Tom: Oh man. This could be so good. The first few seconds show such promise – that eighties orchestra-hit sample is ace. And there are so many good things here. The quiet ‘ooh, ooh’s in the background. The chorus, which I caught myself tapping my foot along to on first listen.
Tim: Ooh, I do like that – intro started good, and it kept on going. At about 2:40, I thought it was about to wrap up; I’m very glad that it didn’t, though, because the bit after that is even better than what came before.
Tom: Pity about his voice, really.
Tim: I don’t know, I think his voice is okay – he can handle both the verses and chorus well enough, and combined with the backing track I think it works great.
Tom: Don’t get me wrong – I’m not ruling it out just because it’s rap, or just because it’s a British guy. Example’s last one, Kickstarts, was excellent all the way through, and his voice was a perfect match for it – perhaps because the faster pace of the vocals seemed to fit, or because the background samples were just that bit fuller. But it just doesn’t work for me here.
Tim: I prefer it to Kickstarts because here both the verses and chorus are good, whereas the verses in that never did much for me. It did have a pretty cool video, though.
Tom: This video’s not bad either. Despite a few too many modern things in the background to really sell it as being retro, it still has a charm to it.
Tim: A few points about it, though:
- why is he ordering drinks in a police interview room?
- I hope the fighting is meant to be blindingly fake, because it is, although there’s enough doubt there for it to be mildly annoying
- nice explosion
- nice jumping, even if it isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to chase after someone
Tom: The phrase ‘Tesco Value Zach Braff’ is also running through my head. That’s a bit cruel though.
Tim: That is a little bit cruel, yes. And a little bit justified.