The Script – Rain

“Modern enough to slot perfectly well into any standard current generic new pop playlist”

Tim: On Radio 1 the other day Danny said they had to change their sound up a bit for their new album because it’s “difficult for regular bands to get played” which (a) is a bloody odd way of vaguely attacking inauthentic music and (b) sounded utterly moronic two minutes later when they played Arctic Monkeys. BUT ANYWAY, here’s their NEW SOUND.

Tom: …does anyone remember what their old sound was?

Tom: All joking aside, that is a fantastic introduction. That’s one of the most promising piano-and-vocal introductions I’ve heard in a while. Shame about the weird electronic samples, but I can let that slide.

Tim: Yes – but then they’re really the only things that single it out as being different from said old style, aren’t they? I’m struggling to hear any real difference. Though that’s not necessarily a complaint, mind.

Tom: It’s got a catchy oh-oh-oh chorus, and normally I’d slate that sort of thing as being lazy, but… well, it’s really catchy.

Tim: It is. And actually despite my earlier disagreement it is modern enough to slot perfectly well into any standard current generic new pop playlist, so I guess if generic new pop is what they’re going for: good work lads.

Tom: That about sums it up, doesn’t it? “Good work”. It’s not a banger, but it’s certainly not a disaster either. This is a decent track.

Saturday Flashback: American Authors – Best Day Of My Life

“I think I got it when the bells chimed in.”

Tom: I was briefly hopeful this was a Modern Romance cover. It’s not, is it?

Tim: No, but THAT’s a song I’d like to thank you for introducing me to.

Tom: Introducing you to?! Mate, the Baha Men inexplicably covered this in Shrek. Black Lace covered it, unnecessarily. I am baffled that you’ve never heard this before. Anyway. Yes. Sorry. You had the actual flashback we’re doing.

Tim: Yes, and there’s a story to it: for some reason, everyone was a bit miserable today at work (Thursday, as I write this). I, on the other hand, was not, possibly because I heard this blasting out of Jamie’s Italian as I walked past on my way in.

Tom: That sounds a lot like a Fall Out Boy track (with a bit of this one in too). I was about to go off on a riff about that, but it turns out the two songs were released about a month apart, so it’s just two similar bands making similar decisions.

Tim: I’d say that’s fair, although you’re certainly not wrong about that first one, the vocal style’s incredibly similar. But the thing is, I was all set to write a sentence here about having to be in the right mood, because otherwise that twigging banjo might get you in precisely the wrong way, but otherwise it’s chirpy, and generally lovely.

Tom: It is, although I’m so used to this sound being all Angry And Emotional that it took me a while to adjust to that. I think I got it when the bells chimed in.

Tim: Right, and that’s all fine, but then I realised I’d never seen the video for it before, and wow does that take priority. We’ve had folks dressed as animals multiple times previously, but never had a metaphor from the lyrics put literally in the video, or at least not that I can remember. Here, it makes it thoroughly entertaining, and it’s a fantastic idea, because now every time I hear that line, I’ll think back to this video. I’ll remember exactly how much fun it is, and then how much I like the song. It’s genius.

Kelde – No Reason

“You’ll know whether you’ll like this or not within the first couple of seconds.”

Tim: Just to save anybody potentially wasting three minutes of their time, I’ll say this up front: you’ll know whether you’ll like this or not within the first couple of seconds.

Tim: I said that at the top because while those kind of vocal samples have grown in popularity recently, a lot of people (including me, until not too long ago) still can’t stand them, and so there’s not a lot in there for them.

Tom: They’re more obnoxious here than usual — I still have absolutely no idea what the original line was. But I don’t dislike them just for the sake of it; there have been stranger synths in the past.

Tim: Well that’s certainly true, and speaking of strange: there’s also that somewhat bizarre respite of a string section that appears halfway through – different as anything, though I doubt that’d be enough to convince anyone not already on board.

Tom: I was about to say “it won’t exactly fill a dancefloor”, but then that’s clearly false based on prior evidence. Doesn’t really have the same build, though, does it?

Tim: Few things do, because that’s one hell of a tune, good callback. But overall I’m alright with this. I don’t love it – I still find the sound slightly grating – but I’m fairly sure that if I listen to it a few more times I will end up enjoying it, so I guess that’s something.

Galantis – True Feeling

“Actually, there’s not a whole lot going on”

Tim: Galantis here using the appalling cheap and lazy tactic of using tour footage for their music video, but just this once I don’t care, because (a) the London leg of their current tour was one of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve been to, so this is lovely to watch and (b) they have at least done effects and stuff with it.

Tom: And every “old VHS” off-the-shelf filter in the book. That’ll get old at some point, but not yet.

Tim: Another thing the video did, the first time I heard it at least, was help me not notice the fact that, actually, there’s not a whole lot going on in the song, is there?

Tom: There never is, but at least they usually do “not a whole lot” with way more enthusiasm than this.

Tim: There’s a big ramp up at the end of each vocal chorus, but then the big drums drop out and leave us with the steel drums and marimba beats.

Tom: Also, and I realise this is a really specific complaint, that static-whoosh effect they’re using instead of the stock “euphoric build” effects is difficult to listen to.

Tim: Oh, that is specific, and I see where you’re coming from, but that doesn’t bother be so much.

Tom: I mean, sure, the rest of the instrumentation’s good, I guess.

Tim: Yeah, and I think “it’s good, I guess” kind of sums up the track. I certainly prefer the style to many of the more recent tracks, but it doesn’t change the fact that the song doesn’t actually do much. And that’s a big shame.

Kesha – Praying

“The vocals are brilliant, the emotion’s clear, and the music backs all that up.”

Tim: Yesterday was a bit dark, so shall we have some (punctuation-less) Kesha fun to cheer us up, with her first proper song since Timber?

Tom: Given all the news about her over the last couple of days, I suspect this might not be what you’re expecting…

Tim: Yeah, it really isn’t. According to a rather moving piece she’s written about it, this has come from emotions when she was struggling with severe depression, but it’s about “that moment when the sun starts peeking through the darkest storm clouds, creating the most beautiful rainbow.”

Tom: She’s gone full Lady Gaga in the video, then. Religious imagery, minute-long spoken prologue. It’s even filmed at the beautiful Salvation Mountain. Less sure about that mock-Devangari font, but let’s set that aside.

Tim: Takes a looooong time to get going, but I guess that’s somewhat the point – moving through the song, we discover a way through, a way of surviving, a way to be happy. And wow, that really works for me.

Tom: Really?

Tim: Well, as a piece of artwork, which it kind of is. A song on a playlist, oh hell no – but in terms of the song it is, the journey it represents, it’s just marvellous.

Tom: The vocals are brilliant, the emotion’s clear, and the music backs all that up. If this is a permanent new direction, then I reckon her fans will, unusually, be more than willing to change direction with her.

Stockholm Noir feat. Ofelia – Boy Like A Girl

“It’d be doing this a massive disservice to call it anything like formulaic.”

Tim: So here’s fun: according to the e-mail, it’s “a song for every individual who feels that they don’t fit in within the norms in society,” and the video “captures how society can judge individuals based on structures that some of us don’t feel comfortable with, and not respect everyone’s right to live their own life, in their own way”.

Tom: That’s an incredibly clunky sentence, but I think I get what they mean.

Tim: Regardless of whether or not you think that’s sanctimonious guff, the song does at least deserve a few minutes before any out of hand dismissal.

Tim: The main reason I say that is that there are some very distinct areas in that song; technically they’re along the same verse/chorus 1/chorus 2 that is the standard nowadays, but it’d be doing this a massive disservice to call it anything like formulaic.

Tom: There are some parts of this track — generally the quiet, instrumental parts — where it doesn’t work at all for me. But as you said, it’s worth sticking through it, because bloody hell the rest of it’s good.

Tim: Throughout a lot of it, it’s a difficult listen – you might want something more upbeat, or want it to hurry up a bit – but it’s also somewhat hypnotic, and despite the five minute length, with nothing new happening in the final minute, I don’t want to switch it off.

Tom: I think one of the reasons is that I just haven’t heard this sort of synth arrangement for a while: it’s a bit 90s-trance, and I thoroughly enjoy that.

Tim: They say, finishing up, that “Stockholm Noir will continue spreading the darkness to the world, and recruit all the dark souls out there that feel they don’t fit in the scene,” and I think I feel the same way after reading that as I do after hearing the song: slightly downbeat, but still wanting more.

Zedd, Liam Payne – Get Low

“Gellow! Gellow! Hanson-yehwes-lestgo!”

Tim: Hey, remember six weeks or so ago when no-one in the world could believe quite how useless Liam’s solo debut was? Well here’s a speedy follow-up.

Tom: “Gellow! Gellow! Hanson-yehwes-lestgo!” I wouldn’t normally pick on someone for their diction in a song, but it’s like he’s deliberately slurring.

Tim: I mean it’s still not remotely brilliant, and I think what we have here is very much what we had with Niall: first single is entirely shit, so the second single can only really go up. There are definitively good things about it, though: the music is good, although most of that probably comes from Zedd so, erm, hmm.

Tom: Right! Liam could be replaced by any generic session vocalist here. Which isn’t bad in itself, there are plenty of vocalists who make their mark in other ways, but… well, he hasn’t.

Tim: It doesn’t have any lyrics like “I used to be in 1D, now I’m free”, though that might just be because by the end of the song it feels like ninety per cent of all the words ever spoken have been “get low”.

Tom: Or, indeed, “gellow”.

Tim: Peculiarly, there is one scenario that no-one seems to have at all considered (except possibly Louis – great interview, that): that not all members of the group should pursue solo careers. I don’t quite know where the expectation came from, unless it’s just that “people will listen to them, so just get on and make them, alright?” But now we’re here, and everyone’s going to compare them, and some will inevitably come off worse. And Liam: well, you’re not in first place right now.

Tom: Harsh, but not unfair.

Saturday Flashback: State of Drama – Fighter

“They’re good instrumental breaks.”

Tim: Tuesday’s track got me thinking about this lot, and wondering what they’d been up to since their 2014 Melodifestivalen performance. Sadly, the answer is not much, but I did find this from April 2015, with a peculiar sort-of-key-change-but-not-technically, and this, from October 2013.

Tim: I’m glad I found it, because I think that’s just marvellous.

Tom: There are some lovely parts in this: the 2000s-retro-eurodance synths mid-chorus, and the transition back into the verse were both excellent.

Tim: Weren’t they? It should be noted that the “fighter/fire” rhyming is both slightly iffy and tediously obvious at the same time, quite an achievement, and the chorus really could do with a few more lyrics, but otherwise this is just great. It doesn’t even feel too long, which as a four minute song means it’s doing something very well indeed in my book. I think it’s because a lot of that time is taken up with instrumental breaks – and they’re good instrumental breaks.

Tom: Yep, the bit before the middle eight is, I think, just half a chorus without the lyrics. When it’s this energetic, and this well written and produced, you can get away with it.

Tim: This is a Great Song, and it’d be even better if there was an extra lyric or two in the chorus.

The Main Level feat. Blvck O – Bombadilla

“A lot less mindless garbage spewing than I’d expected.”

Tim: We’ve written about these guys a few times before, mostly pointing how they’re following the exact standard boyband career progression. Right now, for a hot and sunny summer: a tropical flavoured song with a guest artist to fit the mood.

Tim: And…yeah, it’s perfectly decent.

Tom: The intro vaguely reminded me of a lot of mid-90s pop, so I was vaguely hoping that, rather than your standard rap middle eight, “feat. Blvck O” might be a new Bubbler Ranx (now running his own music production company, it seems). Not quite, but closer than anyone else has managed in a while.

Tim: That’s true, yes – there was a lot less mindless garbage spewing than I’d expected.

Tom: Got to admit, though, the farting car engine got more of a reaction from me (a smile) than the actual chorus synths (nothing at all). This is at least a competent boyband track — and, arguably, it’s doing a good job of updating that mid-90s pop sound.

Tim: Until I heard this song I had no idea whatsoever what a bombadilla life might be, and to be honest I still don’t—hell, even Google Translate doesn’t recognise it and that has all the words in the world—but assuming it’s what the context makes it out to be, a girl living one sounds fairly fun and I can understand why they’d want to sing a song about her (though quite why he’s off with her sister is anyone’s guess).

Tom: Maybe she got sick of all his ludicrous dancing in fields?

Tim: Now you mention it, that would make perfect sense. I like this song a lot – there may not be that much original in it, but it takes the enthusiasm from the bombadillaness and keeps it up, and now I want to be living a bombadilla life as well. Where can I do this please, does anybody know?

Be The Bear – Erupt

“It keeps telegraphing changes that just don’t happen.”

Tom: The title of this post seems like a bizarre motivational slogan. Be the bear! Erupt! Ahem. Anyway.

Tim: Slight warning: it took me quite a while to be sure I wasn’t watching a John Lewis Christmas advert. But then it became obvious.

Tom: You know, I’ve never actually seen a John Lewis Christmas advert.

Tim: What?

Tom: But I know what you mean, here, at least.

Tim: Her actual name’s Christina and she’s off Gothenberg, but never mind that because that first chorus really is unusual, and a tad “oop, you broke the song”.

Tom: It surprised me, but I don’t think it full-on broke the song: either that, or I’m getting more used to changes of chorus like that.

Tim: I don’t say that because “aaagh, it’s different, blegh” (although that doesn’t help), but largely because of that build that comes up right at the very end. What with most pop now bringing along two full choruses, a vocal and an instrumental, it really did seem as though we were leading into a second half. As it is, straight back to second verse brings us way out. I get what it’s trying to do – sound unusual, stick out – I just don’t think it works quite as well as it ought to.

Tom: It’s almost like the “body language” of the song is a little off: it keeps telegraphing changes in momentum and instrumentation that just don’t happen. I wonder how much of that’s due to me expecting “normal” pop music — like a John Lewis Christmas advert — and how much is just because it is, genuinely, a bit off.

Tim: Quite possibly a bit of both. BUT, having said all that: everything after that is lovely. The build works throughout when the next chorus goes in the the rest of it, and the strings that gradually appear sound all sorts of lovely. So start me at 1:23, I’m laughing.