Category: Mainstream

Olly Murs – Years & Years

“Tense.”

Tim: In which Olly does a piano ballad, which you might think would be a recipe for disaster.

Tom: That first verse is tense. That’s the only word I can think of. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that from a pop song before.

Tim: That’s actually a good word – somehow it isn’t a disaster, even slightly. Even before the drums kick in, it’s very good indeed. It strikes exactly the right balance between emotion and mopiness, displaying all the authentic feels (is that still a word?) —

Tom: No.

Tim: Good. — with plenty of heft in the notes to balance that out. And when the drums kick in – well that’s all the more true, and this turns out to be a much, much better track than on paper it has any right to be.

Tom: You’re absolutely right. On those opening piano notes, I was thinking “this needs to be a banger”, because otherwise it was going to go on far too long. It gets close to that — but each time, the drums crash in and rescue it at exactly the right moment. Damn that’s a good track.

Tim: Top work, to everyone involved.

Ricky Martin feat. Wendy – Vente Pa’ Ca

“How does Ricky Martin just not age?”

Tom: There’s been a dearth of good music lately. I was looking through recent releases, idly clicked on this, and then spent four minutes about to click away… but then sticking around. It’s… not… bad?

Tim: How does Ricky Martin just not age? I mean I know that shot’s probably been Photoshopped to heck, but he’s like Puerto Rica’s answer to Magnus Carlsson.

Tom: Sure, it doesn’t need to be four minutes. Sure, it’s middle-of-the-road and not a particularly great song. But what’s interesting to me is how it’s mixed together what you’d expect from Ricky Martin, and what you expect from a modern pop track.

Tim: That’s true – the intro got me thinking “yep, it’s Ricky Martin”, and then the vocals sections hit and it’s usual modern pop. Fairly bland modern pop, unfortunately, but still.

Tom: Most of the melody and the instrumentation could have come out of the early 2000s. But the song structure is modern: a pre-chorus vocal line, and a chorus that’s just an instrumental synth.

And hey, at least it doesn’t repeat to fade.

Tim: No – good ending, I’ll certainly give it that.

Bryan Lanning – Idaho

Tim: Bryan’s American, and he’s come out with this, to see if we can get 2017 off to a good start.

Tim: And while I’m not sure if I’m particularly a fan of that video, I do know that I absolutely love that song.

Tom: Wait, really? …why?

Tim: The first time I heard it, the chorus came out of nowhere, and was so much better than the maudlin guitar pop it could so easily have been. Instead, it turns into a synth-backed raving banger, and oh, what a great move that is.

Tom: Huh, that’s interesting. For me, the chorus was underwhelming, and just seemed to melt into everything else.

Tim: It’s one of the most enjoyable choruses I’ve heard in a while, both the vocal and instrumental halves, and is one that really gets me sitting up and paying attention.

Tom: Okay, so we like entirely different things about this track. For me, the introduction’s promising, the verses aren’t all that bad, and then it loses its way at the chorus. Full marks for doing a song about somewhere that isn’t New York, but I just can’t get behind it.

Tim: Perhaps I wouldn’t mind chopping about fifty per cent off the middle eight, but I’ve got no real quibbles with this at all – it’s a lovely track.

Saturday Flashback: Charli XCX feat. Lil Yachty – After the Afterparty

“Everything about this should annoy me.”

Tom: We’ve covered lots of songs this year, Tim; this wasn’t one of them. In hindsight I think that was wrong, because inexplicably, more than two months after release, this is still on my regular playlist.

Tom: I say “inexplicably”, because on paper everything about this should annoy me. The repetitive chorus, for a start — and it doesn’t even have a counterpoint, the melody line underneath is repeating the exact same notes!

Tim: True.

Tom: The lyrics aren’t exactly clever; and the rap bit in the middle eight feels lazy, too. I shouldn’t be able to stand any of this.

Tim: That would be my prediction.

Tom: And yet, here I am. End of 2016. Still listening sometimes. Absolutely no idea why.

Tim: Simple: it works. As a call to arms to keep a party going, it’s got all it needs. It’s got stuff it doesn’t need – that appearance for Lil Yachty can certainly do one, in my view – but it’s hefty, powerful and beat-y. All as it should be.

Clean Bandit feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie – Rockabye

“At the top for seven weeks now; shall we investigate?”

Tim: It’s the first Christmas number one since 2003 that’s neither X Factor nor campaign-y and it’s been at the top for seven weeks now; shall we investigate?

Tim: Well, I’d say the obvious answer is that there is no campaign this year – last year had the NHS choir, 2012 had the Justice Collective, 2011 has Gareth Malone, 2009 had Rage Against The Machine – and this year’s X Factor single was…well, it was no A Moment Like This, was it?

Tom: I think it’s a sign of what’s happening with the charts now; as they move almost-entirely to streaming, we’ll find that the charts reflect what people are listening to, not what they’re buying. And that’s a very different chart – one less reflective of campaigns and trends.

Tim: And yes, there have been other good tracks around in the meantime, but none that are quite so catchy – however annoying you might find Sean Paul (and believe me, I really do), Anne-Marie’s got a decent voice, and tropical music still seems inexplicably popular.

Tom: I don’t think it’s a great song; but it’s clearly done enough.

Tim: People keep streaming it, and it stays right up the top. Bring on January.

Tegan & Sara – Dying To Know

“The beginning of it almost put me off”

Tim: This has been suggested to us twice, both times anonymously (not sure what to make of that), with one describing it as “Miami Vice with Puppets”. Intrigued?

Tim: And it’s an interesting video, certainly, and not a bad song to boot.

Tom: That cyan and hot pink 80s style is really in vogue right now, and I’m not sure it ever was during the actual 80s.

Tim: Well musically it’s certainly different from back then. The beginning of it almost put me off, and I’m still not keen on the instrumentation underneath the verses, but I’m glad I stuck with it because that chorus is really very enjoyable indeed.

Tom: I agree with you, apart from the bit where you say how enjoyable the chorus is. Which, when I look back on it, means I don’t really like the song at all. Ah.

Tim: Hmm.

Tom: One of the troubles with this format we’ve got, Tim, is that “growers” don’t get a fair shot. This might be a grower: but I’m not going to hit replay to find out.

Tim: Bit of a shame, because I really do like that chorus. I don’t really know what they’re going for with the video, to be honest, or how it fits in with anything else about the song at all, but why complain? Songs are mostly for listening to, and I’m mostly happy doing that.

Alan Walker feat. Noonie Bao – Alone

“That instrumental is going to take me some time to get used to.”

Tim: New one off Alan (seriously, how is he not using a stage name?), and I’ve a feeling it might prove divisive.

Tim: See, verses are great, and so’s the vocal part of the chorus. But ooh, that instrumental is going to take me some to get used to.

Tom: Okay. Surprising thing here: I liked it. Immediately.

Tim: Huh, curious. See, for me, while we’ve seen that volume dipping style before, the issue is that it’s played here almost as a feature to hang the whole track off, and I’m really struggling to accept it.

Tom: And I didn’t even notice it! Which is because, I think, it’s not just overcompression: it’s more clever than that. The entire staccato instrumental just leaves space for the percussion, rather than being crushed under it.

Tim: The rest of it, I love – the line underneath it, verse and vocal chorus like I said – but I’m really struggling not to be put off by that part.

Tom: I do think the vocals sound a bit like the verses of Bagger 288 though.

Tim: I’d somehow never seen that before. That’s quite something.

Robbie Williams – Mixed Signals

“When that first chorus hit I let out out an ‘ooh, YES’.”

Tom: The Heavy Entertainment Show is a brilliant 5-track EP that unfortunately has 11 other tracks in the middle of it. One of the good ones, though, is this.

Tim: Oh, that’s a fabulous track – quite a bit rockier than most of his previous stuff, and when that first chorus hit I let out out an “ooh, YES”. An absolutely perfect track 3 from an album – and looking up the album details showed me who this was written by, and suddenly it makes complete sense.

Tom: It also shows how distinctive Brandon Flowers’ voice is: because this is really obviously a Killers track in hindsight. The guitar style, the switching into harmony for the big notes in the final chorus, everything.

Tim: Beyond the rock sense I hadn’t particularly thought “this sounds like The Killers” – but playing it back that’s exactly what it sounds like, and it sounds like a great Killers track at that. To be honest, if they were happy to hand this over to him I can’t wait to hear what the rest of their fifth album will sound like.

Tom: That was my thoughts exactly: this is a really, really good track — lead or second single, I’d say, so if this is the quality of material they’re giving away, let’s hope that’s not because they’ve got a “new direction” to pursue.

Tim: This is one of my favourite Robbie tracks in quite some time, and oh, it deserves to do so so well.

Alessia Cara – How Far I’ll Go

“It’s catchy. Of course it’s catchy.”

Tom: New Disney movie. Therefore, new big Disney “I Want” song; this time sung by Auliʻi Cravalho. Therefore, new cover of that song by an artist signed to a Disney-owned record label. I wouldn’t normally send you this, Tim, but…

Tom: …oh, that key change. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a key change that good.

Tim: Yes, that is interesting – particularly in the way that it kind of appears from nowhere – there’s no real middle eight to speak of, just one chorus that’s normal and one that’s suddenly “oop, there we go”.

Tom: The song’s written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which explains some of the clever wordplay; he’s got a reputation for that sort of thing. And, heck, I figured it has a few (sort-of-justified) tropical sounds in there. I don’t reckon it qualifies for your Tropical Fridays, but I think it’s still worth a listen.

Tim: Given the the fact that it’s all set on a tropical island, I’d say very definitely justified. And also very definitely worth a listen.

Tom: It’s catchy. Of course it’s catchy. I’m just glad that modern Disney wasn’t just a one-hit wonder with Frozen.

Frans – Not Following Your Heart

“He has DOUBLED DOWN on the moping.”

Tom: Remember Frans, the one who wasn’t sorry at Eurovision this year?

Tim: Upsettingly, yes.

Tom: Well, on Sunday night I was in Gävle, Sweden, and he was the headline act at a big outdoor concert.

Tim: The one with the big goat thing?

Tom: Yes. It was an outdoor concert and it was absolutely freezing. Turns out applause sounds really different when everyone’s got gloves on.

ANYWAY. He did a new song. And it turns out he’s been doing this song for months, he just hasn’t got around to releasing it yet.

Tim: I see. Any improvement?

Tom: Now, you remember how “If I Was Sorry” was a bit too mopey for us, a bit too slow and sad? Well, brace yourself, because he has DOUBLED DOWN on the moping.

Tim: Oh, GOD – can I claim a refund for the THREE WHOLE MINUTES I spent waiting for that to get interesting? And what the hell is he doing while that guitar’s playing? Mate, you’re meant to be performing, you shouldn’t be sitting down looking bored and having a drink.

Tom: I reckon that’s pretty terrible: the sort of thing that Niall Horan would go ‘oh, yeah, that’s an album track’ to. But here’s the thing – I think I know how I could save it.

Tim: Really? Because I’d say ‘move on quickly’ would be a good first step. But do share.

Tom: Do a Phil Collins. Do an ‘In The Air Tonight’. Where that guitar noodling comes in at about 2:20? Do a massive, gated drum drop. Sell the hell out of it. Give the song a payoff. That could do it.

Tim: Yeah, that could work; it’d need to be earlier – end of the first chorus, latest, but it could help.

Tom: Right now, it’s just all moping.