Author: Tim

Michel Young – 70s80s90s

“I liked it! It’s pretty good!”

Tim: Single take video for you here, though I’m almost certain they didn’t keep the camera running for three minutes and thirteen seconds.

Tim: So, we’ve a guy walking up a street singing his song, camera constantly on him, so far so standard. Except – his hair’s moving weirdly slowly, and I’m sure dogs’ tails normally wag faster than that. I played with the settings, though, and it turns out that if you play it at 1.5x, it seems much more normal. So, best guess: camera guy’s also carrying a speaker, song playing from it unusually quickly, and he’s doing his best to mouth along to it? Quite why you’d do that I don’t really know – my only thought is that maybe they couldn’t find a backstreet in Stockholm that takes three minutes to walk up?

Tom: It’s a stylistic thing, and it’s really common in music videos! Most of them are filmed a little bit off-framerate: it’s the look. Here, have this video demonstrating it.

Tim: Huh, I’d not noticed it before. Nice work with the self-plug, though. Back to here: music’s good as well, isn’t it?

Tom: Even if I do keep wanting to sing “I just came to say hello” over that verse. You’re not wrong, though: there’s a lot of clever production tricks, and it’s doing that same interesting-chord-progression thing that the Killers did back in their early albums.

Tim: Nice bit of strong beat dance pop, lyrics are largely meaningless, but the melody’s good, the production’s lovely and everything’s nice to hear, really.

Tom: I wasn’t sure about that middle eight the first time I heard it: on a second listen, knowing was coming, I think it works. And the key part of that sentence: second listen. I liked it! It’s pretty good!

Tim: However fast we play it.

Au/Ra x Alan Walker – Ghost

“Oh.”

Tim: Not sure I’ll ever really understand the differences between &, ‘and’, x, a comma and any other way of indicating a pairing between artists, but never mind that. This is another one from that Death Stranding game that the recent CHVRCHES one came from (which, incidentally, I relistened to recently and realised I quite like). Let’s see how this one goes.

Tim: Oh.

Tom: Yep. I know that tap-tap-tap percussion style’s been popular for years, but ever since someone described it to me as “like someone failing to light a gas hob” it’s basically been ruined for me.

Tim: Well. I guess, the melody’s nice? And her vocal’s fine. And…and…and this really does nothing for me. Sure, maybe it’ll fit the mood (though I’m certainly not tempted by this to buy the game to find out), but without any context it’s just quiet, a bit dull, and not remotely what I was expecting when I saw those names together. Balls.

Tom: And that’s a shame! That’s always the problem for artists who want to make Something Different: it’s not what the fans were expecting.

Tim: Maybe I’ll like this one in a few weeks’ time as well? Hope so.

Tom: I doubt it.

Måns Zelmerlöw – On My Way

“One of the loveliest melodies I’ve heard in a while.”

Tim: Måns’s latest album came out the other week, and I’ve just got round to listening to it; pleasingly, it’s got some pretty good numbers on it, some of which we’ve already covered. This one is the first track, though, and it starts out with some rather fruity language, given who he’s singing it to.

Tom: Oh. Yes. Yes, you’re not wrong there.

Tim: I’ll be honest, I’ve no idea how the lyrics in the chorus relate to the lyrics in the verse, unless he’s doing a dialogue-style duet with himself, which’d be weird.

Tom: That is actually how I read it! I assumed it was ‘advice to past self’, but I suppose it could also be ‘I haven’t got it figured out either, kid’.

Tim: Well, whichever it is, never mind that because that chorus has one of the loveliest melodies I’ve heard in a while. Thing is, it starts out pretty good anyway with the opening “I’m on my way!” line, but then when the flowing “I know it’s only…” arrives it suddenly becomes even better. As for the rest of it: well, it’s fine.

Tom: Alas, the chorus just doesn’t work that well for me, which means that… well, yes. “Fine” about sums it up, which is a shame.

Tim: Nothing brilliant, but nothing that could be described as bad. Well, except for maybe that artwork, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Tom: One observation: it sounds very weird to hear very British-southern long vowels in Måns’ voice. “Dis-arse-ster” just doesn’t seem right somehow.

Tim: Well, let’s just play the chorus again.

Saturday Flashback: UNDRESSD – Forever Young

“I think this song’s actually got to the point where you either need to do something spectacularly good, or spectacularly different.”

Tim: Forever Young has been done many, many times – there’s the original, the Jay-Z monstrosity, the dodgy Australian rock version, the German rap version, the 90s Eurodance version, and then of course the truly definitive one. But am I going to turn down another version, this time by a Swedish duo from the earlier this year? No, of course of I’m not.

Tim: I’ve got nothing really to say about it – as with most covers of this song, it’s exactly as you’d expect, except for doing a couple of odd and therefore mildly disconcerting things with the melody.

Tom: Yep, it’s a standard, middle-of-the-road cover version. I think this song’s actually got to the point where you either need to do something spectacularly good, or spectacularly different. This… is neither. Imagine a Joe Cocker-style over-the-top gospel version!

Tim: Or, as Rolling Stone recently had him, Joe ****er. Yeah, that’d be fun. But it wouldn’t have this one’sThere’s also the finger clicks, and I’m not sure which is more annoying: the fact that they happen on basically every other beat, or that for a few bars they stop happening and you think “oh thank god” but then they come back and you want to die.

Tom: In a departure for our usual style, Tim, I hadn’t noticed the clicks. And now I have. And now I hate this.

Tim: Oh, you’re SO WELCOME. I won’t end on a negative, though, so: nice song, nice genre, nice sound. Nice.

Armin van Buuren feat. Ne-Yo – Unlove You

“Maybe I’m just old-fashioned.”

Tom: This is not an intro that you’d expect from Armin van Buuren. The rest of it…

Tom: Let’s get something out of the way: the lyrics here are not great. “How am I supposed to only / look at you as my homie” is one of several really rough examples.

Tim: Yeah – that whole second verse, really, with the shower line and the legs shaking bit as well.

Tom: It’s a shame, because everything else about that chorus is good: particularly those brass-like synth stabs in the background.

Tim: It really is – and far more than I was hoping for from a song with Ne-Yo in the artist credits.

Tom: Then we have a middle eight, and it ends! I know, that’s how music works these days, but I really do think this needed a Big Final Chorus. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned.

Tim: Hmm, interesting you put it like that – that disappointing bit around the one minute mark strikes me as more middle eight-y, with its complete lack of resemblance to anything else. I’d say we’ve just a complete lack of standard structure, but you know what? That’s fine.

Robin Bengtsson – Just Let It Go

“It’s safe to say that this reminds us of a LOT of pop songs.”

Tim: Ready for an irritatingly catchy guitar strum?

Tom: My brain went straight into Train’s “Drive By” there, although given that it’s just one repeated guitar strum, I suspect that’s my fault, not the fault of the song. Also, am I wrong, or does the chorus sound weirdly like Pitbull and Kesha’s “Timber”? That’s what I kept breaking into, anyway.

Tim: Timber, not sure about – I did, however, lose count of the number of times I wanted to move into “when I see your face…” there.

Tom: Right. So between us, it’s safe to say that this reminds us of a LOT of pop songs. Perhaps a bit distracting. Although now I’ve pointed it out, I defy you not to call-and-reponse “just let it go” with “I’m yelling timber”.

Tim: Ohhh…oh, yep, there it is. But, never mind, because otherwise it’s a fairly decent track – fitting in perfectly, in fact, with all the other standard ‘white guy with guitar’ acts out there, showing that it’s not just in Britain that it’s all-pervasive. I like this song, mostly because it does pretty much nothing wrong. Nothing incredibly brilliant, mind, but nothing wrong either.

Actually, one more thing: speaking of losing count: why do so many songs keep mentioning kryptonite? I want one mentioning Infinity Stones instead, please, songwriters.

Saturday Flashback: Tiësto, Jonas Blue & Rita Ora – Ritual

“I enjoyed it, and that’s that.”

Tom: Parts of this sound like a Tiësto track, and parts of this sound like a Rita Ora track. And astonishingly, I think they both work together.

Tim: They do, as this is a good track.

Tom: I… I don’t think I could pick a Jonas Blue track out of a lineup, though.

Tim: Yeah, you remember – did that Fast Car cover that kickstarted 2016’s brief trend of tropical covers of old songs.

Tom: I’m sure he had some input.

Tom: There’s nothing that particularly stands out here for me, but somehow the whole seems greater than the sum of its parts. It’s catchy, I want to hear it again. And honestly, that’s the only reason I’m sending it over to you: I enjoyed it, and that’s that.

Tim: Good. Sensible reasoning.

3JS – De Toekomst

“I’m just surprised.”

Tom: This was on Dutch radio when I was driving through the Netherlands, and it sounded like something out of the early 2000s. Nope: released last month.

Tim: Hmm. Quite nice.

Tom: I’m not saying it’s a great song. It’s not terrible, either; I quite like it.

Tim: Yeah, there’s plenty of things to enjoy about it.

Tom: I’m just surprised that, somehow, something that sounds like it came from the Dutch equivalent of a two-decade-old Barenaked Ladies album is getting airplay on middle-of-the-road Dutch radio stations.

Tim: I don’t know, genres vary, popularity changes by country – hell, over here we’ve still got Westlife coming out with new stuff that doesn’t sound particularly different from their old music. Here’s to the old ones, long may they continue.

Archi & Pelago – Rockefeller

“I’ve just realised a Thing, and I’ve a feeling I’m about to go off on one.”

Tim: You might think that this’d be a fairly decent act name for a duo, particularly if one was called Archie, say.

Tom: No, actually, I think it’s the very first time that I’ve said “oh, piss off” to a song here before even listening to it.

Tim: Oh, well, okay, but let’s say you did think that, then you might be right, but we’ll never know, because this band is a threesome made up of Joakim, Magnus and Oskar, and they’ve written a song that seems to be targeted at their landlord, maybe?

Tim: I’ve a slight feeling I know which way you’ll go, Tom, because I’m on the fence as to whether it’s fun or cheesy. The style I definitely like, because even at almost four minutes it doesn’t get boring, and I think that’s what saves it from being tedious.

Tom: There’s a lot to dislike here: the lyrics, in particular, and the way that the lead singer claps into the microphone during the first verse, despite there not being a single clap in the song. It’s a shame, because there’s also a lot to like: the melody’s catchy, the sound manages to be interesting while still familiar.

Tim: Right. Now, it’s the lyrics I want to discuss, because I’ve just realised a Thing, and I’ve a feeling I’m about to go off on one, so strap in. See, the lyrics could work absolutely fine as, say, a song in a musical, or as a song in a musical standup set.

Tom: I’m not sure it’s funny enough for standup, but yes, you’re absolutely right. This is a song from a musical. Which is… not great here.

Tim: But why not? Pop music, apparently, just doesn’t have time for that: very roughly, we’re split maybe 75% falling in (or out of) love, 20% feeling good (or shit), and the rest being, well, this sort of stuff which almost always ends up being lumped in as ‘novelty’. So I’m wondering: why? At what point was it decided that romanticism and happiness were the only two subjects able to be discussed in pop music? And who by, and why? Because now I’ve consciously realised that, I’m almost annoyed.

Tom: I’ve got an album here you might like. You may have heard of it.

Tim: Yep, fair, and here’s another one. Doesn’t change the vast majority, though.

Louise – Not The Same

“That’s basically a small miracle.”

Tom: Most of Britain would know her as “Louise off Strictly” or “Jamie Redknapp’s ex-wife”, but here, those are descriptions that’d prompt lowered expectations. If I introduce her as that, you’ll assume I’m setting you up for another terrible celebrity ego/cash-in single.

Tim: Well, yes, but people who know her only as that are absolutely not the sort of people who we want reading this website. Let’s have a better introduction, please.

Tom: Okay: Louise, formerly of Eternal.

Tim: Thank you.

Tom: This is actually the third single off the new album. No, I had no idea either. It’s a mystery to me why that album will be released in January, in the doldrums after Christmas: surely it would have been better pitched as a perfect present for kids to buy their Strictly-watching mums? Or maybe I’m still stuck in the pre-streaming era of marketing.

Tim: Quite possibly, as times do change. But to the music: I was aware of the comeback, though I’d never actually got round to listening to the tracks. I’m now thinking that was a mistake, because this is really good!

Tom: I’m sure I’ve heard some of the various components of this before, although that’s more that it’s been inspired by the same gospel music that hundreds of other tracks have.

Tim: Probably. Pop is pop, genre is genre, inspirations are worldwide.

Tom: For some reason, though, this actually made me a little bit happier. Mark it down, Tim: I actually had some sort of an emotional reaction to a track that we’re talking about here. That’s basically a small miracle.

Tim: Blimey. That really is.