Ambivalensen – Allt För Mig

“Alas, poor Tom”

Tim: Two Swedes here, Joel and Sandra, presenting a nice chanty chorus surrounding one of Shakespeare’s better known tales.

Tom: Hamlet? Tell me it’s Hamlet.

Tim: Alas, poor Tom, it is not.

Tim: But what a lovely track that is anyway, with a mix of jaunty whistling, gentle electronic beats, bouncy piano and hefty chanting all somehow working well together – doesn’t sound like a recipe that’d work, but for me it really does.

Tom: As ever, I’m more cynical. It is a song where the middle eight is better than the rest of the track — and where the chorus just grates. If your chorus is just a few words endlessly repeating, you’d better have an absolutely incredible melody to go with them — not just five shouted notes. I’m not into this.

Tim: Oh, shame. Perhaps we’re at an Icona Pop-style impasse, here, as I thoroughly enjoy the shoutedness. And as for the lyrics, well, I can’t find them online so I’ve no idea what the actual message of it is, but it doesn’t sound like it’s about suicidally tragic romances so that’s nice. All in all: a good fun track (hopefully).

Birgir – Can You Feel It

“I think it’s more ‘inspired by’ rather than ‘ripping off’.”

Tim: Birgir’s new and off Iceland, and here’s a track for us to get our teeth into.

Tom: I’m always baffled when someone releases a song that has the same name as a classic. I get why, it’s the big line in the chorus, but surely it’ll always be eclipsed?

Tim: Perhaps, yes, but it’s not the only part you might recognise…

Tim: Now, I love that. It’s a brilliant track. And I can tell you exactly why, and upsettingly it’s not a good reason: it’s full of other people’s brilliant bits.

Tom: Which, given the title, isn’t surprising. I’m not getting anything specific, though: what do you hear?

Tim: The first few notes of the “whoah-oh-oh” line are familiar, I think it’s Coldplay? I’m fairly sure I’ve heard the exact melody of the very first line before. The pre-chorus is similar to that of Ben Haenow’s Something I Need, and they just keep coming. They’re all good bits, and I love the song because of it – but they’re all second hand good bits.

Tom: I think it’s more “inspired by” rather than “ripping off” – but then, I reread The Manual1 recently, so perhaps I’m more willing to forgive that at the moment.

Tim: I don’t know, you may be right – in fact you probably are, as it’s almost certainly not a deliberate “right, we’ll take that bit from there, and that from there, and ooh, let’s use that bit as well”, but it’s still too recognisable. It’s annoying, because the original parts of this are great as well (looking at you, electric guitar in the middle eight), but the level of familiarity is just too much. And that really sucks.

Saturday Flashback: Let Loose – Crazy For You

“Literally, I can’t find anything wrong with this track.”

Tom: I had forgotten about this track. Which is a shame, because I think it might be a perfect piece of pop music.

Tim: Do you know, I actually had to check Wikipedia to make sure that wasn’t a young Christopher Eccleston playing the drums.

Tom: Really? I was thinking young Paul Gross myself. Anyway. The band had your standard minor-hit history, including three top 10 hits and an unsuccessful reunion attempt in the late 2000s. It’s a perfectly respectable showing.

Tim: Yes – and it’s certainly impressive to get a 35 track Greatest Hits album out of only 10 singles.

Tom: But somehow, I feel like this track deserved more.

Tim: Really? A number 2 (lol) is a perfectly decent showing, no?

Tom: When I say “there’s nothing wrong with it”, I don’t mean that as faint praise. I mean, literally, I can’t find anything wrong with this track.

Tim: Nitpicking, I’d say the vocals could be a bit higher in the mix, but yeah, it’s good enough. It’s no What Makes You Beautiful or Lovekiller, but it’s good.

Frida Sundemo – Gold

“I don’t often describe tracks as gorgeous and beautiful, so you’d better believe I’m serious here.”

Tim: To recap, when we last featured Frida I remarked that it was great, as with so much of her output, and you could see why it was a good song, but weren’t so keen. Shall we try again?

Tim: And that. is. GORGEOUS.

Tom: Took a while to get going, but yes, that’s entirely the right adjective.

Tim: I wasn’t so sure about the first thirty seconds or so, because until the big violin roll at that point, the vocal and instrumental parts didn’t really seem to connect. That moment drew them together, though, and after that big drumbeat one minute in I had no doubts. Her voice, matched with the beautiful instrumental underneath, sounds absolutely wonderful (and I don’t often describe tracks as gorgeous and beautiful, so you’d better believe I’m serious here).

Tom: So I agree with you: “gorgeous” and “beautiful” are the correct words here. However, “entertaining” and “memorable” are a bit lower down the list for me: ‘deep into the ocean’ started to grate after a few repeats, and I don’t think I’d actually want this in a playlist.

Tim: Hmm…I can maybe see where you’re coming from with that, though I can’t say I agree with you.

Tom: Also, is that a key change down in the middle eight that never comes back up?

Tim: A slight key change, yes, but I don’t think think it’s a downward one. The song as a whole is about bravery and “having the courage to risk something that’s ‘alright’ for the chances of getting something you really dream about”, which right now connects with me as wanting to throw out my futon to make room for the newly announced LEGO Millennium Falcon.

Tom: …mate.

Tim: IT’S A SIGN, but I think I’ve got distracted. To sum up: what a glorious song.

Annoyingly, I always seem to forget how much I like Frida until every time we feature her here, BUT she’s bringing out her first international album five weeks from today so can we put that in our calendars please.

Martin Garrix – Pizza

“It starts with a brilliant string section.”

Tim: “Pizza”?

Tom: We have a contender for “worst track name of the year”. Good news though: it starts with a brilliant string section.

Tim: Like nicely cooked mozzarella.

Tom: Bloody hell, that’s a good dance track.

Tim: Hell yeah – even better than the Mighty Meaty I got from Domino’s at the weekend.

Tom: Unless Tim’s done a deal behind my back, reader, that was not sponsored content. Anyway, there are plenty of qualms to be had with this track: it doesn’t go anywhere after that first build, just repeats the whole thing over again with a bit of chiptune instead of strings. And the video is just a compilation of tour footage that makes him look a bit of a bellend.

Tim: I can’t really argue with either of those things, though I’m not so bothered about the chip tune bit. Thing is, he can’t drop back to the strings mid-track, as that would kill the vibe completely. It needs stuff around and on top of it to work as a full-on dance track. Axwell did a great job with Heart Is King, Tiësto’s made whole albums of orchestral dance – and now Martin’s joined the party.

Tom: But I’d defy anyone on a dance floor, or at a festival, or basically anywhere, not to start moving when the main bit of this kicks in. Even the cinematic strings seem to work, rather than being A Bit Too Much. Every bit of this is great.

Tim: Except the name. That’s just a nonsense.

Avicii feat. Rita Ora – Lonely Together

“Did you ever have any of those Disney singalong videos back when you were a kid?”

Tim: Did you ever have any of those Disney singalong videos back when you were a kid? With the lyrics of the songs on screen and Mickey Mouse’s head bouncing along the top to give you the timing?

Tom: I didn’t, but I have a distinct memory of them all the same, which tells you just how much reach Disney have.

Tim: Well, that’s what this lyric video reminds me of.

Tom: And they haven’t learned what Disney, and every other decent karaoke-maker, has learned: that the bouncing ball should anticipate the lyrics slightly, and the next line should always appear a couple of beats early. If it appears right on the beat, no-one’s going to be able to read it in time. Grumble.

Tim: Grumble grumble grumble. I do wonder sometimes about the point of lyric videos – sure, they’re nicer and more fun than just a flat image of the song’s artwork, and I’ll never turn down a well produced one, but often they’re a bit shit, so why not just do the video before you release the track? I have no idea whatsoever about production costs, but I can’t help feeling that there are better uses for record label cash – hell, take off the lyrics and this’d work fine as a standard video.

Tom: If they don’t do it, someone else will. Two videos is better than one, apparently.

Tim: OH WELL NEVER MIND, let’s do the song. It’s another one off his comeback EP, and JOY OF JOYS we’re back to vaguely approaching the standard pop song structure, with a varied final chorus in there – admittedly we’re still lacking a middle eight, but at this point I’ll take anything I can get.

Tom: Bit generic, though, isn’t it? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t seem to possess anything above the generic sort of middle-of-the-road it’ll-do-stuff that Spotify might chuck out in the middle of a playlist.

Tim: Tad generic, perhaps, and I guess we can say what we said last week: he makes good dance music, that I’m happy pressing play on a bunch of times. Rita’s bringing the good stuff with the vocals, and it all just works. Lovely.

Sunrise Avenue – I Help You Hate Me

“Isn’t that adorable? NO.”

Tim: Remember this lot, off the phenomenally good Hollywood Hills a few years back?

Tom: As ever, no, but I’ll roll with it anyway.

Tim: This is their first one in quite some time; treat yourself by pressing play, why don’t you. (Music starts at 0:35, if you don’t want the backstory.)

Tim: And what a sweet song that is, sort of – this lovely man offering to be a real dick just to rub in the fact that he’s dumped her. Isn’t that adorable? NO. But, it does make for some fun lyrics, as however iffy the profile picture line may be as a lyric, it did make me smirk a bit (as, in fact, did the very first line, just because it was an immediate swerve out from any expectations).

Tom: That whole opening was a swerve: I was not expecting the chorus to crash in on the very first bar.

Tim: No, but it’s a good chorus, all bouncy and fun. The rollerbladers are there because, well, I guess she has to have a pastime really–

Tom: That’s roller derby, mate. Careful confusing the two. You’re right that it isn’t relevant to the video, though. I was hoping they’d start knocking the band over a bit earlier rather than just cutting to black.

Tim: Yeah, that would have been fun. But all in all I quite enjoy this. It’s not as wonderfully intense as their previous work, but it’s a fun track, and often fun’s what you need.

Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do

“Are you…are you on glue?”

Tom: I know we’re meant to be about Europop here, but let’s talk about this.

Tim: Oh, must we?

Tom: Everyone else is.

Tom: It’d be a banger if it had an actual sung chorus.

Tim: Yes – ironic, really, that given all the beef she’s had with Katy Perry over the past few years she’s now releasing a song with the exact same flaw as Dark Horse.

Tom: Everything else about this is great: the introduction, the build in the first verse, the pre-chorus… and then it, well, it goes all a bit wrong.

Tim: Are you…are you on glue? It’s dull, there’s next to no melody, the lyrics are horrible, they gave Right Said Fred writing credit in advance so they didn’t get sued – and that video would appear to be going for horror movie but it comes out like Scooby Doo (and we also need to teach her what underlining is).

Tom: I know, I know, but I went into this cold — I’ve looked up the other opinions now, but I just went “ooh, new Taylor Swift track” without seeing the reactions. And genuinely, I really liked everything up until that chorus. It could have been good.

Tim: Well, takes all sorts, I suppose.

Tom: To be fair, by the end of the track I think I “got it” — I just hope the rest of the album’s not quite as dark. I’m reminded of Robbie Williams’ strategy: release the weird single first to get attention, follow it up quickly with a radio-friendly banger for airplay. If that’s what’s going on here, there’s hope yet.

Tim: Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the old Taylor won’t be on the radio any more. Why? BECAUSE SHE’S DEAD, remember? This is it, apparently, and it’s bloody awful.

Saturday Flashback: Silente – Jos Jednom

“Is the video sponsored by the Croatian tourist board?”

Tim: Our reader Mario sends us this, partly because we haven’t previously covered any Croatian music and he wanted to see what we made of it, which is a good a reason as any other. Title translates as “Once again”, and seems to be about them we being worried about falling in love, only to have their heart broken later on.

Tom: Blimey, is the video sponsored by the Croatian tourist board? It looks beautiful. Also, slightly convinced that’s Jason Orange’s Croatian cousin on vocal duties there. Anyway. The music.

Tim: Right, I’m going to preface my next comment by saying: I like this, it’s decent, and I’m fairly sure what I’m about to say says more about me than about the song. However, the first time I heard it I thought “hang on, haven’t I heard this at Eurovision?” As it turns out, the answer’s no, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is a textbook eastern European Eurovision entry.

Tom: Huh. You’re not wrong, but given the dreck that was in last year’s, I think this’d score fairly highly. And that’d explain why it looks like the postcard VT to introduce them.

Tim: Ha, true. But it’s a bit of a shame, because Mario says they got praise for originality, and also autotune-free lyrics (though I can’t help feeling that might have been a mistake with the female vocal coming out of the middle eight).

Tom: What a middle eight, though!

Tim: Well indeed, and for all I’ve said: it’s still a good melody, heathy energy in the chorus, and most of the vocals are on point. A nice discovery.

The Killers – Run For Cover

Tom: Second single off the new album; it’s been out for a while, but the video’s new.

Tom: And it sounds like the Killers. It’s got their guitar sound. It’s got the structure and pacing of ‘Spaceman’. It’s even got the slight dip to minor key for one chord in the chorus.

Tim: Right: textbook Killers. Took me a while to get on board – that first verse in particular I found way too bass-heavy – but it had won me over by the time the second chorus rolled around.

Tom: This is a perfectly serviceable track. There’s nothing wrong with it. But let’s be honest: the trouble is we’re automatically comparing it to a track from thirteen years ago that’s still so popular that it keeps appearing in the Top 100 based on streaming alone.

Tim: Yeah, it’s weird – now you’ve mentioned it, I’m trying to think of any other bands or acts that are like that, and I’m not sure I can. However many great songs they have, it seems Mr Brightside will always overshadow them.

Tom: The Killers don’t just have a back catalogue: they have some songs that helped to define years of people’s lives. That’s a high standard to meet: and this just doesn’t quite get there. Still good, though.