Author: Tim

Saturday Flashback: Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams – Get Lucky

“A confession.”

Tom: Our reader, Isabella, writes in and notes that we never actually covered this, the song of the summer.

Tim: True.

Tom: She likes it, as – evidently – do most of the record-downloading public: “the only criticism I can find for it,” she writes, “is that it’s more of a Pharrell track produced by Daft Punk than a Daft Punk track featuring Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.”

Tom: So, a confession: I disliked it on first listen; it seemed monotonous and not particularly inspired. And then, as it became the soundtrack to everything this summer, it grew on me.

Tim: See, I never even got to the growing on me part of it. I just don’t get it – I find it, well, dull. Their last album, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, was fantastic (and the remix album even more so), but this is just boring.

Tom: And I find myself agreeing. Because now the glow has faded; the mists of autumn aren’t far away; and I find that it’s started to irritate me again. It doesn’t go anywhere. It doesn’t do anything. It could be two minutes long or ten minutes long, it’s all the bloody same. It’s impeccably produced, incredibly catchy, but I’m just bloody sick of it.

Tim: You’re right – it doesn’t go anywhere at all. The underlying beat – that eight second, four bar loop – just doesn’t change. Throughout the entirety of the song, it’s there. I don’t want to call it cynical, but it’s perfectly mastered to get stuck in your head and never ever leave, and to keep you listening in the subconscious hope that it’ll break out of its minor-key loop and do something interesting.

Tom: Is it possible to review something properly when it’s been burned into your brain?

Tim: There’s an argument that that’s the only time when you should review something – you’ve had time to digest it, tracked your enjoyment of it, can provide a thorough description of your thoughts, as we’ve done. Unfortunately, they’re not positive thoughts.

Tom: PS: Ed Balls.

Tim: Of course.

Steve Grand – Stay

“It’s nice to see songs that will annoy the less progressive parts of American society.”

Tim: Steve Grand made a slight wave in America back in July when he brought out his first track, All-American Boy, with its video portraying the tale of a gay guy with a crush on his straight best mate, and was hailed as the country’s first openly gay country music star.

Tom: It’s worth looking on Wikipedia for some of the dissenting opinions there, but yes: it’s nice to see songs that are, let’s be honest, going to annoy the less progressive parts of American society.

Tim: This, his second single, doesn’t bother with any unrequitedness.

Tim: On one hand, I am not a country music fan. As far as I’m concerned, you can keep your dungarees, checked shirts and hay bales far away from me, and you can stick your banjo right where the sun don’t shine.

Tom: I’ll let that line just sit there, shall I?

Tim: If you like. On the other hand, I love a good summery party track, which this definitely is, and that is the side I’m falling down on for this track. It’s great, and even at five minutes it’s not outstaying its welcome even slightly. It’s brilliant.

Tom: It did go on a bit for me: I reckon it’s an excellent three-minute track stretched a bit too far. And while it won’t be making it onto my regular playlist, I’m glad it exists.

Saturday Flashback: Frankmusik – Map

I have found myself yelling it out, apropos of nothing at all.

Tim: Another track off the previously mentioned Poptronik compilation, from February of this year.

Tim: The chorus is fantastic. Isn’t it? Yes, it is. Since I first heard it, I have found myself yelling it out, apropos of nothing at all, just because the vocal on it is so loud and passionate that it’s just great.

Tom: What’s startling to me is not just the strength of the vocal, but that it’s able to compete with — and come out on top of — all the other loud, busy, thumping instrumental bits that are going on at the same time.

Tim: Well, there’s that as well. And you know, for the first time ever, I slightly understand what people mean when they say it’s good for an artist to write their own tracks. Obviously I still don’t think there’s anything at all wrong with not doing, because as I’ve said before songwriting and singing are two completely different skill sets, and it still annoys me when bands say they want to write their own stuff just to be ‘authentic’.

Tom: Let’s be fair, though, singer-songwriters rake in the cash. Authenticity may not be their first priority.

Tim: A good point. But even so, here I really get the feeling that the singing and feeling comes from deep down, rather than singing words off a page, and it works so so well.

Celine Dion – Loved Me Back To Life

Beauty and the Beast it is not.

Tim: It’s a slight shame that Celine’s SoundCloud has her name on it, because it would be quite fun to play a “guess the singer” game after you’ve heard this. Beauty and the Beast it is not.

https://soundcloud.com/celinedionofficial/celine-dion-loved-me-back-to-life/

Tom: Oh, that’s strange, isn’t it? It’s a dark ballad written for a modern pop singer, but that’s obviously Celine’s vocal performance. I… I rather like that.

Tim: This is not a place I, or indeed pretty much everybody else, ever really imagined the Taking Chances hitmaker to visit, and yet she has, and with an almost surprising amount of success.

Tom: I really shouldn’t be surprised by this – she’s got one hell of a voice and the eighth best-selling single of all time. With hindsight, this is almost an obvious step to take – but only with hindsight.

Tim: Aside from the frankly incredible Tony Moran mix of My Heart Will Go On, dance music was never really something I thought Celine Dion could work with, and certainly not two-step. But yet – it’s brilliant. It was written by Sia (most notable for being half of David Guetta feat. Sia) and features a very modern sound, but still brings the epic vocals that she’s best known for. This really is quite the triumph.

Tom: That’s who else it sounds like! Yes! It sounds like a Sia track – that’s brilliant!

Tim: If this isn’t enough for you, she’s described her upcoming album as her ‘edgiest record to date’, and features two tracks written by Ne-Yo, one of which is called Incredible. Really. But now we’re going to finish with this. Because every Celine Dion discussion should finish with this. And open with this. And, probably, consist solely of this.

Oscar Zia – Without U

The chorus is brilliant, but the niggles crept in.

Tim: We mentioned Oscar the other day, when we were talking about hashtags; this is his #Followup, and now we’re out with the hashtags, in with the replacing words with letters.

Tom: Are you…

Tim: Don’t worry, I won’t.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPfyaDMPG6E

Tim: This is…hmm. Well. The thing is, the first time I heard this I really liked it – by and large it’s a great track. The chorus in particular is brilliant, with its bog standard message put in a very upbeat manner, quickly and incessantly with decent dance undertones.

Tom: Agreed: that chorus startled me into paying attention to the song. I’m not sure about those verses – it is, as you say, a bog-standard pop track, but not one that turns me off.

Tim: But then…well, I heard it a few more times and the niggles crept in. The realisation that it was called Without U instead of Without You. The lyric that talks about how “my love was set return to sender” that doesn’t actually mean anything at all.

Tom: I think that’s “was then returned to sender”, but that’s not particularly meaningful either.

Tim: The most half-arsed attempt ever at a dubstep breakdown.

Tom: I read that sentence before actually listening to the middle-eight, and you’re right: that is indeed Half-Arsed Dubstep.

Tim: All those just combine, annoyingly, to put me off it slightly. I still like it – just, not unconditionally. Oh well.

Saturday Flashback: Osvaldo Supino – I Have A Name

I put my head up in surprise.

Tim: There’s a new Poptronik album out, a reliably decent electropop compilation that last year introduced us to, amongst others, Bright Light Bight Light. And now this, from an Italian bloke who brought it out in April.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFnBoVTXpg8

Tom: After living in London for four years, I reckon I can name every place used as a background in that video. It seems strange to film in so many iconic locations and reduce them to depth-of-field blur – but never mind. The music.

Tim: The music indeed, and what a lovely track it is, don’t you think? Things I like include: the occasional dropping of the American singing accent so we hear his normal voice, the strings, the bass note before the key change, the extra vocals after the key change, and the key change itself.

Tom: Especially that key change. I wasn’t convinced by that track before it came along.

Tim: Right, and it’s weird how suddenly hearing the key change made me pay attention to it – I was sat at work with this on in the background, not paying a huge amount of attention to it, and then when the key change came along I put my head up in surprise, thought “wow”, and definitely didn’t scrape a screwdriver along a replacement display I’d just fitted to a customer’s laptop.

Tom: Definitely?

Tim: Oh, definitely. Probably. Maybe. ANYWAY, it’s not that it necessarily makes it a better song, it just draws your attention to how good it already is. Admittedly it’s not perfect – the first chorus could perhaps be livened up slightly, just to give the impression of actually being the chorus – but by and large this is a lovely track.

Jenni Vartiainen – Junat Ja Maiset

This is what happens if an artist relies on the music rather than a dramatic outburst on Twitter.

Tim: Last time we met Jenni was a little over two years ago, and we were very impressed. Since then, there’s been nothing until this, just out as the lead single from her upcoming third album.

Tim: And what a comeback track that is, and something that Gaga could really take lessons from.

Tom: Oh, you’re so right. There’s so much going on, and all of it’s good.

Tim: Strings and drums all over the place, very much demanding of attention, rather than a song that could easily come from a five year old album. A smoke-filled atmospheric video on mountains and in caves, rather than some crappy backstage footage-laced lyric one.

Tom: To be fair, there’s a proper, suitably arty Gaga video out now – but that doesn’t change the comparison about the track. Crikey, change the lyrics to English, add a bit of electric guitar and you’ve got yourself something close to a Gaga track here.

Tim: This is what happens if an artist relies on the music to get attention, rather than a dramatic outburst on Twitter, and it’s vastly better for it. It’s brilliant.

Ola – Maybe

A builder, but well worth it.

Tim: A builder, but well worth it.

Tim: I put that warning at the top because occasionally if I’m feeling rushed I’ll just give a song a minute or so before giving up with it; I’m very glad I didn’t here, though, because that chorus is great.

Tom: Given the brief appearance of those MGMT-like synths, I was happy to wait.

Tim: Well, that’s good. Melodically there’s not a whole lot there, but this is quite literally a BANGER. And from the first chorus on it never really puts a foot wrong – the vocal is more energised and considerably less suicidal (how can you make ‘today was as perfect as they come’ sound like a line you’d jump off a bridge to?)

Tom: Well, Lou Reed managed it. But yes, given that the chorus doesn’t stray too much from one single note, it’s surprising just how well it held my attention.

Tim: And there’s a constant drum beat to remind you that the chorus will soon be back doing everything it does so wonderfully even if you’re not happy with what’s going on in the meantime. This comes on in a club, any decent patron will be on the floor as soon as that one minute twenty hits. It’s just a shame about that first minute, really.

Tom: Don’t knock it: I think it’d be a much worse song without that introduction.

Eric Saade – Forgive Me

It’s a tad tedious, isn’t it?

Tim: Eric, it would appear, doesn’t seem to know what he wants to do, musically – a couple of years back he swore off the wonderfully pop sound of Manboy and the rest of the Masquerade album and headed all Jason Derulo-style (as previously remarked upon), but now, if this track off his next album is anything to go by, he’s done another about turn, and brought us this.

Tim: Problem with it, though: it’s a tad tedious, isn’t it?

Tom: That’s pretty much what I was going to say. If you’re going to turn in a new direction, make sure it’s better than the… one you were going in? That metaphor sort of fell apart for me. But yes. It’s overlong.

Tim: Yes – five minutes is quite something (though if you’re reading this at before having heard it all, literally nothing notable happens after 3:50, so feel free not to subject yourself to it). We don’t need a full minute of repeating chorus at the end, and really not when there’s nothing more to it than any previous choruses. It’s fine having a nice melody, which this does, but if I had control of this I’d say: ditch the second half of each chorus pair – in fact, pretty much chop everything in half.

Tom: Agreed. It’s twice the song it needs to be, and not in a good way.

Tim: I can’t be bothered to listen to the lyrics, but I’m willing to bet they’re not such brilliance that you can’t cut out half of them.

Tom: Damn, that’s harsh. Accurate, though.

Tim: It’d be a much more manageable song, and people probably wouldn’t notice that it’s so dull.

5Angels – World Domination

“I’m officially sounding the GET OFF MY LAWN klaxon.”

Tim: I don’t think we’ve yet visited the Czech Republic; shall we rectify that with a five-piece girlband?

Tom: Bloody hell. “Girl” band is right. Or am I just getting older?

Tim: No, you’re not – “cause you say we’re too young,” they sing, and ‘you’ may have a point as these five have barely entered their teens, although they’ve been going since 2009 and have got three albums out already.

Tom: In which case, I’m officially sounding the GET OFF MY LAWN klaxon.

Tim: Along with that, the PR guff we’ve got spouts stuff about their songs bringing ‘joy to children and teens throughout the Czech and Slovak Republic’, about their thousands of Czech and Slovakian fans being ‘comparable’ to One Direction’s fan base, and about a future appearance being alongside ‘pop royalty Jessie J and JLS’ in a Norfolk music festival at the beginning of September. Fun, no?

Tom: That’s a lot of PR guff right there. Mind you, we’ve seen much worse PR guff for much worse bands: they’re certainly competent.

Tim: They really are. To be honest, this strikes me as being a surprisingly mature sound for such young people – I don’t know if that sounds patronising, but I don’t have trouble imaging this being off, say, the Little Mix album, or Girls Aloud.

Tom: Apart from the fact they mention themselves. It’s been a while since I’ve made this complaint, but I do hate it when bands mention themselves in the song.

Tim: I’m not sure if they’ll ever achieve world domination, or any international success – a large part of me doubts it – but I’d not be complaining if they did. Although I wouldn’t mind a slightly more energetic return after the middle eight – a soaring vocal, an extra drumbeat or something. And maybe tone down the 2 & 4-beat handclap that permeates 90% of the song. But those niggles aside, this is fine.