Keane – Silenced By The Night

Will it be interesting enough to say anything about?

Tom: The big question we must face with a Keane song, Tim, is this: will it be interesting enough to say anything about?

Tim: Until I watched this, I’d never really paid much attention to Keane’s name. But look at it. Keane. Suddenly seems a bit weird. Keane. Anyway, here’s their new album’s lead single.

Tom: Semantic satiation, Tim.

Tim: I’d always thought of Keane (Keane. Hmm.) as a sort of dull Travis, who were in turn a fairly dull U2. Bits of this, though, remind me of actual U2 – I’m thinking the first line of the chorus specifically, but overall it’s at that sort of level. Just the opening few notes have a confidence about them that I don’t remember from their first stuff, and that carries on into almost an enforcement of enjoyment and enthusiasm in the listener.

Tom: I saw Keane at Live 8, and they had that confidence then – and an entire crowd singing along with them. The singles off that first album were just so good, that it’s difficult to put this one in perspective.

Tim: Maybe my memory’s doing them an injustice, but this is a lot better than I remember them.

Tom: And maybe my memory’s doing them a different injustice: but this isn’t as good as I remember them.

Tim: Hang on, give me a sec.

…Hmm. My memory is doing them a slight injustice, but I still think this is a damn good track, and probably on a par with the early stuff.

Tom: It’s good. Can I see Hyde Park, full of people, all singing this chorus? Maybe. Ask me in a few more listens’ time.

Adam F – When The Rain Is Gone

This is it: dubstep is mainstream now.

Tom: This is it: dubstep is mainstream now. All Around The World, makers of the Clubland compilations, are releasing it. And as you might expect, it’s been toned down, sanitised, and made commercial.

Tom: This is, in short, dubstep without the classic “wub wub wub” effect. And – I never thought I’d say this – I miss those wubs. Without them, this is just a bit of a lame, slow dance track. It’s as if the bass has been turned off – which, in a way, it has.

Tim: Hmm. I don’t know – I’m watching this on a train, and the 3G signal went just as the opening bit finished. I was a bit ‘ooh, not going to like this’, but when it came back and he pushed the play button on his iPod I was pleasantly surprised. I think there’s even a tune in there.

Tom: Let me point you at this remix. Okay, so the video just has static graphics rather than girls kissing, but at least it has some oomph to it. And it turns out I’m completely used to dubstep’s Transformers-having-a-seizure style now, because this sounds good to me. Compare that to the two-year-ago version of me which despised dubstep. Simply put, my ears have adjusted.

Tim: I suppose you may have a point – there’s a whole time and place thing, where if it’s the right time and the right place it works. And you’re right – that remix does sound better. A tad less appealing for me in general, but as a full song it’s a bit more rounded and complete.

Tom: The really weird thing? That remix still doesn’t have enough bass for me. MORE BASS.

Tim: Like this?

Tom: That’s why you should never go fishing with Skrillex. He always drops the bass.

Blim – Scream

It’s time for some regular modern pop, and within five seconds you’ll be right back home.

Tim: After Monday’s schlager throwback and yesterday’s dreamy thing, do you think it’s time for some regular modern pop? Because I do, and within five seconds of this starting you’ll be right back home.

Tim: Quick intro: a duo comprising Rebecca Rosier (British) and Denmark Davis (um, Swedish). It’s been around a month or so, but annoyingly I kept forgetting about it until it was released last week. I think it’s pretty good – what do you think?

Tom: This isn’t dubstep – not by a long way – but it’s another sign of the genre’s steady encroachment into the mainstream. That slightly-late drop that appears at 0:39 is straight from the dubstep playbook; the beat in the background of the chorus is only really kicking in half as often as it “should” in a pop song.

Tim: Hmm – I’d just heard that as a big drumbeat, but you’re right. Subtle, and I actually like it a lot.

Tom: It’s how it always goes: “what’s this noise?” “actually, that track’s okay”, “oh wow, it’s everywhere”. The next step, “that’s horribly played out”, is due in a few months’ time. Also: this track’s a rare example of the middle eight being carried just by the vocal: there’s no great instrumental difference between it and the final chorus. It’s something that works very well – as, indeed, does the whole song. It’s not a BIG ANTHEM CHOON that’s going to knock all the clubs out this summer – but it’s not meant to be. It’s a decent modern pop song, and I like it.

Tim: Excellent – we’re in agreement.

Little Jinder – Parked My Heart

I was trying to stop myself falling asleep.

Tim: The problem with SoundCloud is that occasionally the waveforms it presents bear little to no resemblance to the actual song.

Tom: That is an obscure complaint to make.

Tim: Take this, for example.

Tom: That looks like “long intro, BOOM, quiet bit, key change.” I’m guessing it’s not?

Tim: Well, let’s have a listen.

Tim: Up to about a minute in, I was trying to stop myself falling asleep, with the assumption that at that point, a big beat was going to drop and the song wouldn’t be quite so dull. Obviously it didn’t, and in fact carried on pretty much exactly the same. But never mind, I thought, because something’s bound to happen at two minutes, surely. It must do, no? Er, no. Actually, no. It is just this throughout.

Tom: Disappointing.

Tim: BUT, I then realised that while I’d been focussing on what I assumed the song would become, I’d entirely missed out on what the song actually was, which is a rather mellow piece of… actually I have no idea how to place this, genre-ifically.

Tom: Okay, first of all, that’s not a word.

Tim: Erm, it totes is, actually.

Tom: I actually let out a noise something akin to “gnnnnnnnnng” when I read that. Just so you know. And secondly: well, yeah, you’re right. It’s not the type of music we normally cover, and to be honest it’s not to my taste. It’s… pleasant enough, I suppose?

Tim: Well, it’s nice. It’s gentle, it’s charming and if I were feeling poetical and a bit over the top I might even say beautiful, and it’s a light soundtrack to a summery morning lying in a park. Next to her heart, presumably.

Tom: That just makes me wonder where the rest of her is.

Wizex – Simsalabim

Dansband. As schlager is it comes.

Tim: Instrumentally, this is dansband. In every other respect possible, though, this is as schlager is it comes.

Tom: I’m probably going to like this, then.

Tim: I mean just listen to it – it’s ridiculous. From the time it goes quiet in preparation for the closing bit, you’re just waiting for the key change, because you know without a shadow of a doubt that it’ll be there.

Tom: It’s wonderful. That second key change actually made me wince. Give it an electronic drum kit and up the tempo a bit, and you’ve got yourself a Swedish Eurovision entry – but I think that’d take away from it.

Tim: To be honest, it’d probably be easy to criticise this song—clichés all over the place, repetitive and familiar chord structures, and I’d be willing to bet that the lyrics don’t comprise a philosophical masterpiece—but dammit, I just can’t. Because, for all those reasons, it’s great.

Saturday Reject: 4Post – Навстречу небу

I can’t speak a word of Russian, but that didn’t stop me singing along.

Tim: Before you ask – “Before The Sky”.

Tom: Ah, thanks.

Tim: The rest of the lyrics? Not a clue, but the Russians clearly thought they weren’t too bad, as this came sixth out of a full 25. Yes, twenty five.

Tom: Are you sure this is being played at the right speed? It sounds like it’s a bit too low, a bit too minor-key, and much too slow.

Tim: A WEBSITE SOMEONE SHOULD MAKE: paste in a YouTube link, play it at double speed. Until then, yes it’s right, and I think it sound quite good.

Tom: In the interests of research, I pulled a copy of it down to my own laptop and sped it up to 130%. It does improve quite a bit.

Tim: Huh. Fair enough. Anyway, I can’t speak a word of Russian, but somehow that didn’t stop me singing along when that chorus came round for a second time. I don’t know the words, I don’t know what they mean, but after hearing them just once I know the syllables and that’s enough for me.

Tom: Culturally aware as ever.

Tim: Of course.

Tom: I just can’t see why you’re getting excited about it though; it’s a bit of a dirge with a decent beat behind it. The after-key-change chorus sounds vaguely tolerable, but it should have started like that.

Tim: I’ll accept that the pre-chorus bit could do with livening up a bit, but ‘dirge’ is doing a bit of a disservice to the verses and middle eight – speaking of which, why does my brain finding middle eight rapping acceptable when it’s in Russian? You are welcome to try to answer that, as I have no idea. And a second question: why didn’t this qualif—STOP. You’ve already started typing a theory or several, but you’re wasting time and energy. I can tell you right now: you’re wrong.

Tom: About your liking of Russian rap, or the lack of qualifications?

Tim: The latter. Whatever you think it should or shouldn’t be or have in order to have qualified, you’re wrong. How do I know this? Because I’ve seen what those Russians actually voted for. And believe me, it’s not what you reckon this ought to be.

But until then, everybody join in: na-FYEERSHOO!!

Tom: If we did have any Russian readers, we don’t any more.

Anna Sahlene – Jamie

How about a nice “I screwed up, please please please god take me back please please please” song?

Tim: How about a nice “I screwed up, please please please god take me back please please please” song?

Tom: Ooh, a silent moody video intro. Is there going to be piano… yep, there’s the piano.

Tim: What’s interesting about this, lyrically, is that although she seems incredibly desperate, on a level not seen since, well, actually, have there ever been any songs as desperate as this?

Tom: Think Twice by Celine Dion? That screaming is pretty desperate.

Tim: True, but at least there there’s something to cling on to – here he’s actually chucked her and she’s just singing into the wind as much as she can. But despite that, there are only three lines in the whole four minute song that acknowledge she did something bad, and only one implies any form of sorrow. Rude cow.

Tom: Harsh. Should we talk about the music?

Tim: As a ballad it’s not bad, but as a form of apology it’s more “let’s put that behind us” than “I’m so sorry”, and so I’m almost disinclined to like it on that basis alone, which is a shame, really.

Tom: It is. You know what this sounds like? It sounds like an Elton John track. I mean that as a compliment – it’s not going to be the first single off an Elton John album, but it sounds like the kind of thing he’d put together. I like it.

Tim: It is quite good, I’ll grudgingly admit, and that delicate key change almost makes up for whatever it was she did. Unless she killed his dog or something.

Sameblod – UR Road

That’s neither arctic nor Balearic. It’s possibly Celtic.

Tim: Remember Beatrice Eli last week who described her song as big and small and the same time and stuff and we thought it was a bit of a weird description until we heard it? Well, in a not-dissimilar vein, this band’s description of this track is “cool arctic indietronika in combination with the balearic sunshine”.

Tom: No, no. That’s too far. That’s just putting words together in no particular order.

Tim: Here, I’m less inclined to agree with the artist. For a start, “indietronika” is a pointlessly stupid word made up by people too lazy to type “elec” and I do hope it doesn’t catch on. As for the rest, well, there’s not much of a combination, is there?

Tom: “Cool arctic indietronika” means something that would get played on SomaFM. Yes, I kind of see where they’re going with that during the first verse, but as soon as the whistling kicks in? No. That’s neither arctic nor Balearic. It’s possibly Celtic.

Tim: Well, the whistly bits feel quite summery, but it’s the combination thing I have an issue with – that would imply parts that are one and parts that are another, and towards the end they come together a bit. This is just – not particularly heavy summer dance. Though I suppose that wouldn’t make for quite the right tone PR people try to make.

Tom: Some genre mashups are brilliant. This is not one of them.

Tim: Now I’ve finished the marketing whine, though, I can enjoy the music, which is a good variant of not particularly heavy summer dance.

Tom: Not nearly heavy enough for me: can you really dance to this? I mean, really? It’s a listenable-enough electronica piece – and fans of the genre will no doubt like it – but it sure as hell ain’t mainstream.

Tim: Well, it’s the sort of dance stuff that gets put on chillout mixes, for the early hours of the morning when you don’t want to go to bed but you do fancy lying on the beach after a night in the club. All in all, I think it’s a decent track lumbered with some crap PR e-mails.

Evan – Out Of Control

Exceptionally dodgy green screen effects.

Tim: This is the lead single from a new album, presented here with a warning that the video contains exceptionally dodgy green screen effects.

Tom: That is a proper low-budget-trying-to-be-high-budget video. They haven’t even got a make-up person in to take the shine off his forehead. And I say that as someone with a very shiny forehead.

Tim: (For those that don’t know Tom, his forehead’s really just a mirror in disguise.)

Tom: At that point, you shouldn’t really try for a fancy video; either get a designer to do a decent lyric video, or just use behind-the-scenes footage like everyone else does. In fact, I’m going to tab away from it quickly: it’s actually making me think the music’s worse than it is.

Tim: Good, because the music’s not that bad at all, although I can’t think of much to say about it. Generic? Yes. In a good way, though? Also yes.

Tom: Top voice, top synth work – the sweep across the synth drumkit before the final chorus is a nice touch. It’s a decent single… mostly.

Tim: You mean the shift out of the middle eight? Fake endings aren’t new, but here it is, well, interesting.

Tom: That’s the part that stuck out like a sore thumb. It’s weird – it sounded like a bad edit to me, like someone didn’t quite set things up properly.

Tim: OH I DON’T KNOW JUST LISTEN TO IT.

Tom: It’s worth listening to.

Scissor Sisters – Only The Horses

It sounds like Jake Shears is singing, sure, but everything else has changed.

Tom: This doesn’t sound like the Scissor Sisters.

Tim: Ooh, pretty colours.

Tom: I mean, it sounds like Jake Shears is singing, sure, but everything else has changed. They’ve been slowly edging in a new direction for a while, and this… well, with this they’ve just made a break for it.

Tim: I like it a lot. It’s a very different style — you can certainly hear the Calvin Harris production — and I think it’s a great track.

Tom: Which is a shame, because I loved how they used to sound. I try to keep an open mind about artists taking new styles, but when they’re as generic as this… it’s like they’ve stripped away almost everything that made them original. It’s Calvin Harris (who produced it) featuring the Scissor Sisters.

Tim: Hmm…you may have a point there. But still — actually, no, that’s a very good point. As a track, I like it, but we don’t really need another band joining in the multitude of acts there already are doing stuff like this.

Tom: There are some bands who’ve taken amazing new directions… but this isn’t one of them. It’s not bad. It’ll get airplay. But it ain’t the Scissor Sisters I know.