Author: Tim

Maria Sejer – Jeg Er

“Wellbeing and happiness,” possibly.

Tim: This is, I think, probably the gentlest electropop we’ve ever featured here. Have a listen, and inevitably relax.

Tom: Ooh, I’m not sure about that: I’d put some of the Sound of Arrows stuff as being gentler than this. It’s certainly on the calm end of the scale, though.

Tim: If you don’t know your basic Danish, the title just means ‘I Am’, and while I don’t know the other lyrics so could be getting this entirely wrong, the video and musical tone kind of indicate a general message of wellbeing and happiness with the current state of affairs.

Tom: It’s quite pleasant, really, although I can’t say it’s something I’d put on my regular playlist. It’s like a… I don’t know, like a sugary drink that’s been watered down a bit: pleasant enough, seems vaguely sweet, but ultimately just gets forgotten about.

Tim: Erm, what?

Tom: I think that analogy got away from me. Anyway, yes, wellbeing and happiness?

Tim: Indeed. I hope I’m not wrong, because that’s a lovely message for a track, with very gentle (twice I’ve used that word, but it’s true) music and calm yet delicate vocals. So if I’m right, I like this track a lot; if I’m wrong, I don’t want to know. Sound good?

Tom: I won’t translate it if you won’t.

Raqoon – Games

“That euphoric build turned into… well, audio mud.”

Tom: “Raqoon”? Crikey, they’re starting to scrape the barrel for names, aren’t they?

Tim: Not the best, is it? I once heard that if you listen to new music in the morning you’re a bit more likely to enjoy it, as your brain’s more receptive to new things. I don’t know if that’s true (the amount of tripe I’ve heard on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show would point away from that), but if it is it’d help me get a bit closer to finding out why I like this.

Tom: I actually let out an “ugh” of disappointment after that euphoric build turned into… well, audio mud.

Tim: It’s what heave dance fans call ‘dirty’. It’s all suited to air horns and dub step remixes. It is, in short, really not what I’d go for.

Tom: Skip that first verse and I might have been sold on it – the “proper” drop isn’t too bad, but that verse just kills it.

Tim: So why, then, do I find myself pushing play again once it’d finished? The voice isn’t anything special, and there could probably do to be a bit more of it. There’s no real melody to it, and the endless pounding drumbeats I admittedly do find a bit tedious towards the end.

Tom: I can’t imagine why: it sounds far away from your normal fare, and I won’t be listening again. Perhaps you’re just in a very good mood?

Tim: Maybe. Whatever the reason, I’ve just hit play for a third time. I guess there’s just no logic to art. Who’d have thought it?

Crash feat. Pixy J – I’m Alive

“That sounds like a proper track at last.”

Tim: If I say ‘stop me if you’ve heard this before’, you’ll stop me, so I won’t. We first wrote about this last July, when it came out initially mostly as a demo, with a horrific rap from a bloke calling himself ‘Sunshine Gillz’. Fortunately, that version’s been taken off YouTube, it’s been rerecorded with a slightly different line up, given a production makeover and now it’s much much better. So let’s go again, shall we?

Tom: Well, that sounds like a proper track at last.

Tim: Doesn’t it just? I pointed out last time it could have come straight from 2003; you rightly pointed out that that’s not necessarily a compliment given that that was now a decade ago. However, as part of aforementioned overhaul they’ve stuck a bit of extra bass and stuff on there and actually now it seems, well, mostly 2003 and slightly 2014.

Tom: Yep, those synth pads are 2003, but at least it sounds modern now. YouTube’s overcompressed it a bit, as it sometimes does — this is the kind of track that needs a full-on club speaker system to be heard properly.

Tim: Best thing, though, is that it doesn’t have a rapper over the middle eight. Or, in fact, any middle eight at all, being as it is just two verses and a lot of choruses. That’s no problem that I see, though, because when I’m jumping around on the dance floor I’m not generally appreciating musical structure.

Tom: Fair point, and it doesn’t seem to lose anything from missing it.

Tim: No. Well, unless you look at it as a missed opportunity to do something potentially awesome. But here it’s a deliberately skipped opportunity to do something horrific, so it’s actually okay. ALL MENDED WELL DONE.

Lea Michele – Cannonball

This song would have a key change.

Tim: You may not be aware, but Sia Furlong (probably best known for being part of David Guetta feat. Sia) has been rather big in the world of pop these past twelve months, particularly on the writing front. Amongst many others, she wrote Loved Me Back To Life last summer, and there’s also this, sung by her off Glee who now wants to be a proper pop star.

Tim: That’s a GREAT track, isn’t it? Musically, certainly – that’s an incredibly powerful voice and a melody that’s perfectly suited to it.

Tom: Yes, although it took me a few bars to get used to that odd rhythm. Even at three and a half minutes, I feel it outstays its welcome a little: key changes aren’t in vogue right now, but if they were, this song would have one.

Tim: Lyrically, well, a cannonball’s an interesting thing to be aeronautically comparing yourself to – yes, it’ll keep going and knock away anything in its way which I suppose is the main point, but it’ll also come back down to earth fairly quickly and probably never ever get up again. ‘Jumbo jet’, mind – that would fit.

Tom: Mm, but even that comes down to earth. Moon? Space station? Geostationary satellite?

Tim: “I’ll fly like a geostationary satellite.” Tom, we should go into songwriting.

Aside from that that, though, no complaints, because it’s a lovely song with mostly good words and and great sound. And as for Sia, well, she probably can’t beat our lyrics, but there’s an album out this year so hopefully that’ll be brilliant as well.

Majestee of Sweden – Supergirl

I wasn’t massively sold on it — until that guitar solo in the middle eight.

Tim: Chapter two in our story of ‘young girls being slightly crap superheroes’ here, after chapter one last October.

Tim: Here’s a thing: I heard the intro line, but almost immediately got entirely immersed in the video and kind of let the music get relegated to the backing.

Tom: See, I opened it in a background tab and wasn’t massively sold on it — until that guitar solo in the middle eight.

Tim: It wasn’t until the very last line, “I’m gonna save the world if that’s okay,” that the song came back and it all matched up together. So then I listened again, and what a lovely track. Slightly melancholy vocals to start with, but damn, that chorus is something special. As is the instrumental buildup back to the final choruses.

Tom: Yep. It could start to be a minute or so shorter, I reckon, but you’re right: it all came together at the end.

Tim: All great, really, and nicely boosted by a few Superman references potted throughout the lyrics. Good work everybody.

Kevin Walker – Belong

You’re probably thinking that this sounds a lot like Wake Me Up

Tim: Last Friday X Factor, today Swedish Idol, and this year’s winner, Kevin, a (still active) professional footballer.

Tom: That’s a multi-talented person right there. Just like Gazza.

Tim: You’re probably thinking that this sounds a lot like Avicii’s Wake Me Up, with it’s country-esque verse, lone vocal and than big dance chorus, and you’d be right – it would seem the Idol producers thought that since they’re always accused of being cynical and manipulative of the music industry they might as well go all in, so let’s have something very similar to the biggest hit of year.

Tom: It’s similar in style, but the vocals and production are different enough that it didn’t immediately remind me. It’s not a complete ripoff, but yes, they’re certainly just grabbing onto the coattails of whoever’s currently popular.

Tim: However awful that sort of attitude may be, damn, it does seem to work. Farmhouse music —

Tom: Is… is that like house and garage, only with country? ‘Cos that’s a cracking term, if so.

Tim: Pretty much, yeah and it seem it’s here to stay; whether it’ll become as universal as piano dance was eighteen months back remains to be seen, but I like this. Entirely derivative, and unashamedly so, but it’s a decent enough track to dance to. Of course, it’ll be nowhere near as successful as Avicii what with being six months too late for dancing to, but it’s the thought that counts.

Saturday Flashback: Scatman John – Scatman’s World

“Damn right there was a follow-up track.”

Tom: Damn right there was a follow-up track.

Tim: Naturally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWBAy3bATI

Tom: Yes, everyone remembers him as a one-hit wonder, but it turns out that Scatman John was big in Japan — and this was the title track from his album. We’ve got 90s dance beats, a video filled with stock footage, and some of his trademark actual scat-singing.

Tim: Hahaha – this won’t come across as a compliment, but you know what I was put immediately in mind of when the music started proper? The glorious Mellow, by the Daz Sampson side project Space Kats. I LOVE it.

Tom: Oh my stars, I can see the connection there. JAMIE. SHINE THE MAGIC TORCH. Those two should work together. Well, they should if Scatman John was still alive. Could it stand to be shorter? Sure. But then we’d be denied that absolutely glorious key change. And the world would be much poorer for it.

Tim: Much, much poorer.

Sam Bailey – Skyscraper

Come the middle eight, BOOM.

Tim: Another year of X Factor, and for some reason the same song that Union J would have had last year. Also, the lowest-selling Christmas number one since Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman did Something Stupid twelve years ago. (See what I did there?)

Tom: The charts are pretty much broken these days, what with downloads and YouTube. Still, there’s still a place in the history books for Christmas Number One. So, the same as last year?

Tim: Sort of, anyway – it’s weird, but for the first two verses and choruses, this was just fairly dull, really. It’s emotionally lacking, unlike Demi Lovato’s original, and it’s not big instrumentation to make up for that like Union J had.

Tom: Oddly, I haven’t heard Skyscraper before — it completely passed me by. I didn’t see why it’s much of a winner’s song until hearing the original: it didn’t seem all that memorable, or a Big Number, until it had Demi Levato’s emotional vocals behind it.

Tim: On the other hand, come the middle eight, BOOM. It’s as though the whole song dials it up a couple of notches: the voice becomes more impressive, the backing really kicks in, and it suddenly becomes worth listening to. I actually like it somewhat, and I’d certainly stick it on an X Factor playlist. Might even put it on a regular playlist, though only if I could be sure I could skip to the good bit each time.

The United – So Wicked

“Crikey. Let’s have it, indeed.”

Tim: Right then, that’s Christmas done. But let’s stay vaguely merry for the time being with a nice tale of worldwide co-operation. Remember these guys from back in March? Without going into all the details again, we’ve a Brit, a German, an Italian, a Swede and a, um, Netherlandian.

Tom: Turns out there isn’t a decent singular demonym for Dutch folks. Who knew?

Tim: Boyband dance pop, let’s have it.

Tom: Crikey. Let’s have it, indeed. That’s really good.

Tim: This is a band with money behind it, and that shows. This is a track with good backing from a producer who knows what he’s doing, the video’s got comic book panels and lens flare and all that, and they can do the singing they need to. The same criticisms from last time still apply, mind: it’s a tad generic, could easily be solo material, and it’s not particularly memorable, but while it’s on it’s very enjoyable, and one big hit could well bring these lot to the front.

Tom: I found myself tapping my feet along on the first listen through, which is rare for me: and I think that was due to the production, not the band. “So wicked” is actually a terrible lyric — and that odd sample of it in the middle eight doesn’t matter — but the rest of it is so good I didn’t really mind.

Tim: Inevitable ‘up and coming boyband’ comparison: The Fooo, who somehow don’t have quite the same level of, well, I’m not sure really, but something anyway. Basically, these guys seems like a proper boyband just waiting for one track to become huge, whereas The Fooo just seem content wandering around, putting tracks out there every now and again until they find something that works. If you want to go on about artistic integrity and stuff, The United probably wouldn’t come out on top; if you want to go on about tracks that are properly produced and very enjoyable to listen to, though, then this is where it’s at.

Christmas Flashback: Jose Feliciano – Feliz Navidad

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Tim: This is a song from 1970 that’s big in a LOT of countries, and a whole load of people such as Boney M, Michael Bublé and Artie off Glee have covered it, but somehow it’s never taken off in the UK. That’s a shame, because it’s brilliant (as is this accompanying home-made video).

Tom: Another animated GIFtacular. I’ll put it in a background tab. Fortunately, I know the song well already: I heard it years ago when I was in the US, and it’s always stuck with me.

Tim: It’s basically a fifty second song repeated way too many times, but I don’t care. You can count the lyric lines on the fingers of one hand, but I don’t care.

Tom: Indeed, which may be why it’s stuck with me.

Tim: I don’t care, because the lyrics, and the song, say everything there is to say right now. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Tom: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.