Alesso feat. Michael Koma – Years

Piano dance has been huge this year, but it’s rarely been done this well.

Tim: I woke up to this last Thursday, and I thought it was great so I scribbled it down to listen to later. Then I remembered that I did the same thing with the latest JLS song, and realised I might be letting myself in for a fall. And then I listened to it and found there was nothing to worry about whatsoever. (But feel free to skip the first 30 seconds, and everything after 3:30.)

Tim: Piano dance has been huge this year – occasionally overly so – but it’s rarely been done this well. So often it’s seemed like producers thought, “Hey, that’s a decent synth line, let’s put a piano on it because everyone else is doing that,” but here it seems different – more like the piano has set the way and then everything else has been built around it. It’s a lovely melody that we hear on its own to start with, and then the pounding stuff happens, but then when the vocal comes in you realise “oh, so that’s what they were doing”, and I like that a lot.

Tom: It’s not entirely led by the piano either, which helps.

Tim: True – they’re not afraid to drop that a bit and let the synths carry the weight. But since I think I’m in danger of romanticising this a bit too much and becoming overly eloquent, I’ll move to say that the heavy pounding stuff on it is RIGHT GOOD and BANGING and AMAZING.

Tom: Can’t disagree with that.

Tim: The nerdy part of me also appreciates that it’s set at 128bpm, because it means if part of it ever does get boring we can relax in the knowledge that at every thirty second mark precisely something different will come along.*

*On a tangent, if you ever want to spoil your enjoyment of a fantastic dance track, I recommend counting the beats in Rank 1’s Airwave. Like clockwork, every 32 beats it shifts slightly, or something interesting happens, and every 64 it switches direction. The most literally formulaic track ever.)

Tom: Ha! You’re right – that’s exactly on the 30 second mark, each time. It’s as if they were writing music for schools TV.

Niki & The Dove – Love To The Test

Are those sound effects?

Tim: As mentioned in January, shortlisted for the BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll, and, as appropriate and predicted, having been paid virtually no attention since. They have, however, still been putting out tunes, such as this, the new single from their album Instinct.

Tim: If you can overlook the dodgy compression issues, this is a pretty good track.

Tom: That’s a very 80s sound – not a complaint! – although I’m not sure about her Gwen Stefani-like vocals.

Tim: The voice, yes, is as potentially off-putting as ever, but let’s be fair, there’s not a lot they can do about that. What they can do things about is the music, and there they’ve done very good things indeed.

Tom: Agreed. There’s some complex synth work there, some unexpected Big Percussion, and… are those sound effects? I’m not sure.

Tim: I think so – I mean there’s a veritable mish-mash of things going on in there, including lots of bass, some brassy stuff, a glockenspiel and what sounds like a sword fight, and I think it’s brilliant. The verses sound good to start with, but then the chorus comes along and you realise that they were actually pretty boring, and that’s a good sign in any song.

Tom: They’ve even got the repeat-to-fade at the end. I think I have a soft spot for 80s-revival tracks.

Tim: It’s a shame the BBC seems to ignore its own awards, because these guys really have the potential to break out, if only they were given radio airplay instead of being roundly ignored. Sad, really, but I guess that’s the music industry.

East 17 – Counting Clouds

They’re going to Walk on a Beach. MOODILY.

Tom: As I said last time we talked about an East 17 track: it’s not a reunion. But it is without Brian, which is a bit like Take That without Gary Barlow. Only, you know, not quite as popular.

And now: they’re going to Walk on a Beach. MOODILY.

Tim: My word, that is moody walking.

Tom: Other than rhyming “song”, “song”, and “sung” in the pre-chorus, I’ve got very few complaints about this. It’s a textbook East 17 ballad, and I can see it climbing the charts if it had come out about fifteen years ago.

Tim: If…if. Big word, that.

Tom: By the end of each chorus, I find myself wanting it to kick in a bit more – like there’s so much potential waiting to burst out – and then it does, a little stronger each time.

Tim: I was thinking exactly the same – the second chorus almost had it, but not quite.

Tom: It takes a long time to work its way up to that final chorus, but it’s worth it when it finally hits.

Tim: It really is. SWAY THOSE ARMS, people.

Tom: As for that moody electric guitar middle eight: man, I hadn’t even realised I was missing that part of the 90s. I feel like I should be playing with Pogs or something.

Tim: No, Tamagotchi’s where it’s at, mate.

Titanix – Precis Som Jag Är

As if someone put thirty years of schlager in a blender.

Tim: This is the lead single from this Swedish Grammis-nominated dansband act’s new(ish) album, and, well, it’s not exactly dansband as we’d expect.

Tom: Dubstep dansband?

Tim: Not quite…

Tim: It is, in fact, as mind-numbingly schlager as it comes.

Tom: Not dubstep dansband. Although that is something I’d listen to. And my word: this is as if someone put thirty years of schlager in a blender and made a generic smoothie. A wonderful, mixed-metaphor smoothie.

Tim: Three minutes long, a ridiculous key change, as traditional as they come, really. So is it too much? I’m not sure, really – it’s nice to listen to, but it’s just so formulaic that it seems almost dull, really.

Tom: I broke out into a grin when it started. Half way through, I noticed the glockenspiel playing in the background and grinned again. I started dancing in my chair at the key change. I have no problems with this song at all.

Tim: Or maybe my music tastes have changed – what do you think?

Tom: Well, they do change: you’ll remember that I dismissed dubstep as noise two years ago, but now my ears have adjusted to it. But if you didn’t enjoy this: man, I’m not even sure I know you.

Tim: Actually, you know what? I’ve just listened to it again after a couple of days, and I have no idea what I was blathering about up there. It’s BRILLIANT. And you’re so bloody right about that glockenspiel.

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Saturday Flashback: Erasure – Love To Hate You

Everything about this is brilliant.

Tom: As regular readers may remember, I’m in Australia for most of this month. I was meant to be reporting back about Australian pop music, but since it’s basically identical to the UK (as I write this, “Gangnam Style” is number one) there’s not much to tell.

Tim: You know, if this was a serious site we could have a talk about globalisation and why it applies to some tracks and not others and oh God, I’m bored already, so let’s move on.

Tom: Instead, here’s an absolutely amazing 1991 single from British synthpop duo Erasure, that I first heard last time I was in Australia. Close enough.

Tom: Everything about this is brilliant. The subtle sample (or “blatant rip-off”) of I Will Survive. The nonsensical lyrics. The disco beat.

Tim: That is brilliant – especially the sample.

Tom: And the video: oh my, the video. It’s like they had a hundred brightly-coloured ideas and said “screw it, put them all in”.

Tim: I particularly like the sweater he’s wearing in the flat that looks like they’ve shorn a sheep, gathered it all up and thought “this is what clothing’s made of, right? Let’s just wear it as it comes, then.”

Tom: One of you dancing in a wetsuit while the other looks on like a Michael Stipe impersonator? Sure. Do it. Give us another chorus.

Amelia Lily – Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)

Wow, what a BANGER it is.

Tim: There are parts of this that I can’t help feeling were written purely to satisfy the producers of this video.

Tim: I’M DYINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

Tom: Pedantry: It should be “DYIIIIIIING”, but yes, that’s a nice technique they’re using.

Tim: And the sound’ll do nicely, although if I’m honest that does get a bit tedious and annoying towards the end (the sung bit, that is). But that’s my only real criticism of the track, because wow what a BANGER it is.

Tom: Oh good – from your starting sentence, I thought you disliked it, and I was gearing up to disagree with you vehemently. This track pretty much demands that everyone get to the dance floor immediately.

Tim: It is LOUD, it is ANGRY, and, yes, it DEMANDS your attention, whether as a listener or as a crap boyfriend. I like that in a song, so good work Amelia, and everyone else involved because let’s be honest all she probably did was pretty much turn up and do what she was told.

Tom: Harsh, but probably true. Cracking track, though.

Numera! – Varför Gör Du Det Med Honom

Speedy Swedish rap. Let’s do this.

Tim: Speedy Swedish rap. Let’s do this.

Tim: My brain has trouble processing this as rapping.

Tom: It’s doing the same thing that Example did in his earlier tracks – the cadence and meter suggest rapping, but it’s fully voiced and definitely has a pitch.

Tim: That’s partly it, yes, but it’s also because I’ve haven’t a clue what they’re on about (aside from the title meaning “Why Do You Do It With Him”) – my basic Swedish is nowhere near the level required to translate this.

Tom: Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your basic Swedish about the level required to ask for a beer?

Tim: Not just that – I can ask for a vodka and coke as well. But regardless of my linguistic capabilities, it’s so quick that I had to listen to it a few times before I could even discern where the verses stop and where the chorus begins, and part of me feels I’m not quite capable of reviewing this to the extent that it deserves. I do like it, though, somewhat for the musical bits that are present, but mostly because I know I could dance very enthusiastically to it if it came on in a club.

Tom: In the end, for music like this, that’s what counts.

Tim: SORTED.

McFly – Love Is Easy

The word you’re looking for is “twee”

Tim: Here’s a video that will appeal to ukulele fans and ornithologists alike. And that’s not a sentence I ever imagined myself writing.

Tom: Man, even I can’t come up with a ukulele-ornithology pun.

Tim: And what a lovely track that is. Gentle, reassuring, calming, friendly and above all happy. I’m not sure, in fact, if it’s possible to do a downbeat track that’s backed by a ukulele – they seem to have an in-built jauntiness factor that’s somewhat infectious, and in this instance it seems to have infected my very soul. MY SOUL, I tell you. And I like that in a song, because now I can think back to that “do. do. do do doo do do do. etc.” and be happy all day.

Tom: The word you’re looking for is “twee” – and if it were relentless, it’d be too much. That birdsong-whistling, for example, nearly pushed it over the edge – but then the guitars and drums kick back in, and it’s a proper McFly song again. That last chorus is gorgeous.

Tim: Nice video as well – them all in suits spinning umbrellas in an old concert hall, lack of any real special effects or anything, bringing out a slightly old-fashioned vibe that does nothing whatsoever to take away from the jauntiness of the song.

Tom: Since when was “the bonus track on a Best Of” meant to be this good?

Tim: I don’t know, but both this and the recent Girls Aloud track seem to be setting the bar quite high. It’s lovely all round, really.

Parralox – Sharper Than A Knife

This lyric video is critically acclaimed

Tim: According to this duo’s PR people this lyric video is critically acclaimed, so I suppose we really ought to watch it. (Much as part of me wants to make fun of that, it is true, and the video is really quite inventive.)

Tom: It’s easy to make a lyric video – but so difficult to make a good lyric video.

Tim: These guys are from Australia, so this comes back more from my current enjoyment of electropop than europop or anything, but I don’t care because I think this is great.

Tom: It is – and look out for some more Australian tracks appearing here in the next few weeks, as I’m on holiday down under for most of November. Particularly if they’re as good as this.

Tim: The vocals are pretty good and the backing track is excellent, and really that’s all I have to say about this. Mainly because I’m too busy listening to it.

Matt Cardle – It’s Only Love

“Actually got me bouncing around in my seat.”

Tim: Now, this is a surprise. Credibility Cardle ditched Syco about six months ago now (that’s not the surprise – I’m amazed it took him that long), and now he’s come along with this. Which is pretty much everything we didn’t associate with him before.

Tom: My first thought on watching that video: “blimey, Johnny Vegas cleans up well”. Just an unflattering angle, I’m sure.

Tim: Probably – much as the angle on his website might make you think you’ve gone to Coldplay’s site by accident.

When We Collide was a bit boring, Amazing was a bit dull, Run For Your Life was a bit dull. We liked Starlight, which was actually pretty good, but it still didn’t quite match up to this in terms of enthusiasm, or decent backing, or (dare I say it) catchiness. Heck, this is a song that’s actually got me bouncing around in my seat, and that’s a very pleasant feeling indeed. Even more pleasant is the remix the 7th Heaven have done – they can generally be relied upon to give any track a decent overhaul, but it turns out that his vocals actually lend themselves very well to a good dance tune. Have a listen, and tell me I’m wrong.

Tom: Normally at this point, I’d chime in and say “you’re wrong” just to be contrary, but I can’t: that is a very good dance tune. In fact, I’d go so far to say that I prefer it to the original.

Tim: Me too. Neither version will succeed, of course – he’s been largely forgotten about, as with every male X Factor winner, and his last two tracks, Starlight and Amazing, hit the heady chart heights of 185 and 84 respectively. Still, it’s nice that’s he’s trying, and even nicer that he’s actually coming up with the goods.