Tag: Galavant

Galavant feat. Clara Mae – Parachute

I really don’t think I could dance to that at all.

Tim: Readers, Tom is currently off swanning around in the arctic circle, because that’s the sort of thing he does; in the meantime, temporary recruit Adam is here to fill in. Say hello Adam!

Adam: Hello Adam!

Okay, now I’ve got that seriously bad dad joke out of the way–

Tim: I’d be disappointed if you hadn’t made it, to be honest.

Adam: –we can actually get to know each other.

My name’s Adam, I’m 27 years old and I’m a serial underachiever. Basically I’m no Tom Scott, so go easy on me.

My only exposure to Europop has been (drunkenly) watching Eurovision. I do like to call myself a musician though so maybe I can bring something to the table.

Tim: Adam, you won’t know this, but we featured Galavant just a couple of weeks ago; They’re a pair of Swedish producers who’ve now roped in the similarly Swedish Clara Mae, who presumably has a surname but it seems we’re not destined to know it,

Adam: I’ve done my research!!! I listened to Make Me Feel and I definitely think this has more on offer.

Never heard of Clara Mae before.

Tim: Me neither, as it happens, and I can’t find out much about her, sorry.

I feel like you need to be a bonafide star to be known on first-name basis.

Tim: Oh, you’d be surprised. I’m not sure how much I like that. Last time Tom criticised Galavant a bit for going nuts on the volume slider, with the instrumental chorus line going up/down/up/down/up/down several times a second.

Adam: Nowadays you can’t complain when an artist tries to make things a little more dynamic.

Tim: Oh, he wasn’t – that styles’s almost a cliché now – but to be honest I’ve come round to in a lot. Here, in contrast, they’re just on/off/on/off, and I really don’t think that works at all. It’s just way too staccato, and I really don’t think I could dance to that at all.

Adam: I’ve seen you dance. What did we say? “It’s like having a seizure in time to the music”.

Tim: Yes, but it just stops too much. A shame, because the rest of it’s good – she’s got a perfectly decent vocal, the melody’s fine – just that chorus production.

Adam: Nooo! I think the chorus is it’s redeeming factor. There’s no real hook but at least the chorus has some movement to it.

Tim: First track, first disagreement. I think we’ll got on just fine.

Galavant – Lightweight

“The style John Lundvik should have been aiming for yesterday.”

Tim: Galavant are a Swedish production who have very occasionally featured here before, and today we have a prime example of the style John Lundvik should have been aiming for yesterday. Pay attention, John, because you’ll no doubt want to use this come Tokyo 2020.

Tim: And I think that’s a really good instrumental chorus line.

Tom: I think the first half of it is excellent, but that odd, double speed section afterwards just sounds a little bit unpleasant.

Tim: It’s taken me sometime to get on board with this style, but I am all in right now, and this is a great example of using it without thumping beats underneath, without it becoming a bit of a racket and sounding overcompressed.

Tom: I know we spend a lot of time complaining about that style, the same way we spent a lot of time complaining about dubstep five years ago, but that’s because it sounds bloody awful.

Tim: See, I’ve made the switch already. As long it’s it’s not just loud from the melody, down from an excessive drumbeat, I’m fine with it, and here that’s what we’ve got.

The vocals surrounding it are good as well, and the intermediary verse beats, but that major synth line is where it’s really at, and is very good being there. I LIKE it.

Galavant feat. Mary Jane Smith – World of Dreams

“CHOON.”

Tim: Galavant, a Swedish pair; Mary Jame Smith, of Swedish singing duo Smith & Thell who we’ve covered a couple of times. This here’s new track, suitably BANGING for a Friday, and it’s the extended mix so you won’t miss much of note if you skip the first minute.

Tom: Oh man, that is a hell of a one-minute build, though, even if it’s a bit disappointing when it ends.

Tim: Much as with yesterday’s track, I’m a little stuck about what to write here. Not because I find it generic, because I really don’t, but because I’m not really sure where to start. Or if I can sit down still long enough to actually type about it.

Tom: How about: YES. That is how you do full-on dance music, people.

Tim: Because this a proper banger of a CHOON, needing to be spelt that way because it really is. Lyrically there’s basically nothing to it, aside from the dreamy promise of another where everything’s amazing, and really with all that’s going on here I have no trouble believing that.

Tom: Agreed. I was full-on chair-dancing by the second minute.

Tim: It’s one of the best dance tracks we’ve had, at least so far this year, and as I write this I’m about to start packing to go on holiday, and I’m not sure I can think of a better accompaniment. BRILLIANT.