Author: Tim

Resistor – Narcissist

“Like someone trying to do the Divine Comedy and Frank Sidebottom at the same time”

Tim: Here’s one that got e-mailed to us, by an American synthpop guy; the video was described in the e-mail as “LOL-tastic” so there you go.

Tom: Wow, that’s pretty high on the list of “words that’ll turn me against something before I’ve seen it”.

Tim: Me too, but I thought I’d give it a go anyway.

Tim: And that’s that. Not sure I’d go with entirely “LOL-tastic”, but I do get the idea and more importantly I like the music.

Tom: Really? Because I don’t. It’s like someone trying to do the Divine Comedy and Frank Sidebottom at the same time and missing terribly.

Tim: Oh. See, the way I see it, it’s got a good chorus hook to it, and one that, by the end of the song has almost got me swaying as I’m typing this; a decent enough sign, I reckon. The verses aren’t hugely interesting, and occasionally seem a tad dreary, but the middle eight I do like, with the interesting musical base underneath the singing and the extended plain instrumental. Basically, I’ll take it.

Tom: The middle eight’s the only bit that stuck out for me, but other than that: I’d class it as “a good effort, but not a pop song yet”.

Tim: His debut album, First World Problems, is out now and is “concerned with fame and the artistic process, born of frustration, delivered as a joke, but with the truth lurking underneath”, so that sounds fun doesn’t it.

Tom: It sounds like something.

Saturday Flashback: Ace of Base – Life Is A Flower

“It’s just such a happy track.”

Tim: I woke up early this morning, and after a while my mind wondered to what song we could write about today, and then my alarm went off, and a massive smile appeared on my face. Because it’s this song. This wonderful, wonderful song.

Tom: Let’s see, it was 1998 when this came out. I’ve got a particular memory associated with this: Ingoldmells, of all places, on a double-decker bus with some friends. I think someone was throwing paper airplanes out of the slightly-open rear window.

Tim: That’s, er, yes, quite a particular memory. I myself offer a different story: I can’t remember now who it was, but a while back someone mentioned that this was their pick-me-up track, their go-to track for when they’re feeling a bit low, and I didn’t think much at the time, and then a while ago I was in need of a track like that, and I remembered it, and WOW. Because it’s just such a happy track.

Tom: Apart from that middle-eight: I don’t know why, but it never really worked for me. But yes, it’s a classic for good reason.

Tim: Oh, multiple reasons. The lyrics: not only is life a wonderful flower, but “we live in a free world”, and just “carry on smiling, and the world will smile with you”. The music: that lovely flowing intro, the strings underneath. The background chanting at the end. Even the video, with the flower dye (God, I’d love it if that were a real thing). I just find it near impossible to listen to without smiling; if I do find myself not smiling, well, I listen to it again. And again. And again, for good measure.

Tom: And if you get bored? The US version, which has different lyrics, different instrumentation, a different key and — crucially — a fixed middle eight. It’s not better, mind: it’s just different.

Tim: Oh. Oh, my. I don’t…oh. Huh.

Martin Stenmarck – Sommarbarn

“Gosh, that’s enjoyable. Or irritating.”

Tim: According to Google, Sommarbarn either means ‘in summer’, ‘summer beach’ or ‘summer child’, but I’m not sure which it is here.

Tom: Well, that’s helpful.

Tim: You’re welcome. And Tom, I’d advise you skip the first eight seconds.

Tom: Kids’ choir, I guess?

Tim: Gosh, that’s enjoyable. Or irritating, I can see why some people might find it irritating if they’re not keen on the whistling, or find the kids backing up the chorus distracting. In fact to be honest I’ve heard it just twice and both of those things are starting to grate on me now I’ve thought about them that way.

Tom: Ah, see you’re just one listen behind me there.

Tim: The first time I heard it, though, I really liked it, so I suppose what we have here is a song that we can all hear once and then never really want to hear again.

Tom: I’d agree with you there.

Tim: A clear success story, then.

Adelén – Olé

THE FOOTBALL WILL NEVER END.

Tim: There’s a lot of football around at the moment.

Tom: THE FOOTBALL WILL NEVER END.

Tim: — even if Brazil might not be ready for it, the music world certainly is, with a whole album out. We’ve already covered the Ricky Martin track, and we won’t be going anywhere near the main track, because it’s by Pitbull and is not even worth linking to, but this track by notable Norwegian Adelén is worth a listen or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpl-YFHUw4k

Tim: Well let’s dissect this then. Intro: very promising indeed.

Tom: That’s just because they’re using “na na na hey hey”, like dozens of tracks before them — and like a lot of football chants.

Tim: Verses: rather disappointing. Pre-chorus with the ‘my name is Adelén’: likewise. Actual chorus: really very good indeed with its euphoric backing and proper singing.

Tom: Right! Because, again, it’s an old and popular track. Everything else about the track is just a ‘meh’, sadly.

Tim: I don’t know – post-chorus is also excellent, with a lovely melody and a nice chantable bit. And the middle-eight: once again very good, especially once the build starts to come in halfway through. From that point on, it’s all just wonderful, and vastly, vastly better than that Pitbull tripe that somehow is leading the pack.

Tom: Oh, completely agreed — it’s just, you know, a not-particularly-good remix of an old track.

Tim: Damn you, FIFA.

Ola Salo feat. Kleerup – I Got You

“A bit of late-90s-Matrix-electronica about it”

Tim: Ola Salo, frontman of The Ark.

Tom: Him off the 2007 Swedish Eurovision entry! Good start.

Tim: Also Kleerup, a producer who we’ve not featured previously. Together, the official Stockholm Pride 2014 song.

Tim: It starts out as a bit of a racket, but soon becomes really very good indeed.

Tom: Bit of a racket? That’s a brilliant start: it’s got a bit of late-90s-Matrix-electronica about it, and I’d say it’s a damn sight better than that first verse.

Tim: Well yes, because if I’m be honest: the verses somewhat washed over me, partly because there’s not much to them and partly because whilst trying to listen to it I got distracted and started trying to find somewhere I could buy this GLORIOUS cover of Let It Go.

Tom: It is a good cover. But let me guess…

Tim: Regardless of how distracted I got, that chorus kept permeating my brain, because it’s just great.

Tom: Agreed. That is everything you want from a chorus in a song like this: the melody line is gorgeous, and the rest of the instrumentation — and that voice — back it up well.

Tim: Great in itself, and great as a message for a Pride festival. It’s raucous, it’s powerful, it’s a clear statement, and it’s just marvellous.

Saturday Flashback: The Bloody Beetroots & Greta Svabo Bech – Chronicles of a Fallen Love

“Bloody hell.”

Tom: The Bloody Beetroots? That’s a heck of a name.

Tim: Yes, that is what these Italians call themselves, and unusually the producers and the singer are getting equal billing. But enough of the formalities: I heard this on Teen Wolf a few months back, while we were in the middle of Rejects season, so here it is now because I really like it.

Tom: Crikey, I got distracted and drifted off during the first bit of that, only to be suddenly startled by that instrumental bit. Bloody hell.

Tim: First off: points for the video, as I do like it when the camera cuts match the beat of the music, and it annoys me that it doesn’t happen more often.

Tom: It’s a stylistic choice: some directors and editors will prefer to make a film with a soundtrack, rather than the other way around. Either can work.

Tim: Now the main part: you might remember a couple of weeks ago we had a track that was similar to this – female vocalist on a fairly quiet verse, big thumping beats to the chorus.

Tom: Yep, and I remember thinking that it was rather good while you didn’t like it.

Tim: Back then I found it almost unpleasant, and I don’t know why, but I don’t find this anywhere near as jarring. It might just be that it’s not quite as intense – in fact it probably is that because I could listen to this quite a lot, whereas I got tired of the previous after a few listens. A lot of that, I think, is the way the top synth line often sounds vocal-y – it almost serves to relax the track a bit. Either way, or neither, GREAT STUFF.

Elin Lanto – Skylight

“Utterly lovely and pretty much entirely forgettable.”

Tim: If you’ve not heard of Elin Lanto, she’s been off for three years so that may be why. Anyway, she’s back now with this lovely sort of dancey pop type ballady thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjKcFx0eSv0

Tim: This here has the unfortunate combination of being both utterly lovely and pretty much entirely forgettable.

Tom: Oh, thank heavens, it’s not just me. It’s like waking up after a dream. There was… there was that bit that sounded a bit like the start of “I Want It That Way”? I think? And then an “aah-aah-aah-aah” bit.

Tim: Having heard it now four times, all I can really remember, aside from the “Sky-y-y-y-y-y-ylight” hook which is quite nice, is that she has a great gentle voice and that there was some really very enjoyable production underneath it. The main reason that annoys me? Within a couple of months, I’ll probably have Shazammed this a good ten times, and then I’ll feel stupid. If it wasn’t for that, I’d very happy listening to this over and over again.

Tom: I still think Shazam should just insult you if you tag the same song twice.

Eric Saade – Du Är Aldrig Ansam

“One of the loveliest chorus lyrics I’ve heard in quite a while.”

Tim: Eric is in severe danger of being overtaken by Pitbull as the most written about artist on this site, and since nobody at all wants that, let’s write about this charity single. The title? ‘You Are Never Alone’.

Tim: And by charity, I mean Unicef, who are doing lots of work for all the kids Eric is playing football with and standing awkwardly next to in that video.

Tom: We’ve always said, in the past, that we’ll treat charity singles like regular ones — based mainly on the music.

Tim: It’s a cover of an old song (I say old, 1999) by Swede Mauro Scocco, and the chorus is there to reassure: “I can go all night, take a train or plane, it doesn’t matter where you are, I’ll be there anyway” which to be honest is one of the loveliest chorus lyrics I’ve heard in quite a while.

Tom: I’ll grant you that. And this is definitely a Big Ballad, so I’ll try not to be too disappointed that it isn’t more exciting.

Tim: Well that’s the question – as a ballad, is it a bit boring? Possibly, as it falls into the trap of the interminable second verse – we can cope with a dull first verse in the knowledge that there’s a chorus coming, but the chorus, while enough to sustain itself, doesn’t really bring any momentum to carry us through the next thirty seconds, which it really does need.

Tom: Agreed: it’s just a bit too slow and a bit too plodding to justify waiting on it. That said, full marks for an interesting build to the chorus: that abrupt stuttering sound works very well, far better than I’d have expected if it’d been just described to me.

Tim: On the other hand, it is a lovely chorus, lyrically and musically, and if we could just have a key change at 3:30, I’d not complain at all.

Conchita Wurst – Rise Like A Phoenix

“Eurovision isn’t just about the song.”

Tim: Well, here we are, with Saturday night’s victor, a drag queen from Gmunden in Austria, performing for the second time.

Tom: And we were there. We have the photos to prove it. But enough bragging: let’s see the show.

Tim: Big question, though: what won it? Because, let’s be honest, while it’s a good song, it’s not amazing. It’d certainly make the shortlist for a new Bond theme, and she’s definitely got a great voice, but outside that, the music’s not that special.

Tom: That’s true, but we know that Eurovision isn’t just about the song. It was a fairly weak field this year, there was full-on politics involved — particularly given the boos for Russia — and yes, perhaps the best song didn’t win, but the best performance did.

Tim: Absolutely: her as a singer and the message it provides (complete with that phoenix wing camera shot), combined with all the issues going on in eastern Europe at the moment, bring together one hell of a performance. You and I were there in the stadium, Tom, and the massive, massive amounts of cheering were arguably far more for that than for the sound.

Tom: Agreed. That said: it’s not a bad song. If it were a bad song, no amount of politics could have saved her.

Tim: True. And let’s be honest: that’s a great thing, for Eurovision fans. Because it’s finally become political. When the most Catholic country in Europe gave twelve points to a drag queen, and even Russia (Russia!) gave it five points, this is a time that we fans can point at and say: this is the liberalisation of Europe. What a great moment.

Saturday Reject: Helena Paparizou – Survivor

“A song you can properly get your strut on to.”

Tim: The day is HERE, so let’s have a quick look at what was quite possibly the very very best of however many hundred contestants there have been this year, which is this. You’ll most likely remember Helena from her 2005 victory for Greece, the rather good My Number One. This year she went for the other half of her ancestry and entered Sweden’s contest with this, which got through to the final via Andra Chansen and is even better.

Tim: When I said ‘even better’, what I really mean, of course, is UTTERLY MARVELLOUS.

Tom: Crikey, when that kicks in, it means it. I’m not sure about that sudden quiet bit as it goes back in the verse, though.

Tim: Like I said, it was my favourite of all the songs in all the contests, musically at least, because it’s a song you can properly get your strut on to.

Tom: I’m sorry, you… what?

Tim: You can STRUT, man, STRUT. I know this because that’s exactly what I do regularly on my walk to work, shouting the chorus to myself because I know that I AM A SURVIVOR. So everyone should JUST CALL ME A SURVIVOR. SUCH A STRONG DESIRE. GONNA LET YOU GO, LET YOU GO. JUST CALL ME A SURVIVOR ETC ETC ETC.

Tom: I’m not going to argue with that. It’s a strong mental image.

Tim: Anyone who doubts the true validity of her sentiments only needs to look at her face as she rips the microphone off its stand, because SHE IS A SURVIVOR. I AM A SURVIVOR. SO JUST CALL ME A SURVIVOR and now fade out.