Alan Walker feat. Au/Ra and Tomine Harket – Darkside

“Alan’s taken a leaf from Basshunter’s book and is doing a story with his videos.”

Tim: Quick note before we get started: Alan’s taken a leaf from Basshunter’s book and is doing a story with his videos.

Tom: I mean, sure, we could go with Fall Out Boy or Janelle Monáe for that reference, but, yeah, fine, Basshunter.

Tim: Got to stay on brand, Tom. This one’s episode 2 in what will, in due course, be a trilogy. Previously we’ve have a prologue, Tired, and part 1, All Falls Down. Let’s skip over that for today, though, and do the music.

Tom: Bit weird to include a war memorial as part of your sci-fi dystopia music video, even if it does look as strange as that. I wonder if anyone knew what they were working with?

Tim: Had to imagine they wouldn’t – not like you walk out of Zagreb International and find that right in front of you. If I had the time and necessary skills, I would absolutely make a video to fit this chorus over Emperor Palpatine trying to tempt Luke, to try to highlight to weirdness of this being an incredibly upbeat sounding chorus for what the lyrics claim it to be.

Tom: Alan Walker’s style doesn’t exactly lend itself to “dark and brooding” easily.

Tim: True, and it’s absolutely not a complaint: I absolutely love it, and to be honest I almost have the same problem with Alan as I mentioned on Monday with Galantis, although perhaps even more so – this is the twelfth time we’ve featured him and he’s yet to put a foot wrong (hell, I even liked his remix of This Is Me).

Tom: Yep, I’ve got to admit: it’s a style that works.

So I like this. I like it a lot, and to be honest, I was probably always going to. But I’m very happy with that.

Galantis feat. MAX – Satisfied

“I think this is where Galantis really shine“

Tim: Track 2, and I’m not really sure who MAX is or why he deserves the capital letters – he had a track out last year featuring a guy with no capital letters, though, so maybe that explains it.

Tim: It starts out different, more of a funky style…and I’m not sure where I stand. Compared to yesterday, it is both better and worse. Yesterday was, like I said then, very much a trademark Galantis track. There wasn’t much new or entirely interesting there, but it would happily sit on a Galantis Essentials playlist and not sound even slightly out of place.

Tom: Oh, this is so much better than yesterday’s track. I think this is where Galantis really shine — as producers and collaborators, able to elevate someone else’s track and, in turn, to be elevated.

Tim: Well, you’re not wrong in that that chorus elevates it, because I really couldn’t take a song just like the verses. This one takes a few risks, in the sense that it’s different, but also the same – the chorus is your standard stuff, the weird vocal and the decent beats. But as for that verse, hmm.

Tom: It’s great! As is the pre-chorus, but the verse really shined for me. You know why? I was already so far into it by the end of the first verse that I instinctively did a double-clap — at exactly the point where the song puts a double-clap sample in. I was sold. This, to sort-of-quote the KLF, has a Groove.

Tim: Maaaaybe, but now that a large part of the world has moved on from Uptown Funk, the songs that most come to mind for me are Sweden’s dire Eurovision entries of the past couple of years, and this year only three countries came below them in the televote. With it also heading toward the current trend of no middle eight or final chorus to cut away from those…I’m really not all that keen.

Tom: To be fair, you’re right there. For the first time in a very long while, I actually think the track should be longer. It needs a middle eight, it needs a Big Final Chorus. And, despite my initial enthusiasm, I can’t remember the chorus after one listen. That’s not a great sign.

Tim: It’s a disappointing song, and I’m sad about that.

Tom: It’s only disappointing at the end for me. Give me a remix with a Big Chorus and I will be 100% behind this.

Galantis – Mama Look At Me Now

“It’s a good song.”

Tim: Tonight, Tom, is the final of Love Island, and recently the winner of last year’s Swedish version of that brought out a single, so it’d kind of make sense to feature it. However, it is entirely shit, so I won’t force it on you.

Tom: I can’t work out if I’ve just had my expectations raised and then let down, or literally the exact opposite.

Tim: Instead, let’s hear the new track from Galantis – well, one of them, as apparently even in the streaming video age the double A-side is still a thing, or at least EPs of two songs are. Here’s the first.

Tim: I’ll be honest, it’s tricky for me to review Galantis tracks, because, aside from a short period around the latter half of 2016, as far as I’m concerned they’ve barely put a foot wrong since the launch of Runaway (You & I) back in 2014, they do a phenomenal live show and basically they’re brilliant.

Tom: I mean, you’ve been pretty clear about that over the years. I’ve been less enthusiastic, but then I usually am.

Tim: Right here, we have a track that is very much a trademark Galantis track. It has a decent vocal, it has steel drums, it has the painting on the video with backstage tour footage. It’s a song about success, about making it, about being in a good place despite previous assumptions. It’s a good song, and I’m happy about that.

Tom: “It’s a good song.” “A trademark Galantis track.” I agree: but from you, that’s a genuine endorsement, whereas with me, it’s damning with faint praise.

Saturday Flashback: Lady Gaga – The Edge of Glory (Cahill Remix)

“Ten years since the release of Just Dance”

Tim: I realised the other day that April marked ten years since the release of Just Dance, the debut single that catapulted Ms Gaga right to the top of music and everything, which seems worth celebrating and I’m surprised there wasn’t more of a thing about it tbh. Coincidentally, I also heard this remix.

Tim: And oh my days, it’s good.

Tom: It is: but let’s not forget that’s partly because it’s building on the original track and, despite adding instrumentation, it’s still letting those spectacular vocals shine through.

Tim: For all we talk about her frequently re-inventing herself, as far as I’m concerned she never really bettered what she began with the re-issue of The Fame, as The Fame Monster, which added tracks like Bad Romance and Alejandro, and was then followed up by Born This Way, one of the finest albums of the century. On it were fabulous tracks like Born This Way, Judas, Marry The Night, and, of course, this. One of her best tracks, and easily the best remix of a Gaga track. LOVE. THIS.

Tom: The Manhattan Clique remix of Boys would like a word.

Bad Geckos – This Time

“No spoilers for this song out of Norway; just press play.”

Tim: No spoilers for this song out of Norway; just press play.

Tom: I’d already written the words “I’ve heard that introduction before” (as a later part of Primadonna Girl by Marina and the Diamonds, incidentally) but then I heard the first line of the first verse and burst out laughing.

Tim: Fun, isn’t it? Question is, of course, whether or not this has anything about it to rely on beyond the immediate shock value of that line, and happily I’ll say yes.

Sure, it’s still the most memorable part of the song, but we’ve also got a really good dance tune underneath it, with a nicely banging post-chorus, and to cap it all off we’ve the message that, let’s face it, is a pretty easy to approve of. Nice.

Tom: I am all in favour of unconventional, sex-positive, honest messages in songs. Sure, I’m not going to actually add this to a playlist, but I’m glad it exists.

Isak Danielson – Always

“I can appreciate both the vision and the technical skills, and I never want to watch it again.”

Tim: Nice number here for you, with a rather annoying video; you might want to put two-thirds of it off screen.

Tim: You see? I mean, maybe they’ve done it that way to disguise an occasional cut that became necessary, but still, it’s horribly disorientating.

Tom: That’s an absolutely genius effect by the director, I can appreciate both the vision and the technical skills, and I never want to watch it again.

Tim: The song’s pretty nice, though – admittedly the lyrics of the second verse are horrible, and should really be enough to get Isak and his co-writers put in solitary, but the chorus is particularly nice to listen to.

Tom: Yes, they absolutely are. I was put in a grumpy mood by the line “watching an episode of Friends”, which tipped the whole thing so over the line into ‘twee falsetto guitar rubbish’.

Tim: It’s a bit twee, yes, and if was in a grumpy mood this review might be entirely different with me dismissing it immediately as smug garbage, but I’m not in a grumpy mood. I’m in a good mood, and one that has me, on the third listen, swaying a little bit on my sofa as I type this.

Tom: I will grant you that it is a very, very nice chorus.

Tim: So in summary: yes. Most of the time, probably.

Muse – Something Human

“They’ve finally gone FULL POP.”

Tom: It’s been years coming, Tim, but they’ve finally gone FULL POP.

Tim: Ooh, well this could be fun then.

Tom: And I can respect that. The old-school, loud-guitar-anthems-only crowd are going to turn away from them, but that’s fine by me.

Tim: Yeah, it’s interesting – reminiscent of when The Killers teamed up with M83. I’ll be interested to discover how they’ll fit it into a live gig session, but yeah. Perhaps not surprisingly, it seems to be the heavier parts of it that shine through — much as I like the genre, the most engaging parts of it are definitely those like at the beginning of the middle eight.

Tom: This is still recognisably Muse — not least in the ridiculous lyrics and conspiracy-theory sci-fi video — but it’s some melding of synthpop and rock that ends up in a really fun place.

Tim: Hmm. I think that sums it up nicely.

Drängarna – Stadsfestival

“The crowd noise to the violins and everything in between.”

Tim: A year ago we featured a track by 2 Blyga Läppar & Drängarna; two weeks ago we had a track by 2 Blyga Läppar, and so now it’s only really fair that we feature a solo Drängarna song. And I’m no Nostradamus, but I nonetheless feel confident in saying this: within three seconds of pressing the play button, you’ll have a massive grin on your face.

Tom: I mean, yes, although admittedly I had my palm on my forehead at the same time. An entire song about what is, in translation, the local country fair. I wouldn’t have expected anything else.

Tim: Like yesterday, it saddens me that there are no lyrics online, and again for one single reason: what on earth does it mean when it sounds like “music can breathe so blinky winky blow you”? Aside from that, though: not one single complaint.

Tom: Right. While we’re dealing with… I don’t know what genre you call it, but let’s go with “less respected music”, it’s interesting to compare this to yesterday. Neither of these is going to win any music awards, but this just holds together a lot better. No self-aggrandizement, no grating rhymes, no comedy sound effects.

Tim: Oh, I absolutely won’t disagree with this being better than yesterday. Just for one thing, the key change here is nicely telegraphed, not hidden away – more or less shouting out a big “LOOK AT ME I’M OVER HERE!”. Fortunately, and pleasingly, so is absolutely everything else, from the crowd noise to the violins and everything in between. It’s a fabulous track, this. It really is.

Sean Banan – Bananaman

“His Wikipedia page consists of six paragraphs, at least four of which will contain a fact that will irritate you.”

Tim: Sean Banan is a Swedish entertainer and previous Melodifestivalen finalist; his (English) Wikipedia page consists of six paragraphs, at least four of which will contain a fact that will irritate you.

Tom: You’re entirely correct about that. The fact that is definitely isn’t a cover of the Bananaman theme tune will no doubt make it worse.

Tim: Here’s his first song for a good few years, and it’ll most likely either annoy you or delight you. For me, it went from the former to the latter about 50 seconds in.

Tom: It’s ALL THE FORMER, Tim. ALL OF IT.

Tim: First of all, the two things I don’t like: the key change, because although it’s necessary and the song would be very poor without one, it’s very poorly executed, and gives a “wait, was that a…huh” sensation; and the fact that I can’t find any lyrics online for it, because I love the middle eight and would dearly love to know what the Kardashian family have to do with his superheroic activities.

Tom: Nope. I’m all out. This odd, not-quite-bubblegum-pop is a genre that, generally, I have a lot of patience for. I’m willing to give it a lot of leniency — but this is just straight-up irritating.

Tim: I can take or leave the verses (though again, I’m fairly sure a translation would help). I love the chorus, though. It’s fun, it’s ludicrous, it’s weird, it makes me think back to my days reading the Beano (which i am 99% certain this isn’t based on).

And on second listening onwards, when I was actually paying attention, boy is that intro special. The self-aggradisation of it with the drumbeats, the brass and the sirens clearly stating that this is an EPIC NUMBER about an EPIC HUMAN BEING.

Tom: I realise that some songs aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but they still have to be good. What Does The Fox Say was good. This… just isn’t.

Tim: It’s silly, idiotic, and wonderful.

Tom: Two out of three.

Saturday Flashback: Spray – Anthem (For The Modern Artist)

“What does the name ‘Ricardo Autobahn’ mean to you?”

Tom: Tim, what does the name ‘Ricardo Autobahn’ mean to you?

Tim: Oooh, rings a bell, but I can’t place the reason. Elaborate, please do.

Tom: A quick recap through through his CV for our reader: part of The Cuban Boys. Rikki and Daz. A Eurovision entry. The Golden Age of Video. And, most recently, that spectacularly good Pet Shop Boys parody that does TV theme tunes.

Tim: HOW ON EARTH had I not seen that? Blimey, thank you for the intro.

Tom: Lesser known for reasons that I don’t understand: he’s also one half of synthpop band Spray, who I only just discovered. This is from 2013, recently rereleased, and it’s the first track in a long while where I was singing along with the chorus before the end of my first listen.

Tim: Bloody hell, that’s good. Admittedly I was unable to stop myself chanting ‘David Bowie LPs‘ a lot during the pre-chorus, but aside from that: hell yes I enjoyed that.

Tom: Yep, a music researcher could probably trace the DNA of this track back to a dozen ancestors, but I feel like that’d be taking the fun out of it. As for their newer stuff: how this has under 400 YouTube views baffles me.