Europop – Page 77

Saturday Flashback: Tracey Cole – Stars are Blind (Almighty Mix)

“I wonder what the original is?”

Tom: “This is a really good track, and I’ve not heard it before,” I thought the other day while listening to an old Almighty Records compilation, “I wonder what the original is?”

Tim: Huh, that is a really good track. What is the original?

Tom: Well, you see, that’s where it all fell apart, because it turns out the original is Paris Hilton’s first single.

Tim: Oof. You mean the one…

Tom: The one that’s close enough to UB40’s Kingston Town that they sued over it, yes.

So by all standards, I should hate this song. But without the half-assed reggae backing of the original; you’ve got a dance remix — standard, yes, but one that fits the song pretty much perfectly.

Tim: Yep. I’d far rather listen to this than the original, certainly.

Tom: As they occasionally do, Almighty Records have pretty much fixed the song.

Tim: And this is why we love them so much – even if it’s a slightly bizarre reinterpretation, more often than not they’re just brilliant.

Zara Larsson – Weak Heart

“Excellent use of a big two-step drumbeat”

Tim: There seems to be a fashion at the moment for numeric album titles – One Direction’s FOUR, Take That’s III, Taylor Swift’s 1989, but before all those, back in October Zara released her first full album, simply entitled 1. This here’s the fourth track from it, and rather enjoyable at that.

Tim: Ever since dubstep made it mainstream, I’ve very much enjoyed a big two-step drumbeat to emphasise parts of tracks, and this makes excellent use of it.

Tom: Agreed. That’s been around for a long time, but it’s only gone mainstream lately. I remember us complaining about dubstep when it first went big, but now that the world’s gotten used to all of that — yes, it works extremely well. Bonus points for that twinkly piano bit near the end too.

Tim: PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHORUS, it says, because it’s important. You MUST be told about Zara’s weak heart, because you need to act upon it. Probably.

Tom: Really?

Tim: Actually you don’t, Zara just wants you to hear her being annoyed, but still, it’s a great way to demand interest in a song while it’s being played, and after it’s been played it encourages contemplation and thoughts of “well, that was a powerful track, I should hear it again”. And you what? I think I will.

Tom: Like yesterday’s, it’s a bit too slow and downbeat for me: I like my emotional ballads BIG and my dance tracks DANCEY, and this falls uncomfortably between the two. But that’s my taste, and not a reflection on the track itself: I can see why you’ll play it again.

Kadie Elder – First Time He Kissed A Boy

“The whole thing just seems a bit cold”

Tim: This came in via e-mail recently; Kadie Elder is a band, and to be more specific a synthy electropop Dutch one.

Tom: Well, I’ve heard less promising introductions.

Tim: You can probably guess this from the title, but the e-mail states that this track is “about recognizing your sexuality in a young age and the difficulties that can follow”.

Tim: And there we go. Quite a nice track, isn’t it?

Tom: I… guess? The chorus is pleasant, but the whole thing just seems a bit cold: the vocals are buried in the mix, hard to make out, and the instruments just aren’t quite entertaining enough to take centre stage.

Tim: The video is…hard to describe because I’m not really sure if I think it’s moving or a little bit mawkish, though I suspect you’ll lean towards the latter.

Tom: You’re absolutely right: mawkish. It’s possible to pull off Deep Emotional Videos With A Message (again, Pink’s Perfect comes to mind) but this is just by-the-numbers and… well, dull.

Tim: It’s certainly entirely predictable, which spoils it somewhat but never mind. Musically it’s nice to hear – the lyrics, hard as they occasionally are to make out, tell the picture a lot better than the video does, with lines like “keeping back the ghost inside”, “cover up is what they told”, though oddly they never move on to the happy place that the video ends up at. So as far as downbeat synth pop tracks go? I like it a lot.

Tom: Yep, as far as downbeat synth pop goes, it’ll do. I just don’t particularly like downbeat synth pop.

Saturday Flashback: Klostertaler – Freunde bleiben Freunde

“Hahahahahahaa oh that’s WONDERFUL. “

Tom: Here is an Austrian folk-music band covering a song that probably should never have been covered by an Austrian folk-music band.

Tim: Hahahahahahaa oh that’s WONDERFUL.

Tom: So it turns out there’s an entire album devoted to covers of Scooter songs. This is perhaps the highlight.

Tim: Oh, what a highlight.

Tom: The main thing this shows is just how repetitive the original track actually is. With the trappings of trance music removed, it starts being just a bit of a dull song — and perhaps it gives us an insight into how those who don’t like trance feel about Scooter.

Tim: Thing is, Friends isn’t the best Scooter track by a long way, in terms of actual music. It is repetitive, yes and the lyrics are, well, not exactly thesis length. It is, however, one of the tracks that’s guaranteed to put a smile on my face, because of its simplicity, its happy melody and just general, I don’t know, friendliness, I suppose. And this? I reckon this has it just as much, and I almost prefer “Blieben Freunde” to “We’ll all be friends” rhythmically. This is GREAT.

Tom: Klostertaler started in 1976. The year after releasing this, they broke up. I don’t know if the two events were connected.

Em – Rising In Love

“That’s a seven year old dancepop track and no mistake”

Tim: What would you say, Tom, if I offered you the most ‘Everytime We Touch’-sounding song I’ve heard in a very, very long time?

Tom: Cautiously optimistic? If it’s like that in style, and not in melody, then I reckon you could be onto a winner.

Tim: And, blimey, that’s a seven year old dancepop track and no mistake, and it’s utterly wonderful.

Tom: A reminder here that “Everytime We Touch” is almost ten years now. And I didn’t agree with you until that almost 808-ish clap sample appeared: yep, this style is actually old-school now.

Tim: It’d sound completely out of place on a modern dance floor, of course, especially with that key change (because where the hell did that come from?), but I don’t care.

Tom: Hmm. See, while I like the style, what it’s missing is a decent hook, not a chorus that reminds me, oddly, of Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) — there’s a couple of similar musical phrases in there.

Tim: See for me it’s not the hook (or, as I suppose I should admit, the lack of one), but that rising and falling chiming at the back of the chorus, reminiscent of The Tamperer feat. Maya. That’s the part that really gets me going with this.

Tom: Hmm. I can see what you mean, but it’s just not that good a tune, perhaps even by the standards of those who are…

Tim: Stuck in the past with pop music tastes? Maybe I am, but fortunately Swedes like Em are around to provide plenty of satisfaction, and I’m very happy with this, actually jumping around my bedroom. Now all we new is a candlelight edit.

Bjørnskov – Usynlig

“I can’t find the chorus.”

Tom: CB, our reader, writes in with this suggestion. “I like his voice and it is pleasant enough,” says CB, “but I can’t find the chorus.”

Tim: Blimey, he must have got a bit bored standing in that town square. But yeah, there’s a chorus.

Tom: Well, there definitely is a chorus, but CB’s right that it does all merge together into a bit of a mush. There’s no sense of progression through the song — and that can work sometimes, but here it just makes the whole thing a little bit forgettable.

Tim: Maybe, possibly. I listened to it while I was colouring in my advent calendar for today so wasn’t paying immense attention to it, but it was a lovely soundtrack for doing that.

Tom: I won’t ask why you were colouring in your advent calendar.

Tim: Well, ’cause it’s a colouring in advent calendar, dummy. This isn’t an immense track, sure, but it’s very pleasant to listen to, and I’d disagree with you that there’s no progression – even if it’s fairly steady, there’s a definite sense of arrival when that final chorus comes along, and it’s one I like.

Tom: It’s… well, it’s nice.

Tim: It’s very nice.

Josef Johansson – Tysta Leken

“Modern sounding verses and chorus synths from thirty years ago”

Tim: Yesterday we heard from Vinsten; today we hear a cover of their previous song, Luckiest Girl, albeit one that’s substantially restyled and slightly rewritten.

Tim: I say slightly rewritten – it’s been entirely translated into Swedish.

Tom: I think I understood “nattbuss”.

Tim: Probably, but it’s also had a few extra lines added, including the titular part, ‘Tysta Leken börjar nu, den som pratar åker ut’, which translates to ‘The game of silence starts now, the one who talks loses’.

Tom: I’m fairly sure my childhood equivalent of that is “silence in the courtyard, silence in the street, the biggest gob in England is just about to speak”.

Tim: Ha, I never heard that. That whole premise, though is slightly odd when the chorus means ‘tell me something I don’t know, tell me something I care about’, but who cares? Basically, it’s a great pop song with modern sounding verses and chorus synths from thirty years ago, all coming together to somehow give a cohesive tune, and that’s impressive even if the lyrics don’t make much sense.

Tom: Hmm. I’m not sold.

Tim: Well, as with yesterday’s, however much it changes throughout, it hangs together well and is a tune I’m happy listening to on repeat – that’s all I really ask for in this genre.

Tom: And as with yesterday’s: it just doesn’t do that for me. Still, each to their own.

Vinsten – Keep That Dream Alive

“Feels like a cross between a BANGING CHOON and a slow indie track”

Tim: Vinsten last graced this site with their presence last June, with a remixed 2012 song, Luckiest Girl. Apparently not ones to rush things, the pair have returned with this, which doesn’t need a remix to be, as you put it “MODERATELY THUMPING”.

Tim: And that is because in its default state it is already THUMPING throughout, gently during the verses, but at least moderately so during the pre-chorus, and once the proper chorus kicks in, everything is there.

Tom: Hmm. You know, I’m not sure about that: again, I’d count it as “moderately thumping”. It takes a while to get there; that opening verse is slow and a bit dull, and not in the Hurts “this is going to turn into something wonderful” sense.

Tim: To be honest, though, it’s just as good when it’s quiet as when it’s loud, because some of those gentle synth lines and vocals are nice to hear.

Tom: I’m not sure about “nice”: it’s okay, I guess, but it feels like a cross between a BANGING CHOON and a shoe-gazing, slow indie track, and I’m just not sure that works. How about you?

Tim: Well, summed up, I guess, the result is that this song is enjoyable to listen to at pretty much every point, and, well, there’s not a huge amount more you could ask for than that.

Rebecka Karlsson – We Got The Night

“Kind of like an ‘I Love It’ with a whole lot of added melody”

Tim: We started the week off with a strong dance pop track; let’s continue it with an even stronger one, shall we? This one, to be precise, the sophomore single from Rebecka Karlsson, formerly of this year’s Sweden’s Got Talent (well, Talang Sverige). Press play below; you’ll thank yourself almost immediately.

Tom: Crikey, you’re right: that’s a bit good.

Tim: Indeed. It’s a funny thing, that hard to write slow-down noise they’ve put in every now and again there, isn’t it? Not quite sure what purpose it serves, aside from being somewhat distracting when it happens.

Tom: I quite like the effect. And I’m fairly sure I’d write it as “bwooooorp”.

Tim: Yeah, sounds about right. And as for the rest of it? Wow. Written by two of Le Kid, so it was always going to work at least fairly well, and it’s kind of like an ‘I Love It’ with a whole lot of added melody, and with a not dissimilar message – let’s get out there and party, basically.

Tom: It is: I’m not really sure about those lyrics; they name-drop a load of older songs, and that just seems to stand out like a sore thumb. I can’t disagree with your assessment.

Tim: And what a great song to party out to – you can get excited to it, you can shout to it, you can jump to it, you can get off with a stranger to it, anything you want basically.

Tom: Well, that went to an unexpected place.

Tim: It is ENERGETIC, and PUMPING, and EVERY SYNONYM. It’s one that’s going straight on the party playlist, and I’m fairly sure it’ll be a long time before it comes off.

Ola – This Could Be Paradise

Tim: Remember Ola, seemingly annually of these pages? I’ll forgive you if you don’t, but here’s a new single from the Swede that’s initially released in, erm, Russia. I don’t know either, but here you go.

Tim: So what do we think of that then?

Tom: Well, that’s a blindingly good intro. Unusual synth, great melody.

Tim: It’s certainly got a cracker of a chorus, there’s no doubt about that, and to make things even better there are some pretty good verses in there as well – we’re only halfway through the first one before things pick up and get going properly. It’s all nicely based on a strong dance beat melody that, despite being only fifteen seconds long, loops throughout the song without getting annoying, though it does become hard not to hear once you notice it (you’re welcome).

Tom: Oh, damn it, Tim. You’re right: it’s just that good intro, looping through the whole song. Still, at least there’s enough over the top that it clearly works.

Tim: I particularly like the sort-of-backing-vocals that come in at the start and after each chorus, as they get the song off to a great PAY ATTENTION start, maintain interest after the first chorus and bring everything together nicely at the end. I’ve not even begun to mention the hefty instrumentation beneath each chorus, and indeed everything except the introductory first half-verse; basically, this is a great dance pop track, and I’d have trouble trying to criticise it, even if I wanted to.

Tom: I can only agree: this is brilliant.