Author: Tim

Anna Abreu – Ra-ta ta-ta

“That is a stunningly bad first verse.”

Tim: Imagine someone singing a snare drum. That’s basically the chorus of Anna’s latest.

Tom: That is a stunningly bad first verse. “This is my update two point oh” would have been dated ten years ago, but now? Eugh.

Tim: Yes, a distinctly uneasy first verse (and second, but it’s okay then because you know what’s coming), but then there’s a pre-chorus that’s totally great —

Tom: Oh heavens yes. That pre-chorus is easily the best part of the song.

Tim: — and a chorus that’s unusual and possibly gimmicky the first time out, growing on you the second time and then when it’s back at the end with the electric guitar underneath? Well that’s just wonderful. PLAY IT AGAIN PLEASE. Oh, there’s a button that does that already.

Tom: Mm. I’ll admit that it did grow on me, and with a few more listens I’d probably get over the gimmick. If someone could build a song just out of that pre-chorus I’d be very happy indeed.

Tim: If only there was a button that chopped the last quarter out of the middle eight. Because we could go STRAIGHT BACK TO THAT CHORUS.

Saturday Reject: Destan – Sans Toi

“It’s not bad as a Typical Boyband Ballad.”

Tim: Destan, a French boyband comprising Dean, Killian and Quentin, who’ve been around since last summer, and who presumably hoped Eurovision would be a platform for international success; that’s not to be, unfortunately, but they had a good go with this.

Tom: Ooh, check out the Big Piano Intro.

Tim: Big indeed. This was, clearly, written to be an international song – not only with some of the lyrics in English (switching mid-sentence at one point), but right through to filming the video in London —

Tom: I’ve been in that beigel shop.

Tim: — and a chorus that’s three quarters identical to the Canadian I Believe; I’m willing to stay away from yelling deliberate rip-off, though, as that’s a great feel-good build line that’d be hard for a songwriter to let go of however it occurred to them.

Tom: Aye, and it’s not bad as a Typical Boyband Ballad. I don’t think it’ll be leaping up the charts over here, though.

Tim: Probably not, no. We don’t like the French, after all. As for the band themselves, well, they’re Dean, Killian and Quentin who met in a recording studio and got put together by a producer who saw their potential. They’ve got one previously release, Vole, and, naturally with the instruments, they don’t like being called a boyband, seeing themselves closer to The Calling and, erm, The Script. Good luck with that, then.

Tom: They’ll have one of them fronting The Voice of France in no time.

Tim: Oh, see now I just want to listen to Malena Ernman. Let’s all listen to Malena Ernman.

Hannis – Time Has Come

“This appears to be the “farting samples” genre.”

Tim: This song, from newly-arrived Finn Hannis, is described to us a mixture of dubstep and chillstep, to which my respective thoughts were ‘hmm…’ and ‘wut?’. So, open-minded as ever, let’s have a gander.

Tim: Right, so chillstep seems to be all well and good, and the dubstep is, well, as dubstep does.

Tom: This appears to be the “farting samples” genre of dubstep. A brave choice.

Tim: Recently I was wondering whether dubstep breakdowns have gone away just as I was beginning to enjoy them, because they really don’t seem to be around much any more. This is, well, let’s be frank I’m in no position to really review dubstep aside from saying that this is alright and I don’t find it too bad at all.

Tom: It’s a sign of how much my ears have adapted to dubstep that it counts as “okay” to me too. It’s just… well, I’m not really sure what it’s doing at any point.

Tim: With the two bits of the song mixed together, though, it seems a bit off, mainly because they’re not really mixed much. There’s a chillstep section, then switch to dubstep, then switch back to chillstep, then back, and only really at the end do the two blend, and I can’t help wondering if that might alienate about 50% of listeners for 90% of the time. Maybe a bit more consistency might help, or at the very least a bit of mixing.

Tom: Yes – that’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s awkwardly straddling genres, and I’m not sure it works.

Tim: Listenable throughout, though, definitely.

Carina Dahl – It Gets Better

“They almost (but only almost) feel a tad forced.”

Tim: The title might give you the impression that this is a somewhat chirpy song. That is appropriate, because it really is.

Tim: This song is lovely, in particular the bouncy strings that are especially noticeable in the middle eight, and of course the chorus lyrics that are so in your face that they almost (but only almost) feel a tad forced.

Tom: Adding a percussion hit on every syllable is, indeed, forcing it a bit – but it does work. I’m less sure about that “better, better, better” repeat — I don’t think it’s quite as catchy as the producers seem to insist it is.

Tim: Perhaps not as catchy, but I still like it. The one thing that disappoints me, which you might be able to guess, is that there’s no key change back from the middle eight, because as far as I’m concerned it would be a delightful cherry on top of an already good cake, but a cake with a distinctly cherry-sized hole in it.

Tom: Good point: it’s positively begging for one there.

Tim: ​Few notes on the video: quite a waste of wine there, you’re really going to ruin those trainers and that’s one hell of a lot of chilli peppers. But mostly, just imagine that with a key change: “Feels like WAKING UP!” God, that’d be good.

Frida Sundemo – Drawn To You

“it doesn’t quite hold together as an actual track for me.”

Tim: ‘Lit Up By Neon’, the title of Frida’s on-its-way EP, perhaps explaining the sudden rush of tracks. This here, the second in a month, is a little more upbeat than the previous, so that’s nice.

Tom: Hmm. It might be more upbeat on the whole — that synth-vocal certainly is — but those verses do drag it down a bit.

Tim: Yes – the voice is still her trademark somewhat ethereal voice, that’s hard to really put a mood on (certainly hard to describe as upbeat), but we’ve got here that underlying vocal line that’d be hard to spell so I won’t try, and that brings with it a certain ‘ooh, this is fun and invigorating’ sensation.

Tom: Right! But when the synth line is also the chorus, it doesn’t quite hold together as an actual track for me. It’s nearly there, but it just needs something else to kick it into being a Really Good Song.

Tim: Well, for me that comes with the lovely ‘I’m running at the speed of light in the middle of the night’ melody which appears every now and again and is also excellent. Two favourite parts, then, and for me that’s plenty enough to qualify this as a good track.

Saturday Reject: Martin Stenmarck – När änglarna går hem

“The staging adds a lot to this.”

Tim: Andra Chansen rolls around, and, as far as I’m concerned, went fairly well – my favourite four ended up all in the top five, and the two that went through were both decent enough. Disappointed this didn’t get through, though.

Tim: I’ll be honest: the staging adds a lot to this.

Tom: Agreed: that barrage of lights during that glorious first chorus really does add something.

Tim: It is, undeniably, a slow builder – that first verse is really quite dull, and I found it hard not to be distracted that that idiotic hat. But come the chorus, all was immediately forgiven, or at least forgotten.

Tom: There is a bit of Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called in that build — “no April rain, no flowers bloom, no wedding Saturday,” etc. But I’m willing to believe that’s coincidence given how different, and how big, the rest of the song is.

Tim: Not only did it pick up musically, the light show that was going on him, simple as it was, did so much to say LOOK AT THIS AND PAY ATTENTION. And after that, it was just a question of keeping the attention, which was easy enough with this song – you’ve not only got the background chanting, but also him shouting the decent tune at the top of his voice and then, once we might have got bored of that, the old “break glass in case of emergency” tactic: spread your legs as far as possible.

Tom: There’s more than one way that could be taken.

Tim: And all good ways. Job’s a good’un, let’s have the votes please.

First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining

“Grown up country-pop, and done very well at that.”

Tim: Remember this Swedish duo from back in 2012?

Tom: For once, yes I do! I think that’s mostly due to the name though.

Tim: Good, because it’s new album time, and therefore new track time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2Fu4lGLUsk

Tim: The sound’s not changed much, which after yesterday’s ridiculousness almost comes as something of a relief.

Tom: Speak for yourself, I could take a whole album of that.

Tim: Oh, so could I, but after forty minutes of that one track on repeat it struck me as time for a change. This is grown up country-pop, and done very well at that.

Tom: Yes, yes it is. She’s got exactly the right voice for that — pitch-perfect cry break included — backed by the right instrumentation and production.

Tim: Mind you, for a song that’s ostensibly named after the good things in life, it’s not exactly a chirpy number, is it? It’s nice, and very good, but it’s hardly a party number, except– ooh! except for that time in every party when all the alcohol’s run out, a few people have started sneaking out in the garden for a spliff and everyone’s just lazing around and a bit weary. That part of a party, it’s great for.

Tom: Well, that’s rather specific. I think it’ll be damn good in a few other situations too, although I can’t quite suggest what they’ll be.

Tim: Oh, I’m sure you’re right, but until the specific moments come to you, should that happen to be anybody’s favourite part of a party, the single’s out now, and the album’ll be with us in a couple of months. SORTED.

Orion feat. Niklas von Arnold – Follow The Lights

“You’ve basically just demoted this to stock music.”

Tim: You know what we don’t have enough of, Tom? TV game show theme tunes.

Tom: Hey, let’s not forget the Casualty garage remix that got to number 1. Actually, yes, let’s forget it.

Tim: Yes, let’s. This instead would make a good one.

http://soundcloud.com/oriononline/orion-follow-the-lights-ft-1

Tim: Well, bad bits first: it goes on longer than it really should, the chorus doesn’t quite hit the heights it should and to be honest it pales into insignificance in comparison to some of his other work.

Tom: That’s quite harsh. I can’t disagree with anything you say, though: that chorus is far more downbeat that it really should be.

Tim: I don’t mean it to be harsh – his other work really has been very good indeed. However, I’m not sure why, but within thirty seconds of this starting I was put in mind of the Treasure Hunt music and from then on I couldn’t stop thinking of it as a theme tune. The bouncy strings underneath work both to build tension and to give a ‘you can do it’ boost, parts of it are quiet enough to work as a bed to talk over and as for the lyrics, well, “Follow The Lights” is a perfectly good framework on which to build a contest.

Tom: You’ve basically just demoted this to stock music. Again, quite harsh, but not entirely unjustified.

Tim: Yeah – this really wasn’t intended to come across so harshly, but it just fits. So I say let’s make it.

Tom: If you want something that sounds like Treasure Hunt, though, try Muse’s MK Ultra.

Tim: Oh. Oh wow, that really is quite impressive.

André Zuniga – Off The Ground

“I was convinced it couldn’t possibly live up to its promises.”

Tim: Last Friday I brought you a hefty dance track that you were happy with; have another.

Tim: Well there we go, I trust that was also satisfying?

Tom: The first minute, exactly the first minute, is dedicated to such a strong build-up that I was convinced it couldn’t possibly live up to its promises. And then it did.

Tim: And then it did indeed. It’s the second release from André, who came to people’s attention on Idol 2011 and brought out a summery dance debut last June, and his first foray into proper club banger tracks, and to be honest it’s a very good foray.

Tom: Not quite danceable enough in the verses if it wants to be a Club Banger, but a quick remix for the clubs will sort that out.

Tim: Decent enough vocals, beat that’s not too quiet during the verses and has a nice build up to the chorus, after which it ALL GOES OFF. A well-produced song to dance to, even if the lyric video is a bit ’12-year-old meets Windows Movie Maker’.

Saturday Reject: Olga un Līgo – Saule riet

“Whoever thought of this deserves either a medal or a criminal record.”

Tim: Thomas, if I were to say to you “EDM meets country dancing”, what would you imagine?

Tom: Avicii.

Tim: One option. Here’s another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eenD-H7vces

Tom: That… that was not Avicii. What the hell was that?

Tim: Here is what I love about this Latvian reject: the fact that even the lead singer seems far, far more focused on the dancing than on the singing. At the start, she can’t let go of her skirt, as she’s just dreaming of the moment she gets to pick it up and DANCE; at the end, she’s done so much dancing that she’s too out of breath to sing properly. Whoever thought of this deserves either a medal or a criminal record for drug abuse. It is quite, quite brilliant.

Tom: It’s like someone took the whole idea of farm-house music, repeated it down a slightly dodgy phone line to a producer in Latvia, and this was the result.

Tim: Am I upset that it didn’t go through? Yes, because it’d be a wonderful spectacle to have on the Eurovision stage; no, because the eventually winner was, as previously mentioned, the excellent Cake to Bake.