Tag: Brother Leo

Brother Leo – Push Up

“Look, love, I know you’re interested, so do you wanna just get over here or what?”

Tim: “Look, love, I know you’re interested, so do you wanna just get over here or what?”

Tom: This sounds like an interesting track.

Tom: Well, that sounds uncomfortably like Blurred Lines in places, doesn’t it? I mean, not in the message, thankfully, but it feels like there’s at least a little inspiration there. Or at least, the same inspiration that Blurred Lines got sued for.

Tim: Yeah, and it’s not often I find myself really, really liking this genre of music. The funky, soul type stuff (which is apparently what this is inspired by) has never really got me going much, and I downright hated Blurred Lines. Every now and again, though, a track like this will come along that I just really enjoy, and think “ooh, this is fun”. Because it is, isn’t it? The message in the lyrics and the video both help a lot, I think, adding to the fun vibe that it’s got going on throughout, and all round it’s just pretty…nice.

Tom: “Nice” can be damning with faint praise. For me, it is: there’s a lot to like here, it’s just not quite my cup of tea. You sure you want to go with “nice”?

Tim: Oh, well not when you put it like that. Better than nice. Certainly relistenable.

Brother Leo – Strangers On An Island

“A fearless free spirit with superpowers.”

Tim: Remember Ola?

Tom: Only the name, none of the music.

Tim: Fair, as that’s about the same as me. Not much of a problem, though, as he’s taken the past four years as a time to reinvent himself – “my inspiration came from a dream I used to have as a kid. In the dream I had a twin, a fearless free spirit with superpowers. His name was Leo.” Makes as much sense as anything else we deal with here, I guess. Anyway here’s the debut as Brother Leo, and it’s produced by, erm, Fatboy Slim. Really, it is.

Tim: And we’ve a lot of Fatboy Slim indicators (Slimdicators?) here.

Tom: Nice. You’re not wrong, though.

Tim: Most clearly the stuttering that’s straight out of Praise You. There’s that vocal bit that comes out of nowhere around the three minute mark, with the record slips following it. Obviously I don’t know the ins and outs of who brought what here, but to be honest I’m quite surprised there’s not double billing here, or even just a “feat”.

Tom: He’s slipped into the background plenty of times before: if you search out Cornership’s Brimful of Asha, you’ll find it’s very different to the Norman Cook remix that the radio always plays.

Tim: Do you know, I knew that, but I’d forgotten how weirdly different the original sounded. Regardless of who did what, though, it’s an interesting track, and one I’m really rather keen on.

Tom: Agreed: it’s got a decent chorus to it, and there’s nothing wrong here. All the Norman Cook in the world couldn’t fix a track with poor composition, after all.

Tim: It’s a decent reinvention, and I’ll be happy to hear more in due course.