Tag: Astrid S

JP Cooper feat. Astrid S – Sing It With Me

“Oh, do I have an issue with this.”

Tim: JP’s British, Astrid is, as we’ve heard multiple times, Swedish. And oh, do I have an issue with this.

Tim: At least, I have a problem with the lyric video. Musically, its fine. In fact, it’s good! The melody is nice, the vocals work well together, it’s a pleasant song to listen to!

Tom: You’re not wrong there. This is really nicely put together. I don’t think it’s going to be a classic, but it’s certainly a cut above most of the tracks we cover here. Astrid S continues to have a lovely voice, and JP Cooper makes for a good lead vocalist.

Tim: I like it, quite a lot! BUT. BUT. Oh, why would you use Calibri in a lyric video. Just, why.

Tom: That’s… that’s your problem? It’s a really lovely animated video, and your problem is Calibri?

Tim: There’s clearly been some proper designer involved at some point – the doo-do bits show it slightly, and then that ‘but I can write a song’ proves that someone involved knows what they’re doing – but why the hell would you use Calibri, anywhere? Everyone who has used a computer in the past decade knows it as the Microsoft Word default typeface, and everybody who has used a computer is the past decade will think “have they got, like, no imagination at all?”. It’s distracting. It’s wrong. And, genuinely, with that in the foreground it spoils the song for me. Background tab, it’s fine. But if I’m in the YouTube app on my phone? NO, next track please.

Tom: There’s really nothing wrong with Calibri.

Astrid S – Emotion

“I’m sure that it’s good noise.”

Tim: NOISE.

Tim: Is it good noise? I’m not sure. I think it is.

Tom: I’m sure that it’s good noise. What I like is that these are chord progressions and melodies that you could hear in schlager, and drums that you could have heard in a Phil Collins track decades ago, but they’re applied to a really Intense Big Dark Modern Production.

Tim: It almost, in fact, reminds me of the dark days of dubstep five or six years ago, where we’d get a nice melodic verse and chorus before suddenly a HRRRRRRNNKK VWOMP VWOMP VWORP NEEEEEEEOOOOOWWW would come along and ruin everything. It’s not nearly as bad as that here, of course, not least because the only time it really happens so suddenly is after the first chorus – after that, I’m slightly prepared for it, and it has vocals layered on top which calms it down somewhat.

Tom: My only complaint — and let’s take a moment to appreciate how rare those words are here — is that because everything’s compressed so hard, the mroe subtle instrumentation gets swamped under the BIG NOISE. But overall, yeah, I really like this. It’s not BIG VWORP DUBSTEP, it’s something much better.

Tim: It’s also, obviously, nowhere near as harsh a sound, so, yeah, overall I think it’s good noise. Positive, at least.

Tom: I hit replay immediately after listening, and I sang along with the chorus. That’s everything I want in a pop song. This is great.

CLMD feat. Astrid S – Dust

“That chorus stands out so far above everything else.”

Tim: February’s rubbish, so shall we have a nice dance track with a great title to pretend it’s summer?

Tim: I’ll be honest, I’ve got no idea what ‘dust’ means as a verb aside from doing a bit of light housework, and given that that’d be a weird thing to sing about, let’s do music.

Tom: Mediocre verse, slightly dodgy pre-chorus, wonderful bit of instrumental work in the chorus. That chorus stands out so far above everything else.

Tim: I’d dispute the ‘mediocre’, but your last sentence is bang on: I’ve listened to this four or five time times now and it’s showing no signs whatsoever of getting tiring. It’s a lovely tune, albeit with a slight disconnect between the lyrics and the general mood in the melody; regardless, listen to it and be energised, as far as I’m concerned.

Tom: And while I’m not convinced by that verse, I’m in favour of the more complex rhythm patterns in the vocals there: there’s more than you might expect.

Tim: Exactly what I need right now with this tedious day of admin I’ve got to get through.