Europop – Page 48

Isle of You – Mindcrime

“Yeah, this is fun.”

Tim: We both enjoyed Isle of You’s debut, so I had decent expectations; those expectations weren’t enough to stop an audible gasp of joy a second after pressing play.

Tom: I actually said “bloody hell!” out loud when I heard that.

Tim: And I’m not remotely surprised, because you know what that is? That there is S Club 7 right at the top of their game, and I’m not just saying that because the instrumental under the chorus reminds me very much of another song that I can’t place right now, but that similarly flows into Bring It All Back.

Tom: I’m not quite sure at ‘top of their game’ — come on, this is no Reach — but it’s certainly up there.

Tim: The mood is fun, even a tad silly with some of the lyrics (walking into a door, LOL!).

Tom: Mm, the lyrics do actually take it down a notch for me. (“Finger dan- finger dance”?) And quite what they mean by Mindcrime I’ve no idea, despite them trying to explain it in the video description — and that talky bit in the middle bit is just cringeworthy.

Tim: Well yes, there are faults but really, I haven’t just enjoyed a song so much in a while – there have been great songs, but not like this just to sit back and think “yeah, this is fun”. Really, really fun, and I can’t think of a better word to describe it.

Lila feat. Rat City – Don’t Let Go

“Oh, it really is the four years later dubstep, isn’t it?”

Tom: “Rat City”?

Tim: Yes indeed – he’s the Norwegian producer, Lila’s also off Norway and is the vocalist, and the song has been written by, among several others, them off the still Norwegian Donkeyboy. And the lyrics? They’re English.

Tim: And I was taken by that pretty much as soon as she started singing, and entirely drawn in by that pre-chorus.

Tom: That fake-out at the end of the first verse didn’t encourage me, but once I figured out what it was doing: that’s one of the best builds I’ve heard in a while.

Tim: Then the main chorus hit, and it was still good, and then the post-chorus distorted vocal, and oh, it really is the four years later dubstep, isn’t it?

Tom: Or the 15-years-later Missy Elliot. Unsingable choruses have been around for a while, although they’re not this popular.

Tim: Started out fairly niche, and now it’s absolutely flipping everywhere, and I’m still not sure I like it.

Tom: I’m surprised how quickly I’ve got on board with this: I’m much more interested in the melody, composition and — frankly — how much of a banger it is. (And this is at least somewhere on the banger-scale, even if it’s not that high up.) If the synth patch they’re using also happens to be extracted from the vocals, apparently I don’t mind at all.

Tim: The rest of this is great, mind, no issues at all – stick some brass under it and it could go right back to 2008, or some more drums and head to 2003, or steel drums, or country guitars – but eeesh, just as I thought I was on board, it’s really gonna take a while for me to enjoy it. DARN IT.

Saturday Flashback: Niila – Restless Heart

“Hook.”

Tim: This got sent in to us recently by our reader Christian, and came out last March. Niila (surname Arajuuri) is from Finland, but as yet has had most success in Germany – so much so, in fact, that German Wikipedia is the only one he’s featured on, which I think speaks for itself.

Tom: Really not sure about that Comic-Relief-without-the-charity video, but as for the music: not entirely certain about what appears to be a kazoo hidden in the mix during that hook, but even so.

Tim: Doesn’t waste any time brining us that hook, a sensible move because it’s a good one to get listeners going – it is, in fact, by some distance the highlight of the song, particularly when they bring out the brass to accompany it.

Tom: It really is: it’s easily the strongest part of the track, and deploying it at the start is a good decision.

Tim: As for the rest of it: well, the verses aren’t that memorable, and it take until the final repeats until that really becomes notable. Which, now I think about it, coincides with the time it’s sung on top of that hook. Hmm. May need to try a bit harder in future with the vocal lines then, but it’s certainly a good hook.

TRXD feat. Emilie Adams – Our City

“It’s a decent enough style, but I haven’t seen anyone yet turn it into a song that immediately makes me want to hit replay.”

Tim: Middle of winter, subzero temperatures all over the shop, but why should that stop three Norwegians going tropical?

Tom: Steel drums in the intro. Bold late-2015 style, there.

Tim: Brave indeed. I think your enjoyment of this will be massively determined by your liking, or otherwise, of those noise that we’ve focussed on these past couple of days but still don’t have a name for. I’m on board with them, and very much on board with this song.

Tom: I guess what we’ve learned is that… I’m not. It’s a decent enough style, but I haven’t seen anyone yet turn it into a song that immediately makes me want to hit replay.

Tim: There is an enormous amount of vocal fiddling, and indeed fiddling all over the pace, I doubt there’s a single note there that is actually as it would sound on a instrument – but I really like it. It’s slightly Galantis-y, and right now I can’t get enough of it.

Tom: But the trouble is: it’s not Galantis. For me, all the ingredients are there — it’s just that no-one’s found the right recipe yet.

Temmpo feat. Cal – I Know

“I have decided that I am currently mostly on board.”

Tim: Temmpo (not sure why the two ‘m’s) is Australian, Cal is an alter ego of the Norwegian singer Frida Amundsen, who’s been going a while and apparently wants a different name for any feat. stuff, which is fine by me.

Tom: Oh, that’s a clever transition effect in the video. I know it’s probably just an out-of-the-box plugin effect I haven’t seen yet, and it’ll date very quickly, but it’s still a clever effect. Er, anyway, yes, the music.

Tim: Yes, and it’s not half bad, is it? Unlike yesterday, it is entirely typical for the 2016/17 season, with its verse, vocal chorus and instrumental chorus, along with all the current synth patches, and it sounds perfectly decent for it.

Tom: Mmm. I’m just not yet convinced by either instrumental choruses or this year’s choice of synth patches.

Tim: Well actually, regarding those, I have decided that I am currently mostly on board with them. They’ve taken a while for the sound to get me, but by and large I think I’m there. And with a tune like this, it’s hard to argue against them, really. Much as they frequently seem fairly discordant and tuneless, here they work well to form a melody and I like that, so I’d like to thank the pair of them for introducing me to that possibility. I’m on board.

Tom: It’s just a shame the song’s only OK.

Christopher – Free Fall

“Too glitchy, too much faffing about”

Tim: Tom, I might as well be honest with you and our reader: there does seem to be something of a dearth of fully enjoyable music around at the moment, or at least enjoyable music where the artist has been kind enough to put on YouTube.

Tom: January is always a rough period, or so it seems, but this really does seem to be worse than usual.

Tim: With those expectations set, here’s a track that’s mostly alright.

Tom: Oh, great, deliberate digital glitching in a music video. As for the music…

Tim: Well, there’s quite a lot of good stuff in there, with a good melody and very good vocals.

Tom: Yes, I can’t fault those vocals. It’s just a shame they haven’t been put to something that’s a bit more memorable.

Tim: Yes, and there’s also quite a bit that stylistically I’m really not keen on – most of what follows the middle eight, for starters. But despite being largely built on that style, I like this song.

Tom: I dislike it for the same reason I dislike the music video: it’s too glitchy, too much faffing about, and not enough actual melody or… well, anything.

Tim: Cut it off at the end of the middle eight (which really does have some great vocal work in it) and I’d be very happy with this. As it is: it’ll keep me going.

Nova Miller – Add A Little Fire

“And oh BOY, does the chorus stand up here.”

Tim: Here’s a nice little number for you, written for a TV programme but stuck online anyway.

Tim: The verses are a bit tedious, but like we said yesterday some songs can manage that as long as the chorus stands up. And oh BOY, does the chorus stand up here.

Tom: Really? It sort of washed over me. I think it’s that insistent, repetitive drum pattern that gets me: it feels way too loud in the mix. Sure, the chorus stands up…

Tim: It stands up, presents itself for inspection in newly ironed clothes, and announces its appearance with a slightly ludicrous but much appreciated key change; just in case we hadn’t got the message the first time, it then provides a very ludicrous but hugely appreciated key change the second time round.

Tom: Mm. The first word that came to mind about that key change was “unnecessary”.

Tim: I don’t know, I’d say it’s just a whole lot of fun. Shame about the verses, and even more of a shame that it ends before what would surely have been a wonderful middle eight and a glorious final chorus or two, but I’ll take what we’ve got.

Tom: Yep. It’s missing something. There’s a beginning, lots of middle, and

The Fooo Conspiracy – Buzzkill

“A proper ‘BLIMEY’ moment”

Tom: Crikey, they’re still going?

Tim: Yes, and indeed competing in Melodifestivalen next year – although I think one of them’s leaving before then, I’m not sure of the details. Anyway, unlike yesterday, I’m giving this video a firm 0/10 for laziness, because it’s all gig footage.

Tom: And a gig with a big “Vamps” logo at the back, according to that opening timelapse.

Tim: Support act, as far as I can discern, most likely in an (as yet unsuccessful) attempt to break out of Scandinavia. But here’s the song, which is significantly better than the video.

Tim: The first verse didn’t particularly grab me, because aside from the shouty vague sort of rapping there’s not a lot on. That chorus, then, generated a proper ‘BLIMEY’ moment, and it’s very much worth waiting for.

Tom: Yes! Exactly the same here. If that verse hadn’t been so dire, perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed — but I started paying attention there.

Tim: And now I think about it, those sentences could equally be written about Shout Out To My Ex – another song that seems confident enough with its chorus that it’s willing to risk that people will look past the disappointing rest of it. Since it works here, I guess I can cope with it, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to.

Charlie Who? – Feel It

“I think I like it, but I’m really not entirely sure why.”

Tim: Charlie Who? indeed, as I can find out next to nothing about this guy online. Actually, that’s not quite true: I can find out absolutely nothing about him.

Tom: I took that as a challenge, and found much the same.

Tim: Well let’s have a listen anyway, and see what we think.

Tim: First thing first, that’s a lovely lyric video – I don’t have a top ten list, but that’d probably make it. The main stuff, though: hmm. I think I like it, but I’m really not entirely sure why. There are a lot of tropes there that fit with music I’d normally throw aside, such as the heavily featured distorted vocal and that main synth style in the post chorus, and yet somehow it works.

Tom: I agree with you that it works, but I’m not convinced that I like it. I get that it’s the Done Thing Now to have two separate hooks, one vocal and one that’s basically just someone whacking buttons on a MIDI keyboard to distort a sample, but I’m not convinced that it’s actually making decent tracks.

Tim: It’s certainly not a perfect formula on its own, but I think here I’m mostly intrigued because it stands out a bit. Despite, like I said, lots of familiar components, it somehow manages not to sound like anyone else, and that’s always worth celebrating.

Tom: That’s fair: perhaps the reason I’m questioning it is just that it’s unfamiliar. We hated dubstep way back when Tim, and now… well, now we hate it again, but there was a brief period where it was fun. As for this…

Tim: Personally, I’d like to hear another track or two before I give it my unreserved blessing, but for now at least, I’m intrigued.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Primal

“I can’t imagine why that wasn’t one of the first tracks off the album.”

Tim: Yes, another one from Måns, just a few weeks after his last. It’s one he’s been performing live for a while, if YouTube recordings are anything to go by, but it’s only now out properly, as a track on his Chameleon album.

Tim: I’ll be honest: I can’t imagine why that wasn’t one of the first tracks off the album, or even the first – it’s light years ahead of Hanging On To Nothing, the vastly inferior lead single which you weren’t around for.

Tom: It is, but it starts very darkly. That’s one of the least promising introductions I’ve heard in a while: the synths sound like they’re from a year ago, the melody isn’t inspiring, and it’s a slow build.

Tim: Well, not much of that couldn’t be said about Heroes – it held up there, and I think it does here just as well (except for those vocal synths sounding like seagulls, but never mind those).

Tom: Yes, the first chorus almost redeems it, but I’m really not into it as much as you seem to be.

Tim: I was going through last Friday’s new music playlist, and this was the only one I wanted to replay immediately. It’s the first track I’ve heard off him since Heroes that’s made me go “oh, YES”.

Tom: Really? Even “Fire in the Rain”, which even now I’m still listening to occasionally? This just isn’t as good as that.

Tim: That was a very good tune, yes, but this just has everything – the instrumental, the perfect vocal and its fantastic melody in the chorus. I don’t often say this, but I don’t think I can fault this. Not at all.