Tag: Calvin Harris

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.

Calvin Harris feat. Tinie Tempah – Drinking From The Bottle

The chorus on this is brilliant.

Tom: As I listened to the first verse of this, I wrote this opening line: “Calvin Harris needs to get himself a new synth patch.”

Tom: …and then the proper chorus kicked in. Not the pump-up “We live, we die” pre-pre-chorus, not the downbeat pre-chorus, but the actual full-on Calvin Harris jump-up-and-dance chorus, and I figured that maybe he can keep using his usual one for a bit longer yet.

Tim: Pre-pre-what now? Get your terminology right, boy: a chorus is strictly vocal; the hook you are discussing is in fact the post-chorus. Dearie me.

Tom: Can I just call it the “good bit”?

Tim: Oh, I suppose so. But you’re right – could be varied, but it’s actually pretty good anyway.

Tom: Yes. The chorus on this is brilliant, and here’s the thing – I’m not sure it’d seem quite as good if it didn’t have those lacklustre verses to compare it with.

Tim: Lacklustre in musical or lyrical sense? Because I think they should get points for grouping together Cyndi Lauper, Lady GaGa and Blondie. Once you throw in Danny DeVito you’re pretty much begging for a Brit Award for the most peculiar cultural references in a song.

Tom: That should definitely be a Brit Award.

Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch – Sweet Nothing

This feels like an album track.

Tom: I’ve known a few people who’ve said “they like the Machine, but not Florence”: her vocals tend to polarise people. How well does she fit with Calvin Harris, then?

Slight warning here: while there’s no actual blood or nudity, this isn’t a comfortable video to watch.

Tim: Ooh, blimey.

Tom: Somehow, despite the video, this feels like an album track.

Tim: It does – there’s nothing to really get you going on it. No massive hook to remember, no big chorus to hang around afterwards.

Tom: I can’t say why: Florence Welch sounds like Florence Welch, Calvin Harris sounds like Calvin Harris, together the two of them should sound spectacular. Were my expectations too high?

Tim: I’ll going for something like: a good Calvin Harris track needs bigger vocals than this, a good Florence track needs slightly more traditional instruments. To me, this sounds more like a mash-up that doesn’t quite hit the spot.

Tom: Yes! That’s exactly it. It’s like someone’s taken the unmemorable verses from two tracks and mashed them together, rather than the choruses that everyone knows.

Calvin Harris – Feel So Close

Your usual Calvin Harris beat-piano-and-lyrics track – that’s a good thing.

Tom: I really like this track, but I can’t work out whether it’s because of the music or the brilliant Americana video that goes with it.

Tim: Well for me, the music’s enough.

Tom: The track’s your usual Calvin Harris beat-piano-and-lyrics track – that’s a good thing, of course – and the video is just beautifully-filmed shots of people in California. But somehow, the two of those together, when that massive pre-chorus build kicks in… somehow it all just comes together.

Tim: Hmm. Reminds me a bit of that Where The Hell Is Matt? thing from a few years back, which was brilliant. And now I’ve just watched that several times.

Tom: I thought that perhaps my wanderlust was getting the better of me, and I was just a sucker for scenes-from-America videos. But I’ve since disproved that, because I don’t rate Noel Gallagher’s new track at all. It’s not the video, Tim: it’s definitely the song.

Tim: I had no idea Noel Gallagher was doing new stuff. Turns out: don’t really care, either.

Calvin Harris feat. Kelis – Bounce

All right, you Scottish DJ genius. What’re you up to?

Tom: All right, you Scottish DJ genius. What’re you up to now? Teaming up with Kelis bodes well. Let’s have a listen.

Tom: Is that a chiptune backing I hear? Not when it kicks in, of course, but that intro is pretty close to 8-bit to my ears, even if he’s not using genuine old-school soundfonts. I’m quite glad that’s going properly mainstream.

Tim: Erm, because it reminds you of the good old days when music was produced on a SNES?

Tom: Ah, now that’s not strictly true. It’s a genre in itself these days, notable enough for Timbaland to rip it off.

Pity the rest of it’s a bit boring. I know that’s kind of Calvin Harris’s shtick – somehow making dance tracks sound laid-back – but it seems to come out as just being… well, a bit dull. It tries well to amp up in the bridge, and admittedly the final chorus has something to it. But it’s just not enough.

Tim: Perhaps. On the other hand, if we look at this as a Kelis track, it knocks spots off Milkshake and all the other crap that she’s put out over the years, so I’m happy with it.

Tom: Plus, “bounce to this track”? It’s a song about itself, Tim, and you know how I hate those.

Tim: Oh, stop whining.

Tom: Shan’t.