Tag: Hot Shade

Mike Perry, Sonic Avenue & Hot Shade feat. Mikayla – Closer

“It deserves more than being cut short after less two and half minutes.”

Tim: You ever wondered what might happen if Alan Walker got his hands on a ballad? I’m guessing something like this.

Tim: And oh, damn, do I want more of that.

Tom: That’s such a good introduction and first verse — and you’re absolutely right, that chorus sounds a lot like Alan Walker’s style. Or, rather, Alan Walker’s style back when it was new and exciting. (Harsh, I know, but I really didn’t get that track you sent over a few days ago.)

Tim: Fair enough, as I’m not sure even I’d describe it as new and exciting – it’s just, there. Or, indeed, here.

Tom: You said you want more, though?

Tim: Correct. I’ve moaned more than enough previously about middle eights going away, but those very last seconds made me think we going in for a lovely new stringy melody for twenty seconds or so, perhaps repeating for another twenty with a good beat on top of it, before coming back for one final triumphant chorus. As it is…nope. Damn you, Mike, Sonic and Hot. Damn you all, because that’s a great track and it deserves more than being cut short after less two and half minutes.

Tom: Streaming is making music shorter, it seems.

Tim: True, and I guess a song that never properly resolves is that much more likely to be repeated. It’s a great vocal, a nice melody and a bloody fantastic dance section. I WANT MORE.

Hot Shade feat. Nomi Bontegard – Creatures

“Apparent pan pipe enthusiast”

Tim: Hot Shade, Swedish producer and apparent pan pipe enthusiast. Nomi Bontegard, similarly Swedish singer whose instrumental preferences are currently unknown.

Tom: All the way through the intro and first verse, I was thinking: this is good, I hope the chorus lives up to it. And then. And then.

Tim: It took me a while to work out exactly what it was about that I really liked, and then it hit me: it’s Alan Walker.

Tom: I… huh? How? I’m not sure Alan Walker ever sounded like he came from South America.

Tim: Those staccato notes underneath the early parts of her verses are straight out of his playbook, and in the second part of them when everything steps up a notch, I’m wondering how it took me so long to realise.

Tom: That’s fair, and that’s probably why I like the verses so much. It’s a good style to take inspiration from.

Tim: As with all of his songs, I think this is great – the pan pipes are a bit weird, but I think that’s only because no-one’s ever thought to use them before…but they seem to just work. Work nicely, in fact.

Tom: I cannot overstate how wrong you are.

Hot Shade feat. Cal – Don’t Give Up On Me

“That’s not a random session singer, that’s someone who – hopefully – is going places.”

Tim: Hot Shade is American, Cal is Norwegian, and while I don’t want to set false expectations, I think this is one of the best dance tracks I’ve heard in quite some time.

Tim: There is, after all, a lot of good stuff on there. Vocal is perfectly decent, that light piano under the verse sounds absolutely lovely, before descending into fuller piano dance under the sung chorus.

Tom: Where do I know that voice from? That sounds like a combination of Sia and Rihanna, and I know that’s high praise, but seriously, that is a brilliant voice that I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere before. That’s not a random session singer, that’s someone who — hopefully — is going places.

Tim: After that, well, that instrumental bit is really good indeed, and I don’t know if it is different or just seems different, but the second time round it’s even better. No crashing drum beats or anything too bombastic, but just a really good melody, really well produced. And that’s all I need.

Tom: I think you definitely set expectations too high calling it “one of the best dance tracks”, because — while I’m at least convinced that it’s a good track — I’m a lot less sure that it’s a good dance track. But that’s a minor quibble: this is good.

Tim: There’s one thing I do want, though: a middle eight. Of course I do, I always do, but I guessed I missed the e-mail that outlawed them. OH WELL.