Miley Cyrus – Hands of Love

“The chorus needs to make people sit up and take notice”

Tim: Saturday: a cover of an old and overly-sweet Miley Cyrus movie song. Monday: a new and not overly-sweet Miley Cyrus movie song.

Tim: Are we meant to like Miley Cyrus at the moment? I know Wrecking Ball was brilliant, but are we all still judging her for that Robin Thicke incident or have we moved on?

Tom: After the Flaming Lips collaboration? She’s still in “trainwreck” territory for me, but that’s musical, not personal.

Tim: Well, anyway, whatever we think of her as a person, this is a pretty respectable song. I can’t decide if I want the chorus to be even more powerful or not – somehow it’s lacking something.

Tom: That’s exactly what I thought! If you’re doing a song like that, the chorus needs to make people sit up and take notice — I barely spotted that it had happened.

Tim: The contrast between the various sections is fine, but I think I want either some extra line under everything, or possibly—actually, definitely—a bigger final chorus. Much bigger one, to signify that THIS IS IT. Other than that, it’s pretty good – good enough for me to scramble quickly to get my phone out to Shazam it off the radio, anyway.

Tom: The true mark of a good track. I’m not sure if I’m being sarcastic, that’s what I did with the Cher track from Saturday.

Saturday Flashback: Cher – I Hope You Find It

“What year of Cher’s long career is this from?”

Tom: I want to open this link without looking too much at the title or date, Tim, and work out: what year of Cher’s long career is this from? And who’s she covering?

Tim: Ooh, that’s a good Cher track, that is. From the video I’d say it’s a recent one, but tell who she’s covering.

Tom: The answers: 2013, and Miley Cyrus. Which astonished me! This sounds like a vintage Cher track from years and years ago.

Tim: It does have a hint of classic Cher, and it’s a damn good hint as well.

Tom: Miley Cyrus’ original isn’t that good — an overly-sweet title song from a movie soundtrack. With that modern production and Miley’s voice, it doesn’t work — but it’s as if it was written for Cher’s lower, more soulful voice. And because it’s Cher’s voice, and the world is used to this sound from her: it sounds right. Or at least, it does to me.

Tim: Hmm – we’ll have to disagree about Miley’s version, because I’ve always been a sucker for overly-sweet title songs from movie soundtracks. Can’t disagree with you, though, that Cher’s version does sound very right as well.

Tom: Although quite why she performed it on tour dressed like she was from a church window, I’ve no idea.

Tim: No, but then if Asos have their way, soon we’ll all be out of a church window.

Benjamin Ingrosso – Fall In Love

“All of the music, albeit less of the dance”

Tim: Cousin of the more notable Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia and Axwell Λ Ingrosso fame, Benjamin brings all of the music, albeit less of the dance; have a listen.

Tim: And, that’ll do me very well indeed, right out of the gates with the piano start. Throw in the FABULOUS use of a string section, then add that drumming section in, there’s really not a lot to criticise about this track’s production. His vocal line is very much on point.

Tom: Suspiciously so: he’s either got an exceptional ability for switching between notes accurately and instantly, or there’s a bit too much autotune on here. But despite that, there’s that bizarre “pffft” plosive on every “for us” that should really have been fixed.

I mean, the production’s good, but almost mechanically so: instruments turn on and off rather like someone’s flicked a light switch.

Tim: And with that rabble rousing chorus with his multiple simultaneous vocals (always an impressive skill), I’d go so far as to say there’s really not a lot to criticise about this track at all. Is there?

Tom: Apparently I’m slightly more cynical than you. But we knew that already.

Palm Trees – Casanova

“That sounds like Kygo.”

Tom: I thought “that sounds like Kygo”. It wasn’t Kygo.

Tim: It does sound like Kygo, though.

Tom: And I was all ready to write this off, say that it’s a bit of a dull, Kygo-esque track. I let it fade into the background, I switched to a different tab…

Tim: Ooh, tension…

Tom: …and then I realised that I was quietly dancing along in my chair to it while I wrote something else. How did that happen? It’s not even catchy — I couldn’t sing you any of it, or even hum that sort-of-tropical melody, not even after listening to it twice. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t dance to it. That takes some doing. Well done, Palm Trees.

Tim: I guess it kind of goes with their name – the genre and sound is exactly what you might associate with sunny beaches, blue seas and gently wafting palm trees. And when you’ve got a track like that, it can’t help but be uplifting, especially if you’re staring out of the window at a grey and wet October sky. Uplifting music, fair beat to it – you’re gonna dance.

Tom: What’s with that Mmmbop-esque tiny, out of place record scratch, though?

Tim: Not sure. Better than yesterday’s cow, though.

Dada, Paul Harris & Dragonette – Red Heart Black

“Some sort of subliminal advertising for Swedish beef?”

Tim: Her (by which I mean Martina) off Dragonette does a good feature, doesn’t she? Aside the obvious Hello for Martin Solveig, she was also the vocalist on Galantis’s two tracks.

Tom: Wait, really? Oh! That makes so much sense. How did I not notice that voice?

Tim: And now this. (It’s only online as part of this mix, but it’s the first track, starts a minute in.)

Tom: And an advance warning: there’s a really obnoxious sputtering-noise ident at the start of this: headphone users, beware.

Tom: Oh, those vocals! You’re absolutely right: she does a Good Feature. But let’s talk about the music behind it: this is really good, from the calm sections during the chorus, to the acoustic guitar that gets added in, to the sheer amount of constant, well-produced electronica behind it. Although…

Tim: I think we’ve reached the same the point – let’s get straight to that there elephant in the room, or rather the cow in the room that inexplicably makes itself known on a couple of occasions. I don’t know what it’s doing there, I’d be surprised if anybody does really, unless it’s some sort of subliminal advertising for Swedish beef, but there you go.

Tom: Yes, it’s an odd one, isn’t it? But given how strong the pure instrumental sections are, I’m not going to complain.

Tim: Absolutely not. And I’m going to be honest: I know nothing about most of the people behind this track – both Dada and Paul Harris are ungooglable, being primarily known respectively an art movement and a 1970s musician. Still, it’s a decent track, enjoyable enough, and I’ll never turn down some more Dragonette.

Postiljonen – Go!

“A lovely M83-style sound”

Tim: A Swedish dream-pop trio, this is the second release off their upcoming second album. I could copy and paste the PR guff, but basically: there are shit moments, but you’re awesome, so take a moment, then GO!

Tom: Which is basically what the song’s like, isn’t it?

Tim: And that starts out as a lovely M83-style sound, interrupted briefly by an unexpected electric guitar, don’t know where it came from but I won’t complain about it.

Tom: Yep, M83 is a good style point for it: lots of reverb, lots of ethereal vocals, and a strong boots-and-cats drum below it.

Tim: This is lovely stuff all in, really, although I’ve got to say I’m not entirely sure I feel the GO! vibe – it’s good to relax to, maybe take a lengthy shower to on repeat, but I can’t say I get a GO! I’ll take the “you’re awesome” bit, mind – always happy to have that thrown at me – so I’ll have this nicely.

Molly Sandén – Satellites

“You know you’re about to get a good drop.”

Tim: New one off her excellent Like No One’s Watching EP, bit of good pop for you to start the week.

Tom: The trouble is, Tim, I’m in Germany at the moment. And thanks to a dispute between YouTube and the German music licensing authorities, I’m not going to be able to hear this before we go to press.

Tim: Oh. Ehh, we’ll figure something out.

Tim: Well, I’ll tell you right now that it’s pretty good – not quite another Like No One’s Watching, but still very good.

Tom: Where do Germans go to stream music, I wonder? They probably pirate it, like we all used to do. Describe the song to me?

Tim: It has one of those always pleasant chorus moments when you know you’re about to get a good drop, and it by no means disappoints, following up with a good DANCEY bit.

Tom: But, I assume, no key change. You’d have mentioned a key change.

Tim: Alas, no key change. Also slightly detracting: I’m not quite sure how well the Satellites metaphor stands up to scrutiny – I suppose you could describe them as dancing in the skylight, but are they typically just there for the first time? And do they frequently make ah-a-a-ahh noises?

Tom: In space, no-one can hear you ah-a-a-ahh.

Tim: Good point, I guess – they may very well do that after all. Mostly pedantry then, so: good pop song, I like it.

Saturday Flashback: Madonna – Die Another Day

“There’s really no rescuing that track, is there?”

Tim: Earlier this week, I wrote of Sam Smith’s track that “there is precisely one person who comes out of this endeavour well, and that’s Madonna, because Die Another Day doesn’t appear quite as atrocious as it previously did.” But let’s put that to the test.

Tom: Why did we put that to the test, Tim?

Tim: Um…yeah, I’m not really sure. There’s really no rescuing that track, is there?

Tom: I remember watching that in the cinema, already a bit baffled by the bizarre opening, and… well, look, it summed up the film too.

Tim: Although, well, somehow it did did get nominated for actual proper awards like Golben Globes and Grammys, so I don’t know how on earth that happened. Listen to it: it’s dull and repetitive and the autotune is near-unbearable; it might just work as a dance track, but it’s way too stilted and stuttery. I really don’t know – have you got anything good for it?

Tom: Nothing, just like the film.

The Main Level – Inside My Radio

“It’s like the life cycle of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, only with a bit less turning into goo.”

Tim: Fancy a good boyband track?

Tom: Always.

Tim: Since One Direction came along, there has been a very specific timeline, for all boybands to follow, pretty much without exception – from Union J to 5SOS, via The Fooo, The United, Satin Circus and oh, so many others.

Year one, you do nothing but follow the hefty pop formula with an occasionally ballad to build up the followers, don’t take risks, just focus on harmonies and haircuts (which now I think about it could be a good documentary).

Tom: That’s a reality series on some US cable channel, that is.

Tim: Year two you can spread your wings a bit if you want – 5SOS went rock, The Fooo added a Conspiracy – and by the third year you either have your own sound or you don’t make it to the fourth.

Tom: It’s like the life cycle of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, only with a bit less turning into goo.

Tim: A perfectly decent comparison. These guys are on schedule, just entering year two, with no sign yet of divergence – instead, yep: hefty pop, with decent instruments, decent vocals, a catchy riff and some oh-oh-ohs but nothing yet to really stand out.

Tom: Yep: there’s not much to distinguish this from the sort of generic stock music you’ll see used in the background of cheap TV shows. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se — and that chorus would be great if it used more than one note per line. But it’s not the standout track we’re looking for.

Tim: No. Soon enough, maybe, but right now they’re building up plenty of momentum in Norway, and that’s all they need.

Truls – Canyon

“Not quite enough excitement to make it work”

Tim: Wait for it, wait for it…

Tom: Taking their video cues from the Blair Witch Project, there.

Tim: Right, so there’s a lot of the waiting and not a lot of the it, at least in terms of duration, but when it does arrive, it’s well worth paying attention to.

Tom: Agreed: but I’m not sure about the rest of it.

Tim: Well I see this at several levels – the opening verse and the beginning of the middle eight, both a bit dull; the second verse, the pre-chorus and the end of the middle eight, all fairly decent; and then the chorus proper, which is just lovely. Builders are tricky ones to get right, what with having to cut a balance between peaking to soon and going way, way too slowly; this one just about falls on the right side of that fence for me, so I’ll have it.

Tom: Not quite for me: I’ll agree with you that the chorus is excellent, but I just don’t think the rest is. It doesn’t really build: it’s just a minute or so of dull interspersed with not quite enough excitement to make it work.

Tim: I’ll certainly have that final chorus, at any rate.