Tag: Rob & Nino

Rob & Nino – I Just Wanna

“Brace yourself for what I’m about to say.”

Tim: Interesting video, this – the first 58 seconds of it, though, are scene-setting, titles and Star Wars music, so feel free to skip.

Tim: I say interesting, it’s more just weird, really, and I’ve not actually got much of a clue what’s going on. I’m guessing they’re out looking for a girl they’ve lost, but beyond that is anybody’s guess.

Tom: Here’s what’s happening: someone’s got a BUDGET and ARTISTIC DIRECTION. I recognise that stock music, as well: it’s the one you get when you can’t license the actual Star Wars theme.

Tim: And the music? Well, that’s an odd one. After hearing the first minute or so of this, I wasn’t keen at all. Too auto-tuney, not enough happy pop stuff to it. But then it got a bit better.

Tom: Yep – it doesn’t kick in until that first chorus, and it takes a while to get there.

Tim: The lead in to the chorus has a decent melody, the chorus is actually really good, but the main thing is– actually, you may need to you brace yourself for what I’m about to say. It turns out that… it turns out that I really, really like that dubstep post-chorus breakdown.

Tom: Well, that’s it. We’re both converts. Two years or so from “what’s this awful sound” to “I like it”.

Tim: Don’t know why, don’t know how, but I do. It’s brilliant. And I’m still not entirely comfortable with admitting that to myself, but I can do and I must. I must be TRUE TO MYSELF. Otherwise I’m no better than people who go around liking songs they think they shouldn’t and so feel the need to prefix their approval with “guilty pleasure”, which as far as I’m concerned is one of the most idiotic phrases ever coined.

Tom: Interestingly, there’s folks that would say this isn’t “proper” dubstep: it’s the popified version. To them I say: welcome to every musical genre ever.

Tim: It also made me realise that dubstep isn’t remotely as big as people thought it would be twelve months back. Skrillex was Sound of 2012, Nero were getting huge, but now it just seems to have been snuffed out. Bit of a shame, but I can’t say I’ll miss it too much.

Tom: So the question is: what comes next?

Tim: Is it too much to hope for a renaissance of Eurotrance?

Rob & Nino – Rewind

Have you ever ended up drunk and in a kebab shop?

Tim: Have you ever ended up drunk and in a kebab shop trying to persuade the bloke who works there to give you a free one? I’m sure that if you have, you wish you could press Rewind. Like these chaps apparently can.

Tom: Because if you can rewind time, making sure you had enough money for another kebab would obviously be the trigger for that.

Tom: Seriously, what’s with this video? I can’t pretend to follow any kind of plot there. And if you’re going to put director credits on it, it feels like it should have a plot.

Tim: Well, there’s sort of a plot. They want a kebab, but then they can’t, so they have to go back in time, where they dance and then get a kebab. Anyway, the music’s sort of like a Swedish Taio and Cruz, if Taio Cruz was two people, that is, and despite all the horrible autotune and the general style of it all, I quite like this. There’s a vaguely decent tune to it, and the added key boost* in the middle eight is a pleasant surprise, as well. Good stuff.

Fans of this can also hear another song they stuck up on YouTube a few days back (via which may or may not have been how I found out about their first single in the first place).

* Is that a phrase? Well, it is now.

Tom: I think I’m more surprised that a kebab only costs about £2 in Sweden, really.