Europop – Page 95

Saturday Flashback: Antti Tuisku – Jää tai mee

“It’s a builder.”

Tom: Suggested by an anonymous reader, this track’s in from Finland. It’s a couple of months old now, but I’m running with it anyway because first: it’s a builder, and second: I bet you’re surprised by the direction it builds in.

Tim: Hmm – mildly unexpected, I’ll grudgingly admit.

Tom: I was expecting a four-on-the-floor club banger, and what I got was something a bit more interesting: it’s up-and-down like a roller coaster, with more euphoric builds than should rightly fit into four minutes. I was surprised, actually: I thought it’d outstay its welcome, but I enjoyed it to the end.

Tim: As did I – there’s no real opportunity to get bored, what with the regular up and downing. I particularly enjoyed the video – I see quite a bit of myself in his often ridiculous dancing, and I appreciate it when that happens.

Tom: Finnish is a difficult language to translate, but one lyric stood out: “Have mercy on me now, do not play with my emotions”. He’s asking his partner to either stay or go — but just make their mind up either way. Not typical fodder for a dance track, that.

Tim: No, I guess not. Good work all round, then.

Tove Lo – Out Of Mind

“Well-composed and well-sung, it shows off the art of music production”

Tim: Fancy seeing a Swede pull her head apart?

Tom: Wait, literally? ‘Cos I’ve got to be honest, the answer is no.

Tim: Well, you’re going to.

Tom: Well, that was unexpectedly lovely. Am I wrong for thinking that? That was a really nicely put together visual metaphor, really well shot, and with — if I might get my opinion in early — a really fantastic tune behind it.

Tim: You’re not wrong at all. It’s a video inspired by diary entries, which paints a somewhat bleak picture of her childhood, but we’re not here to psychoanalyse (fortunate, really, as she said in an interview about how the demons and dark thoughts just won’t leave her head). Instead, we’re here to listen to music, which makes this a perfectly good track to be going on with. It starts out quiet and downbeat, in a Lana Del Ray style type thing, but then quickly becomes loud and downbeat which works wonderfully.

Tom: Agreed. Aside from being well-composed and well-sung, it shows off the art of music production: there’s just so much going on, but none of it overpowers the rest.

Tim: To be honest, I’m having slight trouble reconciling the video with the lyrics – don’t get me wrong, it’s a great video, but accusing someone else of being out of their mind while showing an image of yourself being slightly deranged doesn’t really seem quite right. Unless she’s singing it to herself, which I suppose is a possibility, but then OH I DON’T KNOW.

Tom: No, you’ve missed a key lyric there: “You’re out of your mind to think that I could keep you out of mine.” He thinks she’ll forget about him easily after he’s gone. She won’t.

Tim: Ohhh…oh yes. Well, anyway. What I’ve not missed is that the actual music sits very right indeed, so let’s keep the two separate and we’ll all be fine.

Clara Sofie – Gennem Himlen

“I got distracted.”

Tim: Tom, help me out. Well, listen to this first, but after that.

Tim: Here’s something I don’t quite understand. Basically, until the last chorus hit, this didn’t really take me anywhere. It was alright, sure, but really just backing filler while a couple of screws fell out of my desk.

Tom: What the hell were you doing to your desk that a couple of screws fell out of it?

Tim: Oh, it’s seen some stuff in its time. Anyway, that first verse caught my interest: it sounded like it was going to be a Proper Builder.

But the last chorus, while I was rummaging around for a screwdriver before my iMac plummeted to its doom, completely blew me away. And I know that’s not particularly uncommon (the last chorus bit, not the furniture massacre), but normally it would at least persuade to pay more attention to the song the next time I heard it. But this, it didn’t really. I wanted to hear it again, but it was still kind of in one ear and out of the other. And again, and again.

Tom: The same thing happened to me. I got distracted about a minute into the song, and only noticed that it had finished when I heard the record company’s tag on the music video.

Tim: On the FIFTH attempt, once I was all sat back down, screwed in and settled, I realised that actually the chorus was pretty good throughout and definitely worth hearing (six times, as it turns out), though even still it struggles to hold my attention. And that’s annoying, because it’s a great chorus. So why can’t I pay attention to it?

Tom: I don’t know: but neither can I.

Carina Dahl – If That’s The Only Way

“I was feeling a bit glum before I pushed play on this.”

Tim: I was feeling a bit glum before I pushed play on this – tired, just heard a string of duff tracks, not really excited – but then during the pre-chorus a smile appeared on my face, and then just kept growing.

Tim: Marks for the video barely approach positive numbers, what with the the typos in the lyrics and what is basically just an iTunes visualiser for the background, but I couldn’t care less about that. Because man, what a tune that is, with Big Strings thrown in by the bucketload.

Tom: It sounds like the love child of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and the Saturdays’ Higher. That’s not an insult — those are both cracking tracks to be inspired by.

Tim: There’s not much to it, really, and it’s almost simplistic – as pop music, it doesn’t seem to care about meaningful depth, or inspiring emotions.

Instead, it’s there to be heard, to infect brains, and to be played very loud indeed. And preferably sung very loudly along with. Like so: OH. OH-OH. MAYBE YOU SHOULD PLAY ME ON YOUR STEREO. IF THAT’S THE ONLY WAY THAT I CAN LET YOU KNOW, I WOULD SING MY HEART ON ON THE RADIO. OH-OH-OH-OH.

Tom: Thanks for that, Tim. I actually heard that in a sort of discordant voice in my head.

Tim: And at least that way we don’t need to watch that video.

Saturday Flashback: Peter Bič Project – Thinking About You

“It’s a builder.”

Tom: Another cracking track from Slovakia, now: it’s a builder, and it’s got a properly inventive music video.

Tim: Fascinujúce…

Tom: How did they get those shots? How on earth? There’s no camera track in sight, so it must be a very clever motion-control rig.

Tim: That is very impressive, although it did instil a slight sense of vertigo on a couple of occasions. But I’ll forgive it that. I’ll also happily forgive it the opening two notes that makes me want to go into Walks Like Rihanna, because that’s entirely on me, not them.

Tom: And meanwhile: the track builds, layering instrument after instrument over that basic vocal melody and piano counter-melody. This is just a stunning track, as far as I’m concerned.

Tim: Yes – given that my only two issues with this are one two-note progression and a slightly-too-speedy camera, I am more than happy with this.

Tom: I also sort-of want a thumping club remix, but don’t take that as being unsatisfied with the original: I just wonder what it’d sound like if cranked up to 11, rather than 10.

Tim: Interesting thought. Do we know any Slovakian DJs?

Truls – Tear Me Up

“I don’t have much of a problem this time.”

Tim: Dreamy synthpop, you say? Yes, why not.

Tim: And it’s quite nice. We’ve heard his falsetto vocals previously – you said you weren’t a fan, but I had no problem then and I still don’t.

Tom: Perhaps it seems to fit the track better, but I don’t have much of a problem this time.

Tim: It’s like yesterday’s track – nice and gentle, and working well with the backing such that we have a dance track where every part knows its place.

Tom: Unlike yesterday, I agree here: it does work well together.

Tim: Loud as necessary, quiet otherwise, and all around lovely. Album coming out within a few weeks, so keep a look out for that if you do in fact want to.

The sad truth is, though, nobody, but nobody, can do this like The Sound of Arrows can. Some can come close, as this does coming back from the middle eight, but none really make it. So, HELLO OSKAR AND STEFAN ARE YOU LISTENING PLEASE IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS NOW THANK YOU.

Bjørn Olav Edvardsen – Avalanche

Another dancey-ballady thing.

Tim: Previously seen via his dancey-ballady thing called Mountains, here’s his next one that’s, well, a dancey-ballady thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNN10qVwrQ

Tim: No repeat of the lovely video theme from previously, alas, as it’s less a video, and more a couple of odd images and some logos. But oh well, the music. Much like last time, very listenable indeed.

Tom: Ooh, really? I found the constant volume jumps in the background of the chorus just a bit unsettling – like there was something wrong and it hadn’t quite kicked in properly.

Tim: I really do love the way his voice goes with the music – I’m probably repeating myself, but the yearning fits brilliantly with the backing that it’s, while not by any means low-key, not appearing as really wanting to be a part of the show. It’s happy to lay back and let the singing take over, and that’s a great theme that both his songs have worked with.

Tom: It just doesn’t mesh well for me: it’s like several different parts have been jammed together, not even working particularly well harmonically.

Tim: Well, I think it’s very pleasant indeed.

Tom: I have to disagree.

Tim: Oh, shame.

Ace Wilder – Bitches Like Fridays

“This is, basically and entirely, awful.”

Tom: That title doesn’t bode well.

Tim: No, it doesn’t. But then, Do It is one of the best tracks we’ve featured this year. So might it be followed up by something as impressive?

Tim: Ah. No. Not at all. This is, basically and entirely, awful.

Tom: Yep. That’s terrible.

Tim: The lyrics, I think, can be summed up by lines that include a “necklace made of pearl” and, well, the entire title line, so they’re out. The music, when it’s not being a total racket, is reminding me of Rebecca Black’s unfortunate Friday from a couple of years back, so that’s out.

Tom: That day is basically ruined for all lyricists now.

Tim: The video, meanwhile, I won’t pick out any single points from because that would imply other parts of it aren’t horrific. So really, OH DEAR ME. Can we go back to January?

The Neverdies – STHLM

Pop dressed as punk.

Tim: I am fairly sure you’ll like this, Tom. This Swedish band call themselves punk, which I suppose it technically is, but only in the same way that Best Song Ever is rock. Basically it’s pop, spiced up a bit.

Tom: That’s promising, certainly.

Tim: Well?

Tom: Excellent chorus. Good verses. And an excellent, almost-80s guitar-solo in the middle eight that comes much earlier than you’d expect — and complete with a rising bit at the end.

Tim: Quite why the mild dance synths are there at the beginning and the end is a mystery, as is the omission of letters from the track title, but never mind because the rest is pretty great.

Tom: It took me way too long to work out that STHLM meant “Stockholm”.

Tim: Oh, well, if we’re doing confessions, I may as well say that it took me a full eighteen months to realise that Madonna’s album MDNA was a drugs pun.

Tom: Oh good, it wasn’t just me.

Tim: This track, meanwhile, is pop dressed as punk, and on many occasions (house parties, getting ready for a Night On The Town) that really can be the best type of pop, especially when it’s done as well as it is here.

Tom: There’s one particular guitar chord in the chorus — on the ‘all’ in “just don’t care at all” — that absolutely floored me. STHLM isn’t going to become an anthem for me — it’s not quite there — but I can see it becoming one for a lot of people.

Tim: As for the video, it’s not up yet, but it’ll probably be the usual band playing enthusiastically, flashing lights in time with the music, the odd Busted Jump™, that sort of thing, interspersed with people people partying, and that’s a decent sort of video. So well done to them for that as well. Basically, well done all round. A Top Track.

Saturday Flashback: Kristina – Viem Lebo Viem

Let’s head to Slovakia!

Tom: An anonymous reader dropped a whole load of Slovakian songs into our suggestion box last week, and this was the standout, for me at least. Let’s head to Slovakia!

Tim: Skvelý!

Tom: And isn’t that nice?

Tim: That right there is someone who know hows to use an unexpected dance beat, and knows it very well.

Tom: It starts by summing up the last few lazy days of summer, complete with happy lyrics and harmonica, and then somehow turns it into a dance track that could have come out of the good parts of the nineties.

Tim: Oddly, both parts of this are great – the first acoustic bit never really puts a foot wrong, and the dance section could easily have been stretched out to be a big summer beach party track. Combined…

Tom: “Viem lebo viem” translates as “I know because I know”, and even an automated translation of the lyrics provides a rather poetic phrase: “I can read you perfectly, you’re ‘momentary’ / What you’re looking for is just few moments of fun”

Tim: Well how right it is that’s she’s provided a few moments of fun. Poďme tancovať!