Category: Dance

Swedish House Mafia – Save The World

Sort-of heart-warming and totally bonkers.

Tim: We’re a little bit late to the party with this one, which was released a couple of weeks back now, but I don’t care because (a) the tune’s pretty good and (b) the video’s a nice mix of sort-of heart-warming and totally bonkers.

Tim: If you’re anything like me, you probably just watched the video the first time, without paying much attention to the lyrics aside from ‘Who’s gonna save the world?’ and thinking ‘Oooh, is it the dogs? I hope it’s the dogs. That’ll be AMAZING. Oh, yay, it’s the dogs! I was right. Wicked.’

Tom: See, I’m not really an animal person, so I’ll concentrate on the music. It’s not bad at all – for some reason it sounds like a remix of a Take That track, and I mean that as a compliment.

You still rambling about the video?

Tim: Certainly am. My two favourite parts are at about 2:30 when the bulldog’s going in for a munch on the bloke’s knackers in slow-mo, and then at 3:09 when the retriever looks down at the bloke at the bus stop with a look that quite clearly states Doggy Justice.

Not entirely sure what he’d done wrong – maybe he was just more of a cat person.

Tom: I think he’s the mugger from earlier in the video. I hope so, because frankly if “not being a dog person” justifies being pushed through glass by a rabid hound—

Tim: Correct.

Tom: —then I’m pretty much doomed.

Tim: Ah, shame. Anyway, nice beat, decent tune and uplifting-ish words, and all those positive things are multiplied by about a million because the track is MADE BY A PACK OF HEROIC STRAY DOGS. I LOVE IT.

Saturday Flashback: E-Type – Back 2 Life

Imagine a dance music video.

Tim: We missed this when it came out in January, and then they released a video for it and we sort of missed that too. Now, though, the dance season’s about to get going, so let’s have a listen. And a watch. But first, remember a month or so back when I asked you to imagine a Swedish Eurovision entry? Well, now imagine a dance music video.

Tim: Ooh, attractive girls! And looking bored, just waiting to party! So where do we go? I know! Let’s head for the beach, and play around in the sea. Now let’s go home and put on provocative clothing! And now let’s go to the club! Yes! We can dance and grind away all night, because that’s what we girls do.

Tom: Huh? Sorry, I was distracted by the video there. What was that?

Tim: And, the video does its job. Musically, the verses are nothing special, and the voice, really not.

But the chorus? Flipping great. What I want here is some sort of mashup. Chuck out these vocals, and put something decent on top. Then, I will give this a proper thumbs up.

Tom: I approve of the whole thing – including the voice – but you’re right, adding something more exciting over the top of those verses would go down well. I’ll keep an eye out on for DJ mixes that include it: that should perk it up a bit.

Cascada – San Francisco

Remind you of anything?

Tim: San Francisco…that’s in California, right? Bearing that in mind, let’s have a listen to this.

Tim: Remind you of anything?

Tom: That’s… well, it’s fair to say it’s very much “in the style of” Katy Perry. It’s also about 12 months late.

Tim: Now let’s be honest, Cascada’s glory days are well and truly behind them. Which is a shame, because Everytime We Touch was a great album, and Perfect Day wasn’t bad either. This…well, this is pretty much textbook ripping off, and it’s disappointing.

Tom: It’s worth taking a moment to notice that this is another case of the YouTube Video Editing Phenomenon: where the official video of the song will have a break of a few measures in the middle that isn’t in the actual track, in order to get the people who use YouTube as a jukebox to actually pay for the track.

Tim: New album’s out soon, by the way – according to the description of this video, it’s called Original Me. Really, it is.

Tom: As opposed to all those copies of her that are running about.

Caramella Girls – Boogie Bam Dance

Oh no. No, no, no.

Tim: This is real. Seriously, it is.

Tom: Oh no. No, no, no. I recognise that name. Their previous, incredibly bouncy single has been stuck in my head for ages thanks to several members of London Hackspace. For a brief, horrible while it was set as my entrance music: every time I touched my Oyster card to the door to unlock it, that damned song would blast out. I’m not listening to this.

Tim: Spoilsport.

Tim: I LOVE it. But only as a whole – the music is admittedly fairly awful (unless I’ve got a lot of WKD in me), and the video’s slightly appalling as well. Together, though? OUTSTANDING. And horribly catchy, so the music will be in my head for the rest of the day and the video won’t be and it’ll be a nightmare. OH GOD.

Tom: Welcome to my world, Tim. I can’t even review it properly: hearing it just causes this intense, burning desire to stop listening.

Tim: One thing in particular I’m a big fan of, though: the animated massive sweeping Eurovision-style crane shots they’ve got going on. They really convey the size and magnificence of the huge stadium they’ve, um, drawn.

Tom: I checked the video on mute. You’re right.

Tim: Fans of this may wish to check out their previous work – as you say, and disturbing as it may seem, this is not a novelty one-off. Have a 24-video YouTube Mix.

Tom: Don’t do it, folks. Save yourself while you can.

Kobojsarna – Timeless

CHOON.

Tim: This, I like. It’s BANGING, as they say.

Tom: It certainly does qualify as a CHOON.

Tim: The chorus bits have a great tune to them, and even though the verses are somewhat dull in comparison, they’ve got that very fast beat underlying them which just keeps it going unrelentingly. It’s not far off some of Basshunter’s or even Scooter’s best work, and it’s very good indeed.

Tom: A bold claim, but I’ll let it pass because yes, I can imagine HP Baxxter shouting most of these lyrics. The trouble is, Kobojsarna’s not HP Baxxter. HP Baxxter could just about pull off the absolutely appalling “epic winning for the win” and make it sound tolerable. As it is – it just grates terribly, and on its own it’s enough to make me consign this track to the bin.

Tim: Shame. One thing, though: in the third/sixth lines of the chorus-ish bits (where he sings “legends in our own time” or “we’ve got nothing but time”) I want to sing “I’ll follow you wherever you go”; is that from another song that sounds similar?

Tom: No idea: perhaps our readers know? And if so, can they also tell me what the damn bouncy-loop sample they’re using in the first twenty seconds is taken from?

Tim: Ah, well, that one I was also wondering about. At first I thought it reminded me of He’s A Pirate. But then I checked and it wasn’t that. Hmm. Although I have realised what the first one was – the song we reviewed only last week, Vincent’s The Moment I Met You.

Morten Hampenberg & Alexander Brown feat. Stine Bramsen – I Want You (To Want Me Back)

Lacklustre.

Tom: Blimey, talk about “don’t bore us, get to the chorus”. Not just the first line, but the very first millisecond of the song. Pity that it’s a bit lacklustre as hooks go, although once the beat kicks in it gets a bit better.

Tim: Well, I think it’s great. The underlying piano melody isn’t particularly complex, but is varied enough so as not to get boring, and actually reminds me somewhat of Still Alive.

It is, of course, the sort of music that was popular eight years ago – Ian van Dahl, Lasgo, that lot – and that I never stopped enjoying.

Tom: “I… want… you… to want me back.” Really? Then sound excited about it!

Tim: But part of me really likes that, well, not lack of effort, but understatedness of it. We also have elements of the good parts of Robyn in there, which is nice.

Tom: I’ll leave my smutty innuendo aside, shall I?

Tim: Please do. Robyn does, after all, make good music despite the occasional flaws we point out.

Tom: It could use a few more of her parts, I reckon. Her enthusiasm, for one.

Eric Amarillo – Om Sanningen Ska Fram

Sounds a bit weird.

Tim: This, to me, sounds a bit weird. It sounds to me very much like an existing dance track that some bloke’s decided to sing over, and almost like he’s written the lyrics without really knowing what the tune is. It might be less so if I knew what he singing, but it reminds me of when someone tries to sing the lyrics of one song to the tune of a different one – sort of, get the words in wherever they’ll fit and hope it all comes together in the end.

Tom: In deference to that, I’m going to be typing my part of this review while touch-typing and staring out of the window of the train I’m on, in the hope that any resulting typos will convey that kind of dissonance. One part of my brain will be trying to review the music: the other half will be watching the pretty Enlgish countryside roll by at 125mph.

Tim: Well, that’s clearly a good idea. But regarding the music, whether or not that actually was the case, fortunately the music and words do all come together in the end.

Tom: It takes a long time to get there though, doesn’ tit? And it goes all a bit ‘Tragedy’ by Steps half way thorugh, with the strange descending-chimes bells.

Tim: And that is something I have no problem with whatsoever – a triumph of the late ’90s, that was. Overall, I think we’re left with a rather excellent and danceable track, if only because it just doesn’t let up and so you never get an opportunity to stop dancing.

Tmo: True, although I think we’d have taht even if ti wasn’t for the lyrics.

Sanna Nielsen – I’m in Love (SoundFactory Mix)

So remixed that it’s almost a different song,

Tim: The original version of this would belong on the Saturday Rejects pile; this remix is so remixed that it’s almost a different song, though, so it’s going here. Problem with that? Tough.

Tom: This is one extremely danceable chorus. Not so sure about the verses, but it’s got enough of a beat to keep the floor moving, I reckon.

Tim: All the good bits of the original are still there – the chorus melody, the apparent desperation in her vocals to get her message across and the fairly strong dance beat – but added on top is a load of great swooshy stuff and a completely different feel to the verses, which I love.

Tom: That said, the chorus does sound like it’s had a lot of stuff added on top rather than mixed in – the volume crashes upwards, the new things are almost drowning out the old. That said: still excellent.

Tim: It’s gone from being a good dance track to a great dance track. Top marks.

Swedish Angels feat. Charlie King – Swedish Angel

The main lyric reminds me of school assembly.

Tim: Two DJs make up this new dance duo, named Denise Lopez and Jennifer Love.

Tom: Hey, does that…

Tim: No. The title’s probably not as imaginative as it could be, but anyway, here it is.

Tim: The main lyric reminds me of being six and singing this in school assembly, complete with hand movements if I recall correctly; that was fun.

Tom: Well, thank you for that flashback – it did result in me trying to sing the lyrics to that over the top of this track, which sadly doesn’t work all that well.

Tim: Yeah, I tried that as well, but gave up after a while. Um. What else? Not sure, really. This is a good tune, though, and the vocal fits well, with plenty of energy.

Tom: It is pretty much your bog-standard dance track, aside from the occasional religious song flashback for British kids.

Tim: There’s nothing hugely memorable about it – a few months from now we’ll probably be reviewing another track and thinking ‘ooh, it reminds me of, um, oh, what was it called?’ – but it’ll fit very well in many DJs’ sets, and I’m sure there’ll be a nice place for it somewhere around the middle of a few 2011 dance compilation CDs.

Avicii – Penguin

This sort of stuff has been gone for too long. (With bonus classical diversion!)

Tim: I am glad that dance season is fast approaching, because this sort of stuff has been gone for too long.

Tim: This bloke ditched the ‘Avicii’ name briefly when he put out Bromance last year, but right now Tim Berg’s back as he was.

Tom: Speaking of which: do you have any idea how popular that track became? 38 million views for the official video, and I still hear it being played. Absolutely astounding track.

Tim: Well, now he’s dance-ing up a vaguely well known classical tune, the sort that gets requested daily on the Classic FM Drivetime show.

Tom: Now I do love tracks like this, if only because of my younger years when I spent far too long playing Dance Dance Revolution. I still know the step-rhythms for parts of “V (for EXTREME)” and the gorgeous “Kakumei” off by heart.

But if you really want to go back into history: then you have to start in the 1970s, with Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven” – which is, bizarrely, improved by the addition of Kanye West.

Tim: Why ‘Penguin’? Not a clue, but it does make for a nice picture.

Tom: Now that I can explain: the original piece is the modern classical “Perpetuum Mobile” by Penguin Cafe Orchestra, who also made the lovely “Music for a Found Harmonium” – which got turned into the execrable “Paddy’s Revenge” a few years back.

Tim: Ah – I knew the title of the track, just not the orchestra. And is it particularly execrable? I thought it was alright.

Anyway, I don’t really care what it’s called, because the tune is great. Good source material, excellent treatment of it, properly BANGING.

Tom: I was about to disagree with you, and then the track finally kicked in – at 2:20 – and I completely agree with you. After the beat drops, then yes; I like it. Like Bromance, though, I feel it does need a bit more.

Tim: Though having said I don’t care about the name, I am now tempted to mess around with it in GarageBand and stick some of this on top.

Tom: Get out.

Tim: I see. You probably wouldn’t have a problem with this, though.

Tom: …I’ll allow it.

Tim: You’re insane.