Maria Sejer – Jeg Er

“Wellbeing and happiness,” possibly.

Tim: This is, I think, probably the gentlest electropop we’ve ever featured here. Have a listen, and inevitably relax.

Tom: Ooh, I’m not sure about that: I’d put some of the Sound of Arrows stuff as being gentler than this. It’s certainly on the calm end of the scale, though.

Tim: If you don’t know your basic Danish, the title just means ‘I Am’, and while I don’t know the other lyrics so could be getting this entirely wrong, the video and musical tone kind of indicate a general message of wellbeing and happiness with the current state of affairs.

Tom: It’s quite pleasant, really, although I can’t say it’s something I’d put on my regular playlist. It’s like a… I don’t know, like a sugary drink that’s been watered down a bit: pleasant enough, seems vaguely sweet, but ultimately just gets forgotten about.

Tim: Erm, what?

Tom: I think that analogy got away from me. Anyway, yes, wellbeing and happiness?

Tim: Indeed. I hope I’m not wrong, because that’s a lovely message for a track, with very gentle (twice I’ve used that word, but it’s true) music and calm yet delicate vocals. So if I’m right, I like this track a lot; if I’m wrong, I don’t want to know. Sound good?

Tom: I won’t translate it if you won’t.

Raqoon – Games

“That euphoric build turned into… well, audio mud.”

Tom: “Raqoon”? Crikey, they’re starting to scrape the barrel for names, aren’t they?

Tim: Not the best, is it? I once heard that if you listen to new music in the morning you’re a bit more likely to enjoy it, as your brain’s more receptive to new things. I don’t know if that’s true (the amount of tripe I’ve heard on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show would point away from that), but if it is it’d help me get a bit closer to finding out why I like this.

Tom: I actually let out an “ugh” of disappointment after that euphoric build turned into… well, audio mud.

Tim: It’s what heave dance fans call ‘dirty’. It’s all suited to air horns and dub step remixes. It is, in short, really not what I’d go for.

Tom: Skip that first verse and I might have been sold on it – the “proper” drop isn’t too bad, but that verse just kills it.

Tim: So why, then, do I find myself pushing play again once it’d finished? The voice isn’t anything special, and there could probably do to be a bit more of it. There’s no real melody to it, and the endless pounding drumbeats I admittedly do find a bit tedious towards the end.

Tom: I can’t imagine why: it sounds far away from your normal fare, and I won’t be listening again. Perhaps you’re just in a very good mood?

Tim: Maybe. Whatever the reason, I’ve just hit play for a third time. I guess there’s just no logic to art. Who’d have thought it?

Crash feat. Pixy J – I’m Alive

“That sounds like a proper track at last.”

Tim: If I say ‘stop me if you’ve heard this before’, you’ll stop me, so I won’t. We first wrote about this last July, when it came out initially mostly as a demo, with a horrific rap from a bloke calling himself ‘Sunshine Gillz’. Fortunately, that version’s been taken off YouTube, it’s been rerecorded with a slightly different line up, given a production makeover and now it’s much much better. So let’s go again, shall we?

Tom: Well, that sounds like a proper track at last.

Tim: Doesn’t it just? I pointed out last time it could have come straight from 2003; you rightly pointed out that that’s not necessarily a compliment given that that was now a decade ago. However, as part of aforementioned overhaul they’ve stuck a bit of extra bass and stuff on there and actually now it seems, well, mostly 2003 and slightly 2014.

Tom: Yep, those synth pads are 2003, but at least it sounds modern now. YouTube’s overcompressed it a bit, as it sometimes does — this is the kind of track that needs a full-on club speaker system to be heard properly.

Tim: Best thing, though, is that it doesn’t have a rapper over the middle eight. Or, in fact, any middle eight at all, being as it is just two verses and a lot of choruses. That’s no problem that I see, though, because when I’m jumping around on the dance floor I’m not generally appreciating musical structure.

Tom: Fair point, and it doesn’t seem to lose anything from missing it.

Tim: No. Well, unless you look at it as a missed opportunity to do something potentially awesome. But here it’s a deliberately skipped opportunity to do something horrific, so it’s actually okay. ALL MENDED WELL DONE.

Saturday Flashback: Calvin Harris – Merrymaking at My Place (Kissy Sell Out Remix)

“Better.”

Tom: You know those times when a remix just fixes a song? This is one of those times. Have a listen to the original first: I suspect you’ll be bored by the first minute. It’s the only Calvin Harris single not to make the Top 40.

Tim: Certainly sounds like more of an album track. And this is better, you say?

Tom: This, on the other hand, is brilliant. Or at least, I think it is. I know I’m generally a sucker for piano-backed dance tracks, but this stands out for me: it’s faster, it’s got more depth to it, and — crucially — there’s enough variety in the mix to keep Calvin Harris’ startlingly dull vocals from getting grating.

Tim: It’s definitely better, yes. I’d say that brilliant is pushing it, but really definitely better.

Tom: I enjoyed this enough that, when it went silent after four minutes, I found myself wishing that it went on a bit longer. And then it did. Brilliant.

Tim: All of it?

Tom: Not quite sure about the squelching noises after it came back, though.

Tim: There it is.

Lea Michele – Cannonball

This song would have a key change.

Tim: You may not be aware, but Sia Furlong (probably best known for being part of David Guetta feat. Sia) has been rather big in the world of pop these past twelve months, particularly on the writing front. Amongst many others, she wrote Loved Me Back To Life last summer, and there’s also this, sung by her off Glee who now wants to be a proper pop star.

Tim: That’s a GREAT track, isn’t it? Musically, certainly – that’s an incredibly powerful voice and a melody that’s perfectly suited to it.

Tom: Yes, although it took me a few bars to get used to that odd rhythm. Even at three and a half minutes, I feel it outstays its welcome a little: key changes aren’t in vogue right now, but if they were, this song would have one.

Tim: Lyrically, well, a cannonball’s an interesting thing to be aeronautically comparing yourself to – yes, it’ll keep going and knock away anything in its way which I suppose is the main point, but it’ll also come back down to earth fairly quickly and probably never ever get up again. ‘Jumbo jet’, mind – that would fit.

Tom: Mm, but even that comes down to earth. Moon? Space station? Geostationary satellite?

Tim: “I’ll fly like a geostationary satellite.” Tom, we should go into songwriting.

Aside from that that, though, no complaints, because it’s a lovely song with mostly good words and and great sound. And as for Sia, well, she probably can’t beat our lyrics, but there’s an album out this year so hopefully that’ll be brilliant as well.

Majestee of Sweden – Supergirl

I wasn’t massively sold on it — until that guitar solo in the middle eight.

Tim: Chapter two in our story of ‘young girls being slightly crap superheroes’ here, after chapter one last October.

Tim: Here’s a thing: I heard the intro line, but almost immediately got entirely immersed in the video and kind of let the music get relegated to the backing.

Tom: See, I opened it in a background tab and wasn’t massively sold on it — until that guitar solo in the middle eight.

Tim: It wasn’t until the very last line, “I’m gonna save the world if that’s okay,” that the song came back and it all matched up together. So then I listened again, and what a lovely track. Slightly melancholy vocals to start with, but damn, that chorus is something special. As is the instrumental buildup back to the final choruses.

Tom: Yep. It could start to be a minute or so shorter, I reckon, but you’re right: it all came together at the end.

Tim: All great, really, and nicely boosted by a few Superman references potted throughout the lyrics. Good work everybody.

The Correspondents – Fear and Delight

“Surprisingly catchy.”

Tom: First single, released a little while ago, off the first proper album, due to be released soon.

A bit of background: the Correspondents have mostly been a live act only for the past couple of years, and I didn’t “get them” at first. You’ve got one madman vocalist who sings like he’s from the 1930s and dances like he’s from some sort of parallel universe; and you’ve got one beardy bloke running a sequencer and a laptop. And the result is…

Tom: …surprisingly catchy.

Tim: Fun. Sort of, in the same way as dansband – quite enjoyable for about five minutes, but quickly tiring and not something I’d want a whole album of.

Tom: It’s all a bit electro-swing, or alt-dance, or whatever you want to call it, rather than pop, of course: but it’s certainly got more mainstream appeal than a lot of the tracks they’ve put out before.

Tim: And they’ve certainly got a decent number of view on that video and some of their other that – not that that translates into sales or anything, but sill.

Tom: I don’t expect them to break into the charts, but considering they’re already winning festival awards and touring? They’re probably okay with that.

Union J – Loving You Is Easy

“When they finally turn everything up to eleven, it’s actually a really good track.”

Tom: Cementing their position as Slightly Too Late To Be One Direction here, I think.

Tim: So close, and yet…

Tom: I was all ready to dismiss this as a bit too generic, a bit too like every other standard boyband, until they came back from that middle eight. When they finally turn everything up to eleven, it’s actually a really good track.

Tim: It really is. But you didn’t like the first part? I think it’s all pretty good – what with the recent move towards proper instruments and “rock” and stuff that most British boybands have been going for, it’s very nice to have a largely synth-backed track.

Tom: Then, of course, they dial it back down to have a Meaningful Ballad Outro, and it just fades away from me again. There’s so much potential here, and they just haven’t quite got to it.

Tim: There I agree – the crappy piano intro and outro can properly do one, as far as I’m concerned, because it’s entirely unnecessary.

Tom: That middle eight, incidentally, can quite happily have the Killers’ “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier” sung over it. Just pointing that out.

Tim: Gosh, so it can. Thanks for the heads up.

Kevin Walker – Belong

You’re probably thinking that this sounds a lot like Wake Me Up

Tim: Last Friday X Factor, today Swedish Idol, and this year’s winner, Kevin, a (still active) professional footballer.

Tom: That’s a multi-talented person right there. Just like Gazza.

Tim: You’re probably thinking that this sounds a lot like Avicii’s Wake Me Up, with it’s country-esque verse, lone vocal and than big dance chorus, and you’d be right – it would seem the Idol producers thought that since they’re always accused of being cynical and manipulative of the music industry they might as well go all in, so let’s have something very similar to the biggest hit of year.

Tom: It’s similar in style, but the vocals and production are different enough that it didn’t immediately remind me. It’s not a complete ripoff, but yes, they’re certainly just grabbing onto the coattails of whoever’s currently popular.

Tim: However awful that sort of attitude may be, damn, it does seem to work. Farmhouse music —

Tom: Is… is that like house and garage, only with country? ‘Cos that’s a cracking term, if so.

Tim: Pretty much, yeah and it seem it’s here to stay; whether it’ll become as universal as piano dance was eighteen months back remains to be seen, but I like this. Entirely derivative, and unashamedly so, but it’s a decent enough track to dance to. Of course, it’ll be nowhere near as successful as Avicii what with being six months too late for dancing to, but it’s the thought that counts.

Saturday Flashback: Scatman John – Scatman’s World

“Damn right there was a follow-up track.”

Tom: Damn right there was a follow-up track.

Tim: Naturally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWBAy3bATI

Tom: Yes, everyone remembers him as a one-hit wonder, but it turns out that Scatman John was big in Japan — and this was the title track from his album. We’ve got 90s dance beats, a video filled with stock footage, and some of his trademark actual scat-singing.

Tim: Hahaha – this won’t come across as a compliment, but you know what I was put immediately in mind of when the music started proper? The glorious Mellow, by the Daz Sampson side project Space Kats. I LOVE it.

Tom: Oh my stars, I can see the connection there. JAMIE. SHINE THE MAGIC TORCH. Those two should work together. Well, they should if Scatman John was still alive. Could it stand to be shorter? Sure. But then we’d be denied that absolutely glorious key change. And the world would be much poorer for it.

Tim: Much, much poorer.