Category: Dance

Chicane – Going Deep

Who’s that idiot?

Tom: Now, that name bodes well. You’ll recognise Chicane from – among others – ‘Saltwater‘ in 1999. So, play this, and let’s see if your reaction is the same as mine: the track builds, you start moving about, the pre-drop ‘whoosh’ starts, you raise a hand in anticipation, and…

Tim: Hmm.

Tom: …oh bloody hell who’s the idiot rapping?

Tim: Yeah. Not the best, really, although I think the main track’s still god enough without the rapping (especially the energetic bits where he isn’t rapping) that I can like this and not worry about it.

Tom: Chicane: you do not need this. You needed a synth melody kicking in there, or even a sung vocal – something like the one that kicks in a minute or so later. By that point, sadly, it’s a minute too late, and the magic’s gone.

Tim: I don’t know about that. Yes, it would be better without it – certainly without the big chunk of it near the start – but I can cope just fine with the simple ‘I’m going deep’ line that comes in a few times later. I don’t have a problem, once the first 80 seconds or so are out of the way.

Tom: You know what, you’re right. I guess I was hoping for another Saltwater, and was a bit let down. It’s still a good track, don’t get me wrong. But the remixes will be better.

Lili & Susie feat. Diamond Dogs – Bailamor

Let’s treat ourselves to a good bit of euphoric trance.

Tim: It really is the season now for a good bit of euphoric trance, so let’s treat ourselves.

Tim: You could just dismiss this as the usual sort of stuff that’s generally to be found in the middle of Now That’s What I Call The Trance Annual 2011, or alternatively you could really enjoy it, like I do.

Tom: There’s no reason I can’t do both. And while it hits every item on the euphoric vocal trance checklist, it’s not particularly hard – if it weren’t for those synths in the background, this’d just be regular schlager.

Tim: Admittedly, there’s not a huge amount to write about it, largely because it is the sort of stuff that’s what I said earlier, but I suppose that just leaves more time to listen to it.

The video looks like them rehearsing for a big performance, which is good, as long as they’ve got one coming up. Otherwise it’s just a bit sad.

Tom: It’s actually just their regular morning routine. FACT.

Saturday Flashback: Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette – Hello

I defy you not to start at least tapping your foot.

Tom: This track entirely passed me by until I was in America last month. Now, the official video‘s good – high-budget and incredibly well produced, if a bit clichéd – but it’s interrupting the track regularly to spoil the YouTube jukeboxers. Here’s the track, uninterrupted. Don’t forget that this is meant to be mixed into a DJ set, hence the long intro and outro:

Tom: I defy you not to start at least tapping your foot when that beat kicks in.

Tim: It is a good track – although one I often misattribute to MGMT, for no particular reason that I can discern.

Tom: Now, normally I’d complain that there’s very little change throughout – after it kicks in, it’s basically the same song until the end. For some reason, that doesn’t bother me – even the vocal effects that make it less repetitious don’t bother me. Maybe it’s because I’ve listened to a bit of glitch lately.

Tim: I’m happy with it – repetitive it may be, but it’s not bad stuff that’s being repeated. And it is, after all, there to make people dance. And jump. Up, and down, and up, and down, and up, and ooh look we’re repeating ourselves.

Tom: This would get me straight on to a dancefloor, bouncing up and down.

Tim: In a repeated manner, no doubt.

Saturday Flashback: Loona – Vamos A La Playa

“Let’s go to the beach and have a party.”

Tim: The third and final Flashback for the time being coming from French radio, this cover of a 1999 track by pretty-much-one hit wonder Miranda came out last September.

Tom: I’d completely forgotten this song! This was on the radio when I was about 15, I think. I liked it back then.

Tim: In case you didn’t get it from the video, the general message here is: let’s go to the beach and have a party.

Tom: “La Playa”. Got it.

Tim: It has an infectious hook, a pleasant summer feel to it and gentle product placement in the video.

Tom: As well as the typical “let’s see how close can we get to showing nudity before the TV channels won’t show us any more”.

Tim: Well, naturally. It is, basically, entirely generic. In a good way, though, because this sort of tune is nice: it’s happy, upbeat, and if you complain about it you can sod off and be miserable elsewhere, thank you very much.

Tom: The bits that aren’t the chorus are really terrible, and that rising-siren sample in the background really annoys me. Right, I’ll sod off elsewhere.

Tim: Good, because you’re wrong. Though, if you want to hear the original again, it’s here, with a fairly heated multilingual argument about whose version is better in the comments and with some vastly less attractive models in the video, so you probably wouldn’t like it.

Tom: Can’t hear you. I’ve sodded off elsewhere.

Rebecca & Fiona – Hard

“My word, that takes a long time to get going.”

Tim: This is one side of the new double A-side from these two, the other being the somewhat uninspiring If She Was Away; this one’s a bit better.

Tom: My word, that takes a long time to get going.

Tim: Perhaps – it sort of strikes me as like the six-minute full version you get of most dance tracks which have filler at each end for the DJ to play with, though that normally gets cut down for the radio edit, or whatever this is.

Not much in the way of lyrics, so the main focus is clearly meant to be on the music. This is not an issue for me, since the music’s good. A tad reminiscent of other tracks occasionally, but again I have no problems.

To be honest, it’s probably what would be the B-side it it wasn’t a double A-side, what with the other one having the video and lots of words and stuff, but I prefer it.

Tom: It’s begging to get mixed in to another few tracks – to be used as a backdrop by the DJ. On its own, it does drag – even at three minutes long – but any competent DJ could make it a lot more exciting.

Tim: It’s middle of the set club night tuneage, and it would fit in well at any decent club, I believe.

Tom: Damn right.

Saturday Flashback: Jasper Forks – Alone

I can’t believe that’s the same guy that remixed Das Boot.

Tim: Much like our previous Saturday Flashback, this was heard whilst in France and released back in January. You’ll know of the artist’s work, although probably not by this name – born Alex Christensen, he released the dance version of Das Boot we reviewed a cover of ages ago as U96, and more recently he entered Eurovision for Germany in 2009 as Alex Swings Oscar Sings! Anyway, this sounds like nothing of either of those.

Tom: That really does sound utterly different, doesn’t it? I can’t believe that’s the same guy that remixed Das Boot.

Tim: I’ll go out on a limb: I’m not sure it’s really possible to dislike this.

Tom: Clearly you try not to read YouTube comments.

Tim: No – that way madness lies. Some people may wish it to be a bit heavier than it starts off with, and I’ll admit I was getting that way after two minutes, but when it starts to build up and then more or less becomes an entirely different song for a time it all seems great.

Tom: It does keep genre-switching, doesn’t it? It’s not like the quiet bit in Guru Josh Project’s Infinity: you can’t raise your arms up high to it in a club – it’s too long for that.

Tim: I don’t really know why it works – shifting genres, you certainly couldn’t stick a verse from a Lady Gaga tune into the middle of a Céline Dion song, say – and yet I think it really does. Love it.

Tom: I’m not sure it works. I’ll tolerate it.

Teddybears feat. Cee-Lo Green & The B-52s – Cho Cha

Genres splashing together all over the place.

Tim: The next logical step from a Robyn collaboration? A Cee-Lo Green collaboration, apparently.

Tom: And the B-52s. Yes, they’re still going. It was a surprise to me, too.

Teddybears – Cho Cha feat. CeeLo Green & The B-52’s by Big Beat Records

Tim: First off, something that may alienate a few readers: I don’t like cats. Not at all. Really not. So I’m immediately predisposed to not like this song all that much.

Tom: Now, I don’t mind cats, but it’s previously been established that I don’t like talky-songs. Cee-Lo’s got an incredible singing voice; why’s he not using it here?

Tim: Having said that, with it being standard Teddybears fare right from the outset, with genres splashing together all over the place, musically I don’t mind it. Verses aren’t particularly exciting, but I do like the chorus melody, which after a while becomes at the very least something you can bounce your head to.

Tom: Once I got used to exactly what was going on, I found myself… well, ‘liking it’ is probably a bit strong. Let’s go with ‘tolerating it’. It took my brain a good while to get around the fact that this isn’t really a Cee-Lo track, or a B-52s track, or… well, anything like I’d expect.

Calvin Harris feat. Kelis – Bounce

All right, you Scottish DJ genius. What’re you up to?

Tom: All right, you Scottish DJ genius. What’re you up to now? Teaming up with Kelis bodes well. Let’s have a listen.

Tom: Is that a chiptune backing I hear? Not when it kicks in, of course, but that intro is pretty close to 8-bit to my ears, even if he’s not using genuine old-school soundfonts. I’m quite glad that’s going properly mainstream.

Tim: Erm, because it reminds you of the good old days when music was produced on a SNES?

Tom: Ah, now that’s not strictly true. It’s a genre in itself these days, notable enough for Timbaland to rip it off.

Pity the rest of it’s a bit boring. I know that’s kind of Calvin Harris’s shtick – somehow making dance tracks sound laid-back – but it seems to come out as just being… well, a bit dull. It tries well to amp up in the bridge, and admittedly the final chorus has something to it. But it’s just not enough.

Tim: Perhaps. On the other hand, if we look at this as a Kelis track, it knocks spots off Milkshake and all the other crap that she’s put out over the years, so I’m happy with it.

Tom: Plus, “bounce to this track”? It’s a song about itself, Tim, and you know how I hate those.

Tim: Oh, stop whining.

Tom: Shan’t.

Galaxies – I Don’t Want This Love

Ground-breaking and original? Not really.

Tim: A new two-piece from Iceland. Based on this, I’m hoping they’ll hang around.

Tim: Ground-breaking and original? Not particularly, although the flute and violin they play during the bridge do take it somewhere unexpected, and nice.

Tom: When they finally kicked in, I was thinking “it’s about bloody time”. Does it change at all during the first two and a half minutes? I’m not sure it does.

Tim: Not really, and it’s not particularly catchy either, or memorable, but what it is is happy, and cheerful, and it’s very much put-down-your-drinks-and-make-your-way-to-the-dancefloor. It’s somewhat reminiscent of a couple of recent Eurovision dance tracks – more stylistically than melodically, but it still puts me in mind of This Is My Life, and definitely not in a bad way.

Basic Element – Turn Me On

Not one of those tracks that takes a while to get going.

Tim: Basic Element, a Swedish dance group. This, a tune I present to you with one instruction: PUT YOUR HANDS UP.

Not in a bank robber way, mind. Like, in a dancey way. You know.

Tom: Blimey, that kicks off fast and strong, doesn’t it?

Tim: Yes – it really isn’t one of those tracks that takes a while to get going, which partly seems to be out of necessity. We all know I’m not one for a long track, but here, there’s just not enough time for everything to happen without getting crowded. It seems like a TV show where the producers want to make a episode that’s absolutely insane, with the viewers going OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THAT’S HUGE, but they forget that they’ve only got so much time to do it in and it all comes out all a bit confused and there’s no time for anything to have any impact.*

* Steven Moffat, I’m glaring at you.

Tom: My Eurobeat-loving roots mean that I should be absolutely OK with a dodgy Euro-rap bit in the middle of the track, but it just seems out of place here. You’re right about the track insanity, though: it’s not really genre-shifting at all, it’s just rather quick. That’s perhaps for the best – if they’d made it longer, I think it’d have gotten dull rather fast.

Tim: Here, obviously there shouldn’t be any time constraints, but it seems like a similar problem – they’ve tried to squeeze a five-minute track into 170 seconds, and it’s really just a mess.

Tom: An energetic mess, though.