Dan Quinton - A Part Of The Plan
 
 
 
It’s time for the first ever Antix Album Review. We thought rather than trying to pick a song from an album to review, we’d just review the whole thing! Todays album is a new one from local artist Dan Quinton. Here’s a quick bit about Dan, before we take a look at his latest album, “A Part Of The Plan”.
 
Bio
 
A wistful singer-songwriter who tends to take a stance between comedic and thought-provoking monologues and lyrical content. As a 25 year old musician, Dan is constantly pushing the boundaries of what being a singer-songwriter can be and is swiftly bolstering his sound into the music scene of the southwest.
 
The Album
 
 
1: Blue Sunday - I’ve heard this song in Dan’s promo videos that he shares on social media, and I really like it. Very jazzy and upbeat. Makes you want to get up and dance along to it. And what really impressed me was the use of the Organ. Something you don’t hear a lot of in modern tracks anymore, but Dan, has used it perfectly. The electric guitar is really nice, the drums have a really cool solid groove, and it all comes together for a wonderful chorus. I could also really hear this song being used in the tv & film world. Great start!
 
 
2: If You Still Do It With Me Everyday - Lovely dreamy piano already setting the vibe. Dan’s voice was a lot softer on this track compared to the opener, which shows his versatility and control. He doesn’t go storming in with big loud belts, he eases you into the album as a whole. The backing vocals were amazing. Really, really nice. It gave me early 2000’s easy listening vibes, and kind of reminded me of Toploaders “Dancing In The Moonlight” for some reason. Some nice acoustic guitar in there too, as well as…a harmonica?! Again, something you don’t hear too much of in today's music, but it fits in perfectly!
 
 
3: Hamish - We’re only three tracks in, but I really started to get a sense of how good Dan, is as a songwriter and producer. Some more guitar and even some bongo’s which was unexpected. But it’s different, and thinking outside of the box which is what I like! Once again, complemented by some lovely soothing backing vocals. This track even featured….a key change! So underutilized in todays market, but keeps the song interesting. One thing that stood out to me was the lines “If I was gay, I’d be straight up your way”, which I found quite funny, but because I know exactly what Dan means! He’s showing love towards this person who he thinks is a wonderful human, and who is maybe on the attractive side, and Dan’s simply complimenting their appearance and nature. Very clever.
 
 
4: Demons (Those Old Days) - This one didn’t posses as much energy as the other tracks….but that’s good. It still has that head nodding ability which is good. Much more laid back, much more chill, short and sweet. Again, the backing vocals really lift up the track and stop it from getting too dark. The bass is simple, but it elevates the rest of the track and keeps it interesting. And another point for using a slightly outdated instrument - the banjo. But it fits perfectly.
 
 
5: Time - I really love how the song builds up out of nowhere into a beautiful uplifting chorus. And it’s one again that makes you want to dance along. It gives me festival vibes if I’m honest. A hot, muddy tent, but everyone is slightly drunk and they’re having an awesome time just singing along and dancing. It kind of reminds me of “Castle On The Hill” if it was less pop and more singer songwriter. The song ends with “Maybe you and I should spend a little bit of time”. He ended with the song title which is great. Someone could have this album on in the background and then go “oh that must have been Time. I enjoyed that song”.
 
 
6: Oh Lady - Back to a more mellow sound now, and I like that the vocal has some kind of effect on it that makes it sound like a telephone call, or a voice recording. Some more nice dreamy chords floating around. Short but sweet.
 
 
7: Crazy (Love’s A Game) - This song was very 50’s/60’s kinda vibe, but with a modern twist. It’s got that ballroom dancing time signature too which I like. Another song with love as the theme, and I really love the overall feel of this one. It’s a very romantic song as well. Another that I feel would fit in perfectly in a movie.
 
 
8: No More Getting In My Head - This is Dan, doing what he does best. Making great songs that make you want to dance and sing along. It might be niche, but I would definitely play this during a road trip somewhere. Some of the lyrics that I’ve picked out were “No more messing with my head. I’ve been on the mend. So maybe I’ll get drunk instead”. Really clever. The title makes it seem like a malicious song, but it’s actually a really nice and upbeat one. And the more I listened to it, the more I thought, maybe it’s about trying not to fall for someone again in fear of being messed around. Clever.
 
 
 
9: Worth - Beautiful piano and some soft falsetto vocals. It features more of the cello and violin. And something that popped into my head was listening to this underneath the stars. Again, maybe one for the movie world. A slow ballad where I love the title, and love the ending. Fantastic.
 
 
10: Friend - The closing track. And I couldn’t have picked a better one personally. Some spacey electric guitar with some more orchestral instruments. More soft sounding vocals and another ballad type song, something that I think Dan, is a specialist at. The whole song build and builds, all the way to this great climax with a guitar solo embedded deep down. I was really impressed with the production quality on this one. It feels very professional. The songwriting as well was top notch!
 
 
Final Thoughts.
 
I really enjoyed the album. It was all of the thing that you want from an album. Easy to listen to, but still fun with some surprises buried in there to keep you engaged and to keep the good feelings flowing. Something I’ll end on is how impressed I was with not just the production, but specifically the songwriting. It’s absolutely top notch and I’ll end by saying that I think Dan, is the best songwriter that I know personally!
 
Congrats on the album, Dan. I had a lot of fun listening to it. The only thing that would make it perfect was if it was a little bit longer. But I’ll definitely be back for the next album!
 
9/10

Today, we’re looking at the truly amazing artist that is Vicky Limm, and her latest song “Beautiful Ghost”. Let’s check it out!
 
The song starts with a really cool piano progression that loops throughout most of the track. I can already feel this eerie vibe from the song, it’s like something that you would hear in a paranormal activity movie. Over the top of the piano part, we’re introduced to this really cool synth  descending riff. Although it does remind me a little of the hit Ed Sheeran song which featured Eminem and 50 Cent “Remember The Name” which shares a similar decending baseline, it certainly doesn’t feel out of place, and really adds to the atmosphere of the song.
 
I really love the lyrics in this creepy masterpiece too! “You’re like poison to my veins, so I don’t know why I stay”. Really really strong! There’s that battle of knowing something or someone is bad for you, but you can’t help but stick with it. I kinda get a sense that it’s the character In this story having a conversation with the ghost inside of them, again something that would fit in perfectly inside a Hollywood paranormal blockbuster.
 
Moving on to the chorus now and I love the harmonies! It feels so magical, and sounds beautifully elegant. It’s like this beam of light all of a sudden shining through the darkness. Perhaps the light trying to fight off the dark side that’s consuming the main character? Really nice, and so beautiful.
 
I love it when a song instantly grips you from the first beat and captures your attention. You don’t have to listen to hard to the lyrics to understand the story which is so common with so many songs. You can just relax and let the music drift you away, which is exactly what happens when listening to “Beautiful Ghost”.
 
Nice work Vicky, keep up the great work!

Written by Jack Saunders

We are taking over one of the biggest nightclubs in Somerset - Club Neo on Friday 30th August for an end of festival season party like no other - #GetInvolved, save the date in your diaries!

More details coming soon!

​Yeovil Beer Fest 2024 this year raised £13,000 for charity and good causes. 

The event organised by Ria and Gavin Ledbury was a huge success this year, with live music provided by Antix Music Network across 2 stages; the main stage with Velvet Thunder, Bad Uncle and D-State amongst others, with the acoustic stage hosting acts such as Georgina Ball, Alfie Evans, Jack Saunders, and Tom Clements. 

Will we back next year? You'll have to follow us to find out more!

Congrats to the whole team!

This week I’ve managed to gain an early listen to Sadcult’s latest song “Sleep”.
 
But before we get into the song itself, let’s talk a little about who Sadcult are, shall we?
 
Sadcult are a 3-piece band made up of Sam Newland on guitar and vocals, Pete Critchell on Bass Guitar and Chad White on drums. From dynamic vocals to thick guitar riffs, this band encapsulates the sharp edges of alternative and grunge, not just “reviving” the subculture, but making something of their own from it. For a band made up of just 3 members, they can certainly make some noise. Now onto the song!
 
The song starts off with a drum machine looping a simple beat whilst the electric guitar plays a riff over the loop. After a couple of seconds, we hear the vocals come in really softly, almost like a loud whisper. It’s the perfect approach considering the song itself seems quite chilled out and mellow, and having a loud screaming vocalist for this section would just feel out of place. However, the mellow dreamy nature of the track doesn’t last for long.

The chorus kicks in and it turns what was a mellow track into a lovely sounding grunge anthem. Again, so many artists think just because their instruments are loud, that the vocals have to be shouted into a microphone to really get the message across. It shows some discipline which I think is something that goes under the radar. Again it’s probably not something that is seen as ‘Rock n Roll’, but if bands didn’t have some form of discipline then we wouldn’t get such a huge influx of great music.
 
My favourite part is the bridge section of the song. The drums start opening up and pounding and there’s a really awesome but simple guitar solo. Simple is not an insult either. Some of the best guitar players in the world have often agreed on simple is better. You could have a super fast and technical solo, but it could easily be seen as just noise and not really add anything to the track. Where as this solo is just enough to keep the flow going, but also add that little something different to keep the listener engaged. Finally, the track ends how it started. With a simple drum machine beat, mellow guitar and the whisper of the singer.
 
Great effort Sadcult. I always love being surprised and that’s exactly what you guys did. Simple but effective.

Written by Jack Saunders​

I usually do these reviews for artists who are fairly local and are unsigned. But, I thought since it’s a new year, I’ll start expanding my reviews to artists and songs that are a bit bigger than just the South West of England and are from my favourite artists who inspire me. So, today’s review is on a song that has just been released today (01/01/2024) and is called “run away girl” and is by Alice Merton.

Now a bit of background about Alice. Merton is a British-based German-Irish-Canadian singer-songwriter. She achieved mainstream success with her debut single “No Roots” in 2017, and has since released two albums. Her debut album “Mint” was released in 2019, and her latest album “S.I.D.E.S.” was released in 2022. Her music is described as alternative rock & pop rock, however the song we’re talking about today is what I would class as indie pop. Now onto the song!​

The song starts with a plucky synth progression, almost similar to “Bad Habits”, with the distant sound of Alice’s vocals repeating “oh-oh”. Then we’re thrown into the first verse which has a really grooving bassline with some great drums and some synth’s swirling around in the background.
“Run away, girl, don't you ever look back. There’s a hole in the sky with your name in the cracks. So run away, kid, watch it all unfold, You gotta cut ‘em loose to find your home.” A really powerful first verse. I can’t help but feel as if Alice is writing about herself in the third person. Alice has admitted before that she’s struggled with identity and a sense of belonging, due to her parents regularly relocating to different countries, and as such, leaving her feel as if she has no concrete home.

Another lyric I really love is ‘The sirens scream down every road. While the signs light up “This way to gold”’. It’s a really clever way of saying she's struggling with the mixed signals that life throws. One element is warning her, don’t come down here, stay away, whilst another element is saying this is the path to your dreams. I think we’ve all experienced something similar at some point in our own lives.
 
Onto the chorus. I really love it! The great thing about Alice, is all of her chorus’ make you feel something. I basically binged her entire discography on a train back from Penrith last year after seeing her live at a festival. I think she’s the only artist where I've liked all of her work. I’m a massive fan of Ed Sheeran, but there's a few of his songs which I will skip every time, or the song just doesn’t make me feel anything. But I don't feel that with any of Merton’s songs. And especially not this one. Her sound and vocal delivery really reminds me of the indie giants “The Killers”. You can tell that she’s heavily influenced by them, and she’s not afraid to let that show in her work. But it’s still fresh and new. I don’t listen to the song and say to myself she’s trying to make a Killers song. It’s the structure, the instrument arrangements, the way they both let the bass and drums drive the track rather than a guitar. And they both know how to make a really uplifting chorus! “So I cut the shackles and changed my name, and I shed my past like skin on a snake”, it's a really weird phrasing, but weird in a good way. It’s not a common phrasing you hear in modern pop songs. Of course there are thousands of songs about running away from who you used to be and trying to find yourself. But the phrasing of shedding the past like skin on a snake is so different. It’s clearly not a past that Alice looks back on fondly, which is why she describes it in such a brutal and blunt manner.

In terms of the music itself, like The Killers, Alice uses some really cool synth lines to lift the chorus along with the funky bassline and dance drums. The way it lifts gives you this sense of freedom and joy. The shackles of the past have been cut, and now's the time to run free towards this new chapter.
 
I’m sure as you can tell, I am a big admirer of Alice’s work. It just feels like with every new release, you can hear how she’s developed as a person, and musician. It feels like progression, and it feels like you are also moving forward, and I think that’s a feeling that everyone enjoys. Maybe that's why I love the song so much?
 
If you’re looking to discover some new music this year, then I cannot recommend this song enough. It’s definitely a genre i’ll be delving into more, both as a listener, and a musician.

It’s not very often that I get to review a dance song. Even more rare that I review the person we’re talking about today who is none other than Mr Antix himself - Frazer Mitchell!
 
The track is called “We Came To Boogie” and it’s much different than most of the mainstream dance music that we hear in the charts. Rather than relying on catchy lyrics, Frazer lets the beat do all the talking for him. But before we dive into the track a bit deeper, let’s find out a bit more about Frazer.
 
Frazer Mitchell is a DJ & producer based in Weymouth, Dorset. He’s mainly affiliated with the EDM genre, however he did achieve some mainstream success when he uploaded a cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”, which earned him a #1 on the Amazon Download Charts. Frazer has headlined and performed at many festivals throughout the South; including North Dorset 7s Fest, Yeovil Beer Fest, Home Farm Fest, Party In The Park, and has supported other artists such as Dave Pearce, Sash, Judge Jules & N Trance. He is also the founder & director of Antix Music Network - An ever growing support network for the South West music scene. Now back to the music!

​What I love about “We Came To Boogie”, is how it fuses two different genres and sounds, into one. The song starts with your typical dance beat and has a plucky piano riff looping around with some vocals echoing around in the background. After a while, the beat fades out and here is where we hear the second genre come in. And surprisingly, it’s very Latin America influenced, with some bongo’s replacing the dance beat, and a mariachi band’s trumpet playing over the top of the funky bongo beat. You feel like you’re in somewhere like Mexico or Brazil in the heat of a traditional Latin Fiesta celebration. I could very easily imagine the party atmosphere with locals doing the Cha-Cha in the streets, the children hitting a Piñata and “We Came To Boogie” filling the town!
​
After a few run throughs, the mariachi band is replaced by a really nice deep house beat that takes you from the streets of Mexico, into a vibrant night club, or even a boat party being held in the warm waters of the Gulf. It’s two genres that I feel are the perfect combination. Both sections are all about rhythm, dancing and just having a great time. And that’s exactly what I could imagine people doing when they hear this track!
 
I really enjoyed this one. It’s energy, it’s vibe, the combination of the two genres, it’s just got that party atmosphere about it. Definitely a track to put on if you’re trying to get in the mood for a night out on the town.
 
5/5

​Rizen are back!! I said at the end of my last review that I didn’t think that would be the last I hear from Rizen, and I’m certainly glad I was right. The band is back with another track from their 2023 album “Ex Cinere” and it’s called “Freeway”.
 
If you missed the last review of Rizen, then allow me to briefly introduce them to you. Rizen are a 80’s rock influenced band made up of the quintet of Adrian, Brian, Chris, Mikey & Josh. We previously reviewed their song “Chicken Little” which I really liked. It made me feel like a kid again listening to Guns N Roses in the back of a car with my dad. But enough about last time, let’s talk about the song that we’re reviewing today which is called “Freeway”.
 
What I really love about this song is its energy. I love songs that give me a memory or some kind of vision, and in this case, it’s driving along the hot American desert with no one else but you, some friends, an old convertible  and this song that makes you want to put your foot down and enjoy the moment. Now I’ve never done that myself, but it’s really not hard to put yourself in that situation. Those are the kind of songs that I really enjoy.

The song itself starts off with a distorted electric guitar playing a riff that to me, reminds me of Matt Willis’ song “crash”. After a few run throughs, we hear the bass introduced along with a kick drum slowly come in, before building up to the main beat. What I like about the buildup is i could easily imagine Rizen gracing the stage to a group of screaming fans, as the lead singer asks the crowd “are you ready?!”. The chorus is also really nice and catchy, even if you don’t know the lyrics, after a few listens you find yourself singing along with the song. “Until the sun goes down, we roam from town to town, out on the freeway”. I really like it, the melody is perfect, it’s catchy, and as I’ve said before, it gives you that image that we see so often in movies. The open road, a car full of friends, and a great song to accompany it, and that song has to be “Freeway”.
 
I think you can tell how much I enjoyed this song. It was a completely different vibe compared to the previous song we reviewed from Rizen; “Chicken Little”. And I cannot commend Rizen more for keeping things fresh and interesting like they did with “Freeway”.
 
Another banger, Rizen. Looking forward to what you have lined up next!
 
5/5

Written by Jack Saunders

We have just opened a small shop space within The Emporium, situated on Prince's Street in Yeovil. 

A great place to sell our Antix hoodies, mugs, coasters, t shirts, and even teddy bears. 

We are also opening it up to other local bands and musicians; if you have merch you would like us to sell in our little shop space in the Emporium, or our online store (coming soon), #GetInvolved and contact one of the team today.