Icona Pop – Get Lost

“This is so much better than the Saturdays.”

Tim: Since we mentioned them yesterday, we might as well have a listen to this, the first track off their upcoming second/third/whateverth album, depending upon your country, and we start with a bit of electric guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0d7_pWrmJk

Tom: My god. It’s full of hooks.

Tim: It is, yes.

Tom: Also, that’s really good electric guitar.

Tim: Also true. It turns out it’s not actually an unpleasant a title as you might first have thought, and is a nice-ish message – as long as you’re the person they’re singing to, because otherwise you’re left with a slight feeling of “yeah, well, sod you.”

Anyway, it’s as rackety as ever, so I’m guessing you’re not so keen, but: how does it compare with The Saturdays?

Tom: Actually, I’m very keen on this.

Tim: Really?

Tom: Perhaps I’m getting more used to their style — or perhaps their style is becoming a bit more mainstream. There’s more melody here than you might expect. This is so much better than the Saturdays.

Tim: You think? Because for me, to be honest, it’s actually very similar – in fact, I don’t think there’s much I said yesterday that I couldn’t say today. It’s fun enough, I’d dance to it, but as with you yesterday, not melodic enough for me to hit the Play Next button.

Tom: Speak for yourself. This has a much better message, a much better melody, and, crucially, a much better electric guitar.

The Saturdays – What Are You Waiting For

“A bit of mess, really.”

Tom: Rhiannon sends this one in, and adds “haven’t made my mind up just yet”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WoyeQ0Uo9k

Tom: Well, huh. Neither have I.

Tim: No – I don’t really want to say it, but it’s…well, a bit of mess, really.

Tom: Part of me thinks this should be a Summer Dance Floor Anthem, and part of me just dismisses it as a wall of noise. And Oddly enough, the complaints in the YouTube comments helped me work out why.

Tim: Tell me.

Tom: First, this is monotone. Fair enough, but so’s Icona Pop and this has the same enthusiastic quality that can get around that complaint.

Tim: Maybe – though I’d posit that with Icona Pop there’s more of a distance – volume-wise, or emphasis, or something – that makes the vocals stand out from the music. Here, that doesn’t seem to be the case – flat wall is what you get.

Tom: Second? It’s basically Trouble by Neon Jungle, which we reviewed about a year ago and didn’t like. And damn it, they’re right: only the Saturdays’ track is a bit more melodic, a bit happier, more synthy and less aggressive. That’s enough to confuse me, rather than antagonise me.

Tim: Hmm. It’s…well, alright. Though if we’re mentioning antagonism: whoever was responsible for making the timing of the size changing of the logo in the video not match up with the beat of the song deserves all the punishment there possibly is.

Tom: So let’s put it this way: if this came on in a club, I’d dance. But I’m not sure it’s going on my playlist any time soo

Amanda Fondell – Keep The Love

“Out with the harsh antagonistic lyrics, and in with major-key dance beats”

Tim: The previous two Amanda Fondell tracks we’ve mentioned – Dumb and Bastard – were both fairly melancholy affairs. This? Oh, hell no.

Tim: It is, in fact, more or less a total U-turn.

Tom: And while it’s certainly more upbeat, I found that I was still fitting into the “generic Ellie Goulding-alike” bracket in my head: I’d expect it to the background for a teen drama and not really a decent musical choice.

Tim: Out with the melancholy music and the harsh antagonistic lyrics, and in with major-key dance beats and “keep the love coming”, and I for one think it’s a great choice. Not that her previous ones weren’t appreciable, they just weren’t entirely enjoyable. This, on the other hand, is entirely enjoyable, and precisely the sort of upbeat, cheerful, happy dance tune I want to listen to on a night out, or a loud night in, or in fact any time at all, really.

Tom: You’re just more enthusiastic than I am: it just keeps slipping away from me for some reason.

Tim: Oh, that disappoints me. My view: just, great.

Saturday Flashback: Train – Hey Soul Sister

“Annoyingly saccharine.”

Tim: This song comes on our work playlist a couple of times each day, and every time I think the same two words to describe it: sickeningly chirpy.

Tom: You’d better not savage this song. I know damn well I like it.

Tim: I mean, listen to it.

Tom: I do. It’s lovely.

Tim: That awful ukulele throughout (with this video confirming what I’ve previously said: GROWN MEN SHOULDN’T HOLD THEM).

Tom: Okay, that’s fair. I’m going to describe that guy as “Discount Howie Mandel”.

Tim: The annoyingly saccharine lyrics – “I believe in you, like a beauty you’re Madonna”, “I want the world to see you with me”, and worst of all “my heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest” WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THAT??

Tom: Huh. Yeah, that’s also fair. “A game show love connection” jumped out at me as well.

Tim: Oh, GOD, I’d not heard that. And there’s the video, which I wasn’t previously aware of but now passionately dislike, with the way he just dances around with no real idea in mind, reminiscent of Danny from The Script on Graham Norton.

Tom: Mmf. You’re starting to talk me around.

Tim: But the worst thing? The one single thing I hate about this song more than every other thing in it combined? It’s infectious.

Tom: Yep. There we go.

Tim: I hate it, but I can’t prevent myself from smiling, or tapping my feet.

Tom: Isn’t that middle eight just amazingly good, though?

Tim: Ugh. I’ve now listened to it a few times while writing this and NOW I’M HAPPY. I HATE THIS TRACK. I HATE TRAIN. THEY’RE UTTER BASTARDS. TOTAL, SICKENINGLY CHIRPY BASTARDS.

Tom: HEY SOUL SISTER, I DON’T WANNA MISS A SINGLE THING YOU DO.

Tim: Oh, sod off.

Diandra – Paha Poika

“We’re really down in some dark territory here.”

Tim: Here’s the new one off one time Finnish Idol winner Diandra, with a lyric video that makes me really wish I knew Finnish.

Tim: I reckon this is, by all standards that really matter, a really good track. The title translates to ‘Bad Boy’; Google falls down a bit on the one lyrics site I can find, but fragments that are vaguely comprehensible include “I always fall for a bad lad”, “what are you doing to me”, “my desire to honour the feelings of a gangster” and “I guess I should be afraid to wake up”, so we’re really down in some dark territory here.

Tom: Sounds a bit like a Finnish version of Alexandra Burke’s “Bad Boys”.

Tim: The music, though, is fairly good at keeping that part mostly hidden (aside from the slightly disturbing inclusion of bagpipes).

Tom: Yep. It’s got a jaunty synth line in the background, hasn’t it?

Tim: It does, yes, and I don’t know if there’s specific arty meaning behind the mood disconnect, but I think it really works – even those bagpipes sit nicely in the mix by the end. So, cutting a long story short – very enjoyable, but I wouldn’t want to be the person who came up with those lyrics.

Ace Wilder – Busy Doin’ Nothing

“Right, people, here’s the thing.”

Tim: Right, people, here’s the thing. This was the already-briefly-mentioned very very close runner-up at Melodifestivalen this year, and everybody loved and…and I don’t really get why. Now it’s been tarted up (very very) slightly for a UK release, so let’s focus on it.

Tim: Is it the message? I can understand that, I suppose, with its whole “sod off and stop making me do stuff” routine that’s admittedly quite attractive. The music doesn’t do all that much for me – the gentle guitar strummy bits in the verse are a little dull and initiate a gut “oh do get on with it” feeling from me; the similar bits in the chorus make me realise her shouting over light guitars isn’t a particularly pleasant sound, and the loud post-chorus gives me an “OKAY YOU’VE GOT ON WITH IT NOW STOP”.

I don’t want to give it a complete drubbing, as there are bits I do really like. Specifically, the second half of each verse, when the instrumentation picks up and she sings nicely, and the bit in the middle eight that starts just after two minutes in, where it all strikes a really great balance. Those aside, though: it’s really not for me, but I really wish it was.

Eric Saade – Take A Ride (Put Em In The Air)

“I’ll admit that the chorus worked very well for me”

Tim: Eric’s back with some new music; here it is, and a rather jolly track too.

Tom: Oh, that tin-whistle intro put me off so much.

Tim: Really? Well, I guess it could be a bit divisive, but otherwise, isn’t it? Often, the first half of that chorus would be considered enough, and many artists would be tempted to leave it there and move on after the “go ahead”s. But NO, instead we get a full on jump around section after that, or at least if you don’t want to jump around you at least have to drum your hands on the table because it’s mostly brilliant.

Tom: I’ll admit that, yes, the chorus worked very well for me – and “air” is a damn good word to repeat like that, but you can basically just yell and it’ll sound okay.

Tim: My one niggle with it that the naughty word sticks out a bit, especially with the whistling afterwards, which to me makes it seem like a little kid who knows he’s done something wrong but is trying his best to look all innocent, and doesn’t work so well.

Tom: I think that might be a cultural thing; if you’re not a native English speaker it doesn’t stand out so much. Remember the original version of Cliche Love Song?

Tim: Yes, I suppose. And that aside it’s all great, so like I said, BRILLIANT.

O-Town – Skydive

“I’m a big fan of proper orchestral backing for songs like this.”

Tim: O-Town, late of the early ’00s, when they were a typical American boyband of that era, until the split ten years ago.

Tom: “Typical” but still good — that’s a proper Boyband Ballad Track there. Listen to that pre-chorus, it’s brilliant. As for the video: did they just instruct all the audience to look starry-eyed? ‘Cos that’s not a natural expression unless someone’s dosed the air supply with carbon monoxide.

Tim: Now, 80% of the band are forming a typical early ’00s era American boyband comeback.

Tom: Oh. Crikey. I was expecting that to be a lot worse.

Tim: The music has grown up, now being apparently backed up with a full seventy piece orchestra, which may sound a little excessive on its initial description, but if it produces results like this I’m very appreciative.

Tom: That works really well: I’m a big fan of proper orchestral backing for songs like this. Those strings manage a build in a way that few other things can.

Tim: The voices have developed a bit further, with the focus seemingly now less on screaming fans and more on making powerful pop tracks like this, which is very good as far as I’m concerned. While there is the string build to it, there’s still a massive impact when the chorus pretty much comes out of nowhere, and it’s a wonderful surprise.

Tom: Like I said: those strings work wonders.

Tim: The only drawback is that it means the second verse, instrumentally almost identical to the first, sounds almost deathly quiet in comparison, but that aside I have no qualms at all about the track – it’s just great.

Union J – Tonight We Live Forever

“This is a great, great song.”

Tim: After a not-officially-acknowledged-but-let’s-be-honest disappointingly performing first album, they’ve moved record labels in an an attempt to reach out globally and now they’re back with this, replete with emojis that’ll annoy you if you want to sing along.

Tom: There’s a new Unicode entry for “levitating man in business suit”. I’d love to see them fit that in.

Tim: Ignoring the mystery of why “it’s all 👍” is pronounced the same as “👍 it’s all good 👍” and that truly cringeworthy “look at this CRAZY hot dog thing” clip in the video, this is a great, great song.

Tom: Yep: and specifically ruined by those clips so it can’t be ripped off YouTube.

Tim: As ever. There’s also a whole load of oh-ing, a properly upbeat chorus with wonderful soaring notes to wave your arms around to, and I know I spent most of the last post we wrote about them comparing their debut to One Direction’s, but now I’ve though about it it’s hard not to see the themic similarities between this and Live While We’re Young – both a “let’s all have a whole lot of fun together” message.

Tom: True. It ain’t quite One Direction, but then, what is?

Tim: Hmm, possibly 5 Seconds of Summer, but not much else. So basically, IT’S ALL 👍.

Saturday Flashback: Pirates of the Sea – Wolves of the Sea

Tim: I was having trouble thinking of a song to write about for today. Fortunately, I have a break glass for emergency bag of Eurovision delights to delve into for precisely this situation. Out of it today? This wonder, from Latvia in 2008.

Tom: Oh dear. This was a year or two post-Lordi, wasn’t it?

Tim: There are so many things to love about this, especially if you put the shonky vocals aside and dodgy mixing aside. Not least is the idea there’s the idea that pirates are indomitable as long as Peter Pan isn’t around, and while we’ve probably seen stranger stagings, none spring to mind right now. This is Eurovision novelty at it’s finest, and they didn’t go unrewarded, just finishing in the top half of the table.

Tom: I’m still astonished by that: I assumed they’d crash to the bottom as being a poor novelty act. But no: well done them.

Tim: Musically (if we can be serious about the music) that dodgy mixing really is a shame – you can barely make it out here, but in the studio version there’s a whole load ho-hi-ho-hi-haying going on throughout the middle eight, and a great harmony line after the middle eight, really going out for the hi-hi-ho-o-o-o-o and all we can be-e-e-e-e.

Tom: That’s one of the most ridiculous things you’ve ever written.

Tim: Probably, yes, but I love this, I really do. Even if it’s not exactly something I can point at when I say ‘look, other countries take it seriously!’