Saturday Flashback: Sam Hunt – Body Like A Backroad

“You what?”

Tom: I know we don’t normally cover country here, even the pop-music version of it. But stick with this, because I’ve got a couple of reasons for it — the first of which is, this exemplifies the country standard of “entire song as extended simile”.

Tom: So here’s the surprising thing: this is one of the most popular country songs in US history.

Tim: You what?

Tom: 34 weeks at the top of the country chart. (It’s worth noting that US Billboard charts include airplay; it is still getting huge amounts of play on both pop and country stations, despite being released in February.) Triple platinum in both the US and Canada. Platinum in Australia. And… nothing in Britain.

Tim: Well…yeah. Admittedly I’m not best placed to judge the merits of country songs, but even I can tell this is really quite dull. That line “15 in a 30” pretty much sums it up.

Tom: Oh, and no music video either. Sure, it’s on YouTube as audio, and as a lyric video, but if any music TV channels want to play it, they’ve got nothing.

Country music is strange.

Tim: Utterly baffling.

Dagny – Love You Like That

“A lot of good style points”

Tim: Would you like to hear a new version of Taylor Swift’s tragically under-performing Out of the Woods from Norway’s Dagny?

Tom: Is this a good time to tell my really long joke about Taylor Swift pegging the actor who plays Ian Beale? No? Okay, fine, but the punchline was “are we out of the Woodyatt”, just so you know.

Tim: Probably for the best you didn’t tell the whole thing, then. Here’s the song.

Tim: Good, isn’t it? It’s the chorus that really put me in mind of that similarity within it’s chanted beat by beat repetition of the title and main line, and it works just as well here as it did back then, providing a good hook to dangle the rest of the song around.

Tom: It reminds me of three or four other songs I can’t place, but I think that’s because it’s borrowing — rather than outright ripping off — a lot of good style points. Full marks for that final chorus, too, even if it is a bit, well, out of the woods.

Tim: It does slightly suffer from the comparison, because there’s very little pop music that can match up to 1989-era Taylor, but it’s still a great listen. Lovely.

NEIMY – Deserve Better

“Entirely non-problematic.”

Tim: I can’t remember, Tom – are you a fan of that thing that’s in vogue right now of a single synth note changing volume up and down throughout the chorus? I ask because if either of our readers really isn’t, they might want to come back tomorrow.

Tom: Oh bloody hell that’s dull. Seriously. I tried to listen three times, and each time I kept drifting away and getting distracted by something else. Is there a single synth note in the chorus? I don’t remember.

Tim: Really? Because I quite like that. That beat’s quite prominent, really, and while it is done fairly well it could still be enough to put some folk off. I personally find it entirely non-problematic, and indeed have a lot of time for this song in general. It’s fairly loud, it’s energetic, and in fact ‘entirely non-problematic’ could be used to sum up the song in general.

Tom: Which I think is part of the problem.

Tim: I don’t know – maybe it is a bit damning with faint praise, I’ll admit, but I promise it’s not meant that way. I do actually entirely like it.

Birdflipper – No Sound

“Starts out with a whole lot more promise than what actually comes out.”

Tim: Nope, not a clue about the name, but never mind that now.

Tom: Well, I imagine they’re someone who flips the bi… oh, you mean the track title. Yeah, no idea.

Tim: Yeah, we’ve seen the band before, though fortunately they’ve ditched the 360º video gimmick.

Tim: Thing is, for me that starts out with a whole lot more promise than what actually comes out.

Tom: Oh good, it’s not just me.

Tim: Right? As the intro builds up, I’m thinking “great, banging dance tune on the way” and it sort of delivers on that, but that’s a big sort of. Come the chorus, it seems we’ve slightly downgraded to a more usual pop rock song, with just a few dancey synthy themes.

Tom: And my brain immediately compares them to Paramore, not just because there’s a female vocalist but because that chorus line sounds a heck of a lot like “That’s What You Get”.

Tim: Thing is, song’s still very good, with great energy, top melody and excellent production. I just, kind of feel cheated, you know?

Tom: Good guitar work though. I hope 80s guitar solos are making a comeback.

Laser Dreams – Stupid Love Song

“A massive smile on my face.”

Tim: Another new act out of Sweden today, claiming as their influences a-ha, Madonna, Kylie and Pet Shop Boys. Interested?

Tom: Definitely.

Tim: That, I think, is exactly how I would imagine a collaboration of those four acts, so first of all well done for using your inspiration well. Secondly, I didn’t realise how amazing it could sound. Possibly part of it could be an “oh, this actually does sound really good” surprise reaction, as unusually the first chorus did more for me than the second – that first stupid love song line immediately put a massive smile on my face.

Tom: The 80s/early 90s really are back again, again, aren’t they? There are minor irritations here — “feels so freaking wrong” would be better as “feels so wrong”, both because of the minced oath and because the timing grates; the middle eight is pretty poor — but you’re right, this is good.

I’ve been referencing the KLF’s Manual a lot recently, but their advice for a number one was, in short: find a groove that the world liked, rip it off, sing something that sounds good over the top, let professional people make it sound professional. I feel like they’ve followed that here.

Tim: I do have one complaint, though, and it’s this: it needs something for that final chorus. A key change, maybe? I’m not sure, but it really just needs to go somewhere different – if there’s one staple of 80s music that this has very much embraced, it’s the tendency to go on a little bit past its welcome, because by the time that final chorus comes around my reaction was more an “oh, hello again”. I don’t know what it is, but the song needs it.

GRANT – Waterline

“I almost binned it off, but don’t do that.”

Tim: So here’s GRANT who’s new out of Sweden, not sure if there’s any justification for the caps lock but there you go. I almost binned it off after halfway through the first verse, but don’t do that.

Tom: I’m going to assume this isn’t a Jedward cover. I can only hope.

Tim: Hope? Mate, that Jedward track’s brilliant. But no, no it isn’t.

Tim: And well just what a song that builds up to. Well, what a great chorus and a heck of a vocal, backed up by an excellent pile of backing singers, really, because from the middle eight onwards this is getting on for being somewhat flawless.

Tom: Yes, I can see why you nearly binned it off. It takes its time to get there, and even that second verse isn’t really much.

Tim: Sure, it’s a bit minor key and miserable to start with, and the first chorus only does a slight amount to perk it up before the next verse drops it back down; the second half, though, doesn’t put a foot wrong, and indeed puts so many feet right that it’s hard not to forgive it the first half.

Tom: My jaw actually dropped a little at That Note. You know the one.

Tim: I know the one, and I will, overall, give it a good thumbs UP. More please.

Saturday Flashback: DJ Ötzi & Nik P. – Ein Stern (der deinen Namen trägt)

“This is INCREDIBLE.”

Tim: Courtesy of Apple Music’s German Pop division, I discovered a DJ Ötzi Essentials playlist, and I was DELIGHTED. Here, as his most successful one in his native Austria, is “A Star (That Bears Your Name)”.

Tom: Hahahahaha that’s amazing from start to finish. Never mind the music, there’s the video: the dodgy CGI, the individual dancers, the acknowledgement that they’ve not got quite enough to make a full video there so they cut to the behind-the-scenes and stock photos.

Tim: Isn’t it just beautiful? Anyway, this here stayed at number one in Germany for 13 weeks, and for 14 weeks in Austria, in early 2007, and I don’t really know what to make of that fact. I mean, it’s good – love the melody, love the electric guitar/dance beat combo, obviously love the key change – but THREE MONTHS?

Tom: Mate, Saturday Night lasted 15 we– sorry, I just got to the key change and BLOODY HELL. This is INCREDIBLE.

Tim: Apparently many pop music radio stations refused to play it, with it not quite fitting into the musical zeitgeist of the time – that could, arguably, have helped it, with fans buying it either in protest or just so they could play it. But even so – three months?

Hook N Sling feat. Digital Farm Animals – All Around Me

“PARP.”

Tim: Just a quickie for you this Friday.

Tom: Blimey.

Tim: We’ve met Hook N Sling before – they were the ones who teamed up with Galantis to bring us the phenomenal Love On Me. You complained back then that the lyrics were only four lines long; this one comes with a lyric video, because they’re quite a bit more complex.

Tim: Or not, who knows, but either way I think they should be applauded for spreading ‘is’ out into four syllables. It’s probably the music that’s meant to get us going here, and it is so, so very close to getting me going the same way that Love On Me did.

Tom: Yes. I can understand that. Two minutes long! And it’s not a Del Amitri two minutes either, it’s like they couldn’t be bothered to write the rest of it. As for why you’re not going, well, yet, it might get you dancing, except…

Tim: Except it doesn’t, because the otherwise flawless chorus melody gets interrupted by that horrible cranking noise that keeps popping up.

Tom: PARP.

Tim: …and so I can’t jump around happily for ages to forget or at least forgive the ludicrous amounts of repetition. Come on lads, try harder please.

Tom: PARP.

Alida – Cool With It

“I like it a lot, because it’s good at what it’s doing.”

Tim: Alida’s been around for a while, though we’ve never featured her before. Here’s a track which, I’ll warn you in advance so you don’t have any hopes dashed, does not come with a massive drop into the chorus.

Tom: I’m disappointed already.

Tim: Well, to make up for it, have a lyric video with an entirely unapologetic lack of syllabic consistency.

Tim: Here, you see, I have no issues with the instrumental chorus being quieter like it is. The focus is on the vocals, particularly in the latter part of the verses, and underneath them is a constant fairly pleasant rhythmic beat.

Tom: I agree with you, and I see what Alida’s aiming for, but I can’t help just really wanting a remix. There are a lot of good parts in here, it just doesn’t quite gel for me.

Tim: Entirely understandable, as I’ll appreciate that this is entirely subjective – if that style’s not your thing, you’ll have no time for that chorus whatsoever. On the other hand, I like it a lot, because it’s good at what it’s doing. Well, right now, anyway. If I come back across it a week from now I might not have any time for it whatsoever, because I can easily see myself at some point getting bored and switching it off. But right now I’m good with it, so HOORAY.

MARC feat. Frederik Leopold – Can’t Live Without It

“Clearly a subscriber to the don’t bore us, get to the chorus school of songwriting.”

Tim: So, it’s been over a week since we both had unabashed positivity for a track.

Tom: Blimey, is it that long? Are we in a rut, or is music in a rut?

Tim: I don’t know, but either way I’ve a feeling this track, from a Swedish producer and a Danish vocalist, might change that.

Tom: Surprise! It didn’t.

Tim: What? Why? I mean, MARC is clearly a subscriber to the don’t bore us, get to the chorus school of songwriting, which I’ll never begrudge anyone, particularly when the chorus is this energetic and enthusiastic.

Tom: Is it? Maybe I’m just tired, but I honestly felt myself drifting away even during the chorus here. We get it, Frederik. You can’t live without it. What was it again?

Tim: For me, it doesn’t matter – it’s just so enthusiastic, all through. I was going to have a moan about a lack of middle eight or closing chorus, but then I paid a bit more attention to it and I think this might be the first track I’ve seen with a three-part chorus, which then gets chopped around in its convenient 128bpm 15-second sections towards the end.

Tom: Huh. I think you’re right, but it’s a shame because a middle eight might be exactly what this needs to liven it up.

Tim: Hmmm…maybe it would, but I really don’t think it needs it. What we’ve got instead is a mixture of novelty and laziness which…oh, sod it, I’ll forgive it, because this is damn good to listen to.