Emerentia – Wasting Water

What a chorus that is.

Tim: This is super. A Swedish 18 year old’s debut track, and a very promising start.

Tim: Super, no?

Tom: My eyebrows raised in astonishment when that chorus kicked in. That sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but I’m not.

Tim: I mean, really, what a chorus that is. I said a couple of days ago about that Line & Basim track that I could imagine singing along to that – well, that was nothing compared to this one. Especially in the final section, where she belting it out at the top of her voice, it’s hard not to join in: “I’ll find my way BAAACK AAAGAAIN, so NO MOOOOOORE wasting WAAAAATER”.

Tom: Early, long and good middle eight, steadily building into a properly triumphant final chorus. Well done.

Tim: Well, quite – it’s not just the chorus. To be honest, there’s not a lot that can be said against this track. It gets going quickly, the verses are short to make extra space for the chorus, and the second half of the middle eight is a fantastic “you know what’s coming, don’t you?” build. LOVE IT.

Tom: Unconditional thumbs-up from both of us are rare, but yep. Couldn’t agree more.

Little Boots – Motorway

If I say this starts out sounding a lot like Hurts…

Tom: First track from the new album. Yep, an actual album – she’s been all about EPs and singles since 2009.

If I say this starts out sounding a lot like Hurts, I worry that you’ll get your expectations too high. But it does, and that’s really good.

Tim: Hmm. It’s…nice. I suppose that’s a good thing, but I’m coming to this review having listened to that Demi Lovato track on repeat for roughly nineteen and a half billion times*, so I’m not sure I’m in the best mood to appreciate it.

* Apparently that equates to about 131 millennia, which sounds about right.

Tom: Crikey, you’re really not. That’s like trying to appreciate, say, Blade Runner after watching all the Die Hard movies back to back.

Tim: It is enjoyable though – I can certainly tell that much from the fact that I wasn’t bored by it even though it’s five minutes long.

Tom: Now, it probably goes on a verse or so too long; the bit in the middle drags more than it really should, and perhaps the last chorus could have a bit more to it. Or perhaps that’s the point: it’s not meant to be end on an oomph, it’s meant to be like, well, driving down a motorway. Either way, it’s bloody good.

Tim: Bloody good sums it up quite well. Though, alas, not quite ‘just pure amazingness’. DEMI!

Tom: There’s one technical point I’d like to make: have a look at the waveform for the track on the SoundCloud page. It’s not dialled to 100% all the time, not dynamically compressed to within an inch of its life. It’s got a bit of calm in it – and that’s a rare thing in pop these days.

Tim: ATTAA-AA-AA-AAAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAACK.

Demi Lovato – Heart Attack

Three and a half minutes of just pure amazingness.

Tim: This is almost entirely amazing.

Tim: I say ‘almost entirely’, and I think we can all identify the one thing that’s pretty bad.

Tom: True, but then Demi Lovato is not the kind of artist you’d expect a key change from. Sadly.

Tim: Oh, well I don’t actually mind the lack of key change – the extraordinary “AT-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAYY-AAAAAAH” is more than enough for me. My issue was the line “I can play him like a Kindle”, but since I’ve just realised it’s “Ken doll” instead, I have no problems with the track whatsoever.

Tom: Ha. I heard the same thing, although I worked it out a bit quicker than you apparently did.

Tim: The whole thing seems to be three and a half minutes of just pure amazingness. GROO-OOH-OOH-OOOOO-OOOO-OOOOW. SHOO-OOH-OOH-OOOOO-OOOO-OOOOW. ATTAA-AA-AA-AAAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAACK. FLAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAA-AAMES. AT-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAYY-AAAAAAH. ATTAA-AA-AA-AAAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAACK.

What else is there to say?

Tom: Not much, which is probably for the best after you’ve belted all that out.

Tim: Don’t pretend you don’t want to join in.

Line & Basim – Brænder Inde

If I know Danish I would be properly singing along to this

Tim: Line and Basim, two contestants from Denmark’s X Factor in years gone by, and now teaming up to release a duet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mnYp2urI9c

Tim: If I know Danish I would be properly singing along to this, I can tell you. There’s something about the lovely almost orchestral backing to it that seems to give it (for me at least) a strange ‘get involved’ vibe to it, which I like.

Tom: That’s odd: it seemed almost cold to me, and certainly not a singalong track. Emotional, sure; but even if I knew the language I can’t see myself belting this one out in the shower.

Tim: It’s about how the singer loves the other person but knows there’s something wrong in the relationship – ‘Brænder Inde’ translates as ‘Burning Inside’, because that’s the pain that the knowledge is causing, you see – and it works well for that.

Tom: I’m agreed with you there, though. The tone is right – it just doesn’t, well, “grab” me.

Tim: Hmm, fair enough. There’s a nice mix of love and disappointment in there (not that I generally find love nice when it’s mixed with disappointment, mind, but here it’s nice), and it really seems to come out towards the end when they’re both singing together. I like this.

Saturday Reject: Janet Leon – Heartstrings

“Knocked out in the first round. How?”

Tim: RIGHT. Now as I’m writing this I’ve just finished watching the show, so emotions are slightly involved, but this came FIFTH. FIFTH. KNOCKED OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND. HOW?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_UlSnxC2HM

Tom: Because it’s only a middling Eurovision entry?

Tim: And blimey, when you compare it to some of the utter tosh that got put straight through, it’s JUST NOT RIGHT.

Tom: Man, it must have been a pretty poor Melodifestivalen this year. I mean, it’s not bad, but this sounds about like a fifth place to me.

Tim: Well, now you mention it, yes, it’s not great at all. There’s a near-complete absence of schlager, a massive amount of generic EDM and an annoyingly large number of ‘quirky’ songs. Final heat tonight, so it might pick up, but I’m not holding my breath. But regardless of all that, however, this song is fantastic – it’s pure pop. A great and very catchy na-na-na, it’s not even let down by the verses as can happen to many songs of its type. A middle eight that almost got close enough to heavier dance to keep it even more appealing to people who might otherwise be put off by it.

Tom: The backing’s as generic as it comes, and I’m not sure I could repeat the chorus even after listening to it twice. This ain’t a winner, not by a long way.

Tim: In a good year, no, but this really should have at least made it through, to Andra Chansen if nothing else. It’s even got all the extra bits – the catsuits, the strutting, the hairflick at the end. It just adds up to something that’s so right, that when I saw it I thought it could have actually been the Melodifestivalen winner. Sweden, how could you have let this happen?

Tom: Were we listening to the same song?

Tim: Hmm. Maybe you need to see what it’s up against to appreciate it.

Evan – I Would Freeze Time

“Probably the most depressing video you’ve seen all week.”

Tim: Evan was big a while back, but has been a bit quieter of late, though still putting out the occasional track. This slightly (alright, very) morose number, for example.

Tom: Man, those percussion hits in the intro are proper, old-school Casio-like synths. It takes a lot to make them fit into anything orchestral – and yet here they work really well.

Tim: They really do. It’s probably the most depressing video you’ve seen all week, but never mind, because it’s just beautiful.

Tom: Depressing, and yet somewhat amateurish – all the filters in the world can’t stop it being a bit like a low-budget episode of Shortland Street.

Tim: Well, that’s an obscure TV hospital drama reference we can all get behind – well done Tom.

It took me a while to think what this reminded me of, but then I realised it was of a downbeat Neo, in both the voice and the complexity of the backing. Both of those things are absolutely lovely, and they combine to make this track one of the best songs of this type I’ve ever heard. We don’t need to talk about what it’s about – the video makes it quite clear and saying anything would just depress me – but everything about the song fits perfectly with it.

Tom: And a theremin! It’s got a theremin as the backing – or, at least, a synth that sounds very much like it. I’m amazed at how well all this fits together.

Tim: The single, available everywhere, has a Swedish version as the B-side, which is almost even better – the lack of English lyrics means you focus more on the tone of the voice, and you really hear the sincerity, the emptiness and the sadness that’s there. (It also stops me being an inadvertent corporate whore by not making me want to sing “I would FaceTime”.) Combined with the strings and piano in the background, it’s just fantastic.

One Direction – One Way or Another

“Is the Comic Relief single any good?”

Tom: I had an extended metaphor about how this single’s been leaking more than their fans, but I thought I’d probably just leave that punchline there and never mention it again.

So, we’ve mentioned in the past that bad charity singles shouldn’t be spared a mauling because they’re “for charity”. And let’s face it: this could be four minutes of One Direction belching into a microphone and the fans would still buy it. So given that low bar: is the Comic Relief single any good?

Tom: Well… it’s OK. It’s a competent if unnecessary Blondie cover, but it’s probably a good idea not to try unreliable original material on something that’s raising money for charity.

Tim: It is… exactly how I’d expect a One Direction cover of Blondie to sound. Still their usual sound, but a bit heavier on the guitars.

Tom: What gets me is the bizarre switch to Teenage Kicks half way through. I’m all for live mashups – I once saw Smash Up Derby live, and they were really very good – but just chucking in one line from it as a middle eight seems odd.

Tim: It’s odd, yes, but it livens it up a bit – decent as it is, and despite being less than three minutes long, I can imagine it starting to get a bit repetitive if that wasn’t there. The video is, obviously, your standard charity appeal song video – lots of shots in Africa, a “we’re saving money” message, and a woefully cringeworthy appearance from some politician.

Tom: To be fair, I did giggle at the first appearance – it’s the kind of understated cameo that works really well. And then he came back.

But never mind that: it’s probably the surest bet for number one since Elton John dusted off “Candle in the Wind”.

Tim: Well, I don’t really know what to say to that. But you’re not wrong.

Isac Elliot – New Way Home

“This kid is twelve. TWELVE.”

Tim: You know how people sometimes say how Madeon’s ridiculously young, at only 18, to have such success as a dance producer? Well, this kid is twelve. TWELVE.

Tim: And that dance backing is good, which means we have another one of those annoyingly talented kids hanging around make me feel all grumpy.

Tom: True, and as generic teen-pop goes, there’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, pitch the voice down an octave and it’d sound surprisingly mature.

Tim: That’s true, yes. But TWELVE.

Tom: Turns out I’m now old enough that there’s a good chance that anyone under 20 gets classified as an “annoyingly talented kid” by me now. We’re getting old, Tim.

Tim: NO. You don’t have be old to be annoyed by a successful twelve year old.

Fortunately, though, I can take solace in the fact that the lyric video there is utter shite (the list I could write of things that are wrong with it would probably fill up the internet), so at least he’s not good at that as well. And he sings ‘ya’ in a stupid way. Not that I’m trying to find flaws or anything, obviously.

Ke$ha – C’mon

“I’m fairly sure that Ke$ha has just turned into a parody of herself.”

Tom: This single’s been out for a while now, but it’ll be getting a publicity push now as the new album’s being released soon.

And I’m fairly sure that Ke$ha has just turned into a parody of herself.

Tom: I mean, if some high-budget YouTube channel made that video as a Ke$ha parody, it’d go down pretty well. But no, that’s actually her. All of which would be laughable if the damn song wasn’t so catchy.

Tim: It is catchy. It’s not a song I particularly want to catch, but it’s one that once you’ve been exposed it’s just…there. A sort of musical norovirus, really.

Tom: Wow. That’s a metaphor for the ages, there. But I don’t know what I was expecting from Ke$ha: a new lyrical direction? Hardly. A change into darker, more grown-up themes? Nah. Dubstep? Well, possibly. But no: we’ve got more of the same, and you know what? I’ve got no problem with that at all.

Tim: No – the verses are boring, the chorus really is quite good. The days off work, compared to the verses’ vomiting.

Tom: That said, if any of those folks in animal suits get near me, I’m running away as fast as I can.

Tim: Are you kidding? They’re AMAZING. Although I suppose I am speaking as someone who’s previously had a job dressing up as a whale, so I’m not entirely impartial.

Tom: You stay the hell away from me, whaley.

Tim: Er, the name’s Beebop, actually.

Truls – Out Of Yourself

I’m not sure they all mesh together as a whole.

Tim: New Norwegian pop here, and if you want your laptop to look somewhat sinister for three minutes, why not put this on full screen?

Tim: That was interesting, wasn’t it? I don’t have much to say about it, but I think it’s worth bringing to people’s attention because I really do rather like it.

Tom: There’s many good parts in that, although I’m not sure they all mesh together as a whole. The vocals could use being an octave or so lower, and perhaps, you know, actually sounding like words.

Tim: You think? Because there’s something about those high-pitched and almost unintelligible voice that works for me.

Tom: Each to their own, I suppose. The backing’s good, at least.

Tim: Indeed, and when you combine the vocals with that good backing track and a melody that sounds strangely optimistic, I like it a lot. Good stuff.