The likable 5-track project contains her previously released tune, entitled, “What a Lovely Mess”.

“Tash is such a prolific songwriter and we feel that anyone who listens to the EP is going to have a very special listening experience” – producer of the EP, Mark J Feist (Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Little Mix)

Tash was discovered by multi-platinum record producer and songwriter Mark J. Feist on Instagram.
She started by posting acoustic covers of popular songs and has since reached over 800K impressions a week.

Tash has quickly established herself as one of this year’s most exciting artists to watch.

She was born into a musical family to a guitar-teaching mother and bass-playing father.

At such a young age, she has sold out numerous shows including performances at Soho House NYC, Sayers Club Los Angeles, Peppermint Club, and Hotel Cafe.

So far, her music has amassed over 80M streams and garnered over 12M views online across various social media platforms.

“I’m questioning the way it works what did I do to deserve this change of rhythm so bitter, I’m getting butthurt about almost everything, it’s unsettling. Focus on better things. Stop, stop hiding in your euphemisms, believing your superstition, following your intuition ain’t always so good for you. I know if you bring bad, the bad will come to you. That doesn’t mean that all the black cat bullsh*t is actually true, nah. Don’t need my fortune told to tell me I’ve got unrequited love. I’ve got issues with my trust. I’ve got a conscience. That’s enough for me to think that’s enough for me.” – lyrics, “The Signs”

Tash is the first artist to ever perform on the roof at the Facebook Campus.

Her songs have been added to over 20+ Spotify, Amazon, and Apple playlists.

Also, she was placed on the Apple Music homepage in the USA as well as featured in their Swipe Up viral campaign.

Kudos

Ross (3284 KP) rated Faithless in Books

Sep 3, 2019

Faithless

Graham Austin-King | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Good dark fantasy in an interesting setting

Faithless takes place in a world where blacksmithing is a big deal. Those who master the arts of smithing are priests in the religion of the Forgefather. The lowest class of people are those spending their lives down mines, struggling to find anything more valuable than coal in order to meet their tally and avoid a whipping. This is the essence of the world we are in, with an established class system and clear economy, based on metal ores.
There is a hint of magic here, with chanting at the forge, but until the final few chapters it is unclear whether this is magic or simply a way to mark time and ensure the metal is at the right temperature and worked at the right pace. Not overly labouring the magic here was an excellent choice by the author, as it keeps the attention on the mundane aspects of life, which is excellently told.
The story follows two main characters, firstly Wynn, a young lad sold (or mis-sold in his mind) by his father, a struggling farmer, into the mines for a life of back-breaking work down cramped, dangerous caves, endlessly trying to find enough ore to avoid a beating. His only chance of escaping the mines is to pass the tests and have a chance of ascending to the temple and possibly priesthood. Some way through the book we then meet Kharios, a young adult who appears to have somewhat failed in his first attempts at entering the priesthood (smithing) and is trying to get back to the forge.
The characters' stories are very similar, with hard, thankless, dangerous labour and periods of learning. For some time I struggled to tell the difference between them, thinking they seemed like very similar characters, but I have since re-thought that for reasons.
I found the pacing a little off. There were times I felt like I was reading a biography of a miner, rather than a fantasy novel, as long chapters are essentially that. And then these develop into long chapters learning smithing, was again a bit of a slog. And then all of a sudden we have periods of conflict down the mines, accidents, cave-ins, and the eventual calamity that leads to the second half of the book. The changes in pace were sudden and exciting, but the change was a little extreme at times.
I loved the way the two stories seemed at times independent yet similar, but eventually start to overlap. Though again, we have a change in pace where exciting, cataclysmic events are put aside for another chapter of walloping hot iron.
These pacing issues aside, this was an interesting and well written book with an unusual setting and a good message on belief systems.