Agnetha Fältzkog – Dance Your Pain Away

June 18th, 2013

Tom: Agnetha! You’ve gotta see her! Go insane and out of your mind! …just me?

Tim: That version? Yes, yes it really is just you.

Tom: Hey, it’s a good version. (At least you actually followed the link, though.) Anyway! Agnetha. What’s she got?

Tim: Second single off her solo album (which is really very good indeed, by the way), and it’s away from the ballads and on to the disco floor!

Tom: A quick note for our reader: this advice is not backed up by medical facts.

Tom: Blimey! Everything from the synths to the strings in the background: it’s like it’s taken from the Disco Textbook.

Tim: It’s quite fun, isn’t it? If there’s pain, just dance it all away. Certainly seems to work for Agnetha, as there’s really very little pain here at all – just lots of happy synths rolling up and down, vocals that really do sound like they’re coming for a smiling mouth, and plenty of assurance that ‘he got nothing on you’.

Tom: It’s a good disco track: not a floor-filler by any means, but there’s nothing wrong with it.

Tim: It’s a reassuring message, and, sure, it’s working. I think all my pain has gone.

Tom: Either that or ibuprofen. That say, I wouldn’t be surprised if that middle eight has mild analgesic properties.

Tim: Yes, we can’t overstate this enough – this is only for emotional pain. Dancing to this really isn’t the best way to soothe a headache, or a dislocated shoulder. For that, I’d advise seeing a pharmacist. Or just stick to Riverdance.

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Lorde – Tennis Court

June 17th, 2013

Tom: “Tennis Court”? Really?

Tim: That is indeed what it’s called, yes. The friend who introduced me to this song told me Lorde was French; she’s not, she’s from New Zealand, but let’s have it anyway because it’s nice.

Tim: Well, fairly nice.

Tom: She sounds like… well, a lot of this decade’s female singers. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just that a lot of people are going to think she’s someone else. It’s a bit slow and dark for me, but I can see the appeal.

Tim: It doesn’t really go anywhere, but it doesn’t really need to, I don’t think, because that chorus is really rather good.

Tom: Pity about that “yeah” sample; it stands out like a sore thumb to me, even through all the synths.

Tim: Really? I dont have a problem with it.

The verses don’t have much to them – the rhythm of the vocal in their second halves is good, though, moving along quickly contrasting with the slowness and near non-existence of what’s underneath – but that really just serves to say “pay attention to the chorus”. And that’s good – the lyrical momentum is kept up nicely, the instrumentation builds up a big and we’re given a chorus that just kind of works, even if there is a sudden disjoint between the end of the loud chorus and the beginning of the teeny tiny verse. I like it.

Tom: And I don’t mind it. Between us, that’s practically an endorsement.

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Saturday Flashback: The Blam – Various Disgraces

June 15th, 2013

Tim: I’ve recently been gradually watching my way through all nine years of The Office —

Tom: Crikey. That’s a lot of cringe-humour: I can’t take more than an episode of it, generally.

Tim: — and in one episode there was a sort of party room set up (referred to as a Cafe Disco) where the employees to go to dance when they got stressed. This was one of the tracks that was played, and it’s really quite good.

Tim: It’s not a very nice track, lyrically – “you wear me out, there’s nothing I can do” – but play this loud and dammit, it’s just a good party track.

Tom: It is, and I’m surprised I haven’t heard it before. I thought it sounded about a decade old, and was rather glad a bit of research discovered that I was more or less exactly right.

Tim: You were indeed. The sound just works, like so many pop/indie/rock/punk tracks did back in the mid-00s. Stick this on a playlist with Blink 182, New Found Glory, Bowling For Soup, Boys Like Girls and all the others, whack the speakers up, splurge a load of spirits into a bowl with a token litre of pineapple juice and you’ve got yourself the recipe for a great house party.

Tom: Or a terrible one.

Tim: Ah, the wonderful Mongrels. A song for every occasion.

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Magnus Carlsson – Glorious

June 14th, 2013

Tim: One of the most notable names in Swedish pop over the past couple of decades, Magnus is back with a new track. And, well, no prizes for guessing the word I’m considering using to describe it.

Tom: That’s a heck of a lead-in. This had better be… well, you know.

Tom: And it is! Well, that’s a nice surprise, although given his history I suppose I’d have been more startled if it was anything but. I don’t think the live environment helps it here: it really needs the production-punch that can only come from studio work. That just makes me want the single a bit more though.

Tim: It is brilliant, isn’t it? What a joyous track it is. The way there’s no real verse to speak of – just a couple of can’t-really-be-bothered lines before we head into the nice build-up of the pre-chorus, and get whacked sharply on the head by that almighty chorus.

Tom: And that almighty — pun intended — key change.

Tim: If you can’t quite work out where you’ve heard the ‘GLORIOUS’ melody before, it’s in Never Ending Story – he claims this is a mix of that and his previous Live Forever, “in a steamy affair with Carola’s Evighet and with Pet Shop Boys choirs and an overtone of my own Kom Hem.”

Tom: Well, at least he acknowledges it, although I do still want to do the descending “la la la” bit from Never Ending Story over the end.

Tim: We all do, Tom, and it seems even Magnus can’t help himself a couple of times. It’s quite an ambitious mixture he describes, but what a mixture it turns out to be. It’s wonderful, and it’s properly perked up my Friday. I love it.

Tom: I can only agree. Top work, Magnus.

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Bright Light Bright Light – Moves

June 13th, 2013

Tim: The seventh (that’s seventh) and final single from the album Make Me Believe In Hope also comes with its own EP launching in America and a nice video, featuring Rod (which is his name) being very sweaty and topless.

Tom: Seven singles off one album? What was it, a double-cassette compilation or something?

Tim: Nope – just a damn good album.

Tim: And what a lovely track that is to close the album’s output with.

Tom: The first verse lost me, and I found my attention wandering to other thing — until that chorus kicked in. I think the start of the chorus, and that waily-synthesiser middle-eight, are the only parts of the track I can really get behind… but they are really very good parts.

Tim: Absolutely – wonderful production underneath as ever, and brilliantly sung lyrics conveying exactly the right tone – “We can move apart, I guess, and I can move along, I guess, and I can do my best, I guess, but then what’s the use?” – a long, despondent realisation that a relationship’s over and there’s, well, nothing left.

Tom: Agreed that it’s brilliantly sung. Perhaps more of an album track than a single, but hell, after six previous ones I can forgive it not being a full-on attention-grabbing crowd-pleaser.

Tim: The video, cutting between him dancing around on his own, and lying on his bed looking somewhat less than happy is spot on as well, and I don’t think there’s anything else to ask for.

Utterly brilliant, top marks, and I cannot recommend the album highly enough. Get it.

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Icona Pop – Girlfriend

June 12th, 2013

Tim: About a decade after it was originally released, I Love It is finally getting a release and gradually building up airplay in the UK.

Tom: A year, to be fair – there have been longer gaps between release and international success. So what’s with the new single?

Tim: Well, it’s the obvious step: put out their follow-up international release. After all, what band hasn’t succeeded in a new country by splitting sales across two tracks?

Tim: And, why mess with a winning formula? Fairly aggressive vocals, excellent production underneath, a great enough tune to get any party going.

Tom: Plus occasional use of “shit”, which seems to be emerging as one of their trademarks.

Tim: To give them their due, it’s a great track, and one I actually prefer to I Love It.

Tom: I still reckon I Love It is the better track — I don’t think they’d have had success if they’d released this first — but it’s a competent followup.

Tim: You’re right – it’s not got the same “listen to us, we here and demand your attention” quality that I Love It has that you’d think would be first and foremost in their minds.

I say “them”, it’s probably more the label’s fault than theirs, as I Love It went down a storm in the US a few months back and so now’s a good time to release this for that market. But why delay the UK one so much (and, while you’re at it, entirely cancel the remix EP)? Such silliness.

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Christophe Lallet – Långt Bort Härifrån

June 11th, 2013

Tim: Hey, remember that time a British footballer released a single and it went well for them? No? Strange, I don’t either.

Tom: Thankfully, Wikipedia has a full list of “UK hit singles released by footballers“. The only one by a footballer, not a team, that could reasonably be classed as being well-received is, of course, Gazza’s “Fog on the Tyne”–

Tim: Of course.

Tom: –and I don’t think that could still be classed as “going well”.

Tim: Nevertheless, this mid-fielder for Hammarby IF (research, you’ll note) is hoping that the same rules don’t apply in Sweden.

Tom: So this is probably going to be awful?

Tom: Huh. It’s not awful.

Tim: It’s not, no. The title translates to Far Away From Here, though that aside I’ve no idea what it’s about, but since it’s actually quite a good song, he just might do alright. It’s actual competent singing, for a start, it’s got decent production underneath it, and there’s a nice melody to it. It is, in fact, exactly what you don’t expect a football song to sound like, largely because he’s actually trying out music as a secondary career, rather than just the odd novelty track for the fans to buy.

Tom: I still reckon the best football single is the first football single. For starters, it’s only two minutes long.

Tim: That’s one good thing you can say about it.

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Nova Delai – Just Love

June 10th, 2013

Tim: Nova is a Swedish singer, and in my view somewhat underappreciated. Here, her third single.

Tom: I was half-expecting that to go into “Against All Odds” after the intro.

Tim: A question: what genre’s this? Beyond just pop, I mean, with the heavy drums in the background. There are a lot of tracks around right now in this vein, not least Emmelie de Forest’s Eurovision winner, and I don’t know what to call them.

Tom: Folk-pop, perhaps? The vocals and instruments would seem to give it that kind of air.

Tim: Hmm, sounds pretty good. But regardless of the name, it’s a good track. I find myself needing to struggle through the verses somewhat, as they’re a bit bland and a bit shouty, but the chorus has a lovely first part and a good in a different way second part, and the middle eight could almost be described as delightful.

Tom: See, I’m not much of a folk-pop fan if I’m honest; while I can appreciate that musically, this is quite a good song, the style of vocals leaves me a bit cold. That’s my personal taste, though: since you seem to like the genre, what d’you think?

Tim: Seven out of ten for now, but higher if it had a nicer verse.

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Saturday Flashback: Bingo Players feat. Far East Movement – Get Up

June 8th, 2013

Tom: Sometimes, Tim, I send you flashbacks for the music, or for the nostalgia value. Not this time. Today, I’m sending you this flashback just for the video. Heads up: it contains a bit bloody, if comic, violence.

Tim: Oh, well that’s the best example of animal justice we’ve had since Save The World. Full marks.

Tom: That last guy, with the hole in his chest? He should’ve ducked.

Tim: Get out.

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Beatrice Egli – Mein Herz

June 7th, 2013

Tim: They say schlager’s on the way out – there was nothing to really represent it in either Eurovision or even Melodifestivalen this year, and a lot of people are saying it’s just not the done thing any more.

Tom: I really hope this is a leadup to a schlager song, and your punchline isn’t “so here’s some dubstep”.

Tim: So, here’s some…

Tom: Oh my word, the orchestra hits.

Tim: I propose that ‘they’ are wrong, though, as evidenced by this track, which is the first single by the winner of this year’s Deutschland sucht den Superstar (or what the rest of the world would call German Idol), and she actually made it her thing just to sing schlager, and then beat the runner-up with a convincing 70% of the vote.

That’s refreshing, isn’t it? That a young new artist can win a singing contest with this, and then be number one in the charts for two weeks running.

Tom: Blimey, number one with this? That’s not so much refreshing as just full-on startling. It’s good, but it’s extremely old-school and… well, it does go on a bit.

Tim: It does, yes, and it could probably do with a lazy key change – you know, the ones that get criticised for purely being there to give a bit of life to a song that’s reached its limit. That aside, it’s a perfectly standard example of the genre – a decent listenable track and worth mentioning, if only for the nice “cheese is alive” message it sends out.

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    Tim Jeffries was born in the UK a good few years ago now, and regularly dreams of a Busted reunion.

    Along with good music, things he appreciates include the use of correct grammar, well-made banana daiquiris and shampoo for men that smells nice (which he still hasn't found). His favourite colour is what Dulux call 25YY 49/757, and his favourite member of the Felidae family is the snow leopard.

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    Tom Scott is a techie with extremely questionable taste in music. In his spare time, he has too many plans and a worrying tendency to make them happen.

    His greatest achievement was getting five gold runs on Blockbusters, which he still harps on about to this day.

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