Tag: PULS

Puls – Ild I Mit Liv

“Danish rapping inherently sounds a little bit funny to the British ear”

Tim: You’ll be pleased to know that, unlike their previous effort, this video does not contain any images of violence or torture. Although it does feature a girl in a wedding dress, so Tom, you may want to brace yourself.

Tom: As long as she’s not trying to chase me down, I think I can stand it.

Tim: Still not sure what it is with these guys – normally, as we all know, I hate rapping verses, even if they are backed up by a decent chorus and that lot. But for some reason, I’ve never had that problem with this act.

Tom: Once I’ve got over the fact that Danish rapping inherently sounds a little bit funny to the British ear – or at least to my British ear – this works remarkably well.

Tim: Maybe it’s that they’re an actual duo rather than a soloist featuring another one, or it might just be that they can consistently put out good tracks like this.

Tom: Unfortunately, about half way through the song I started hearing “Ild I Mit Liv” as “Ally McBeal”, and the whole thing sort of fell apart for me from there.

Tim: Oh, God.

Tom: Good track, sadly derailed by my own easily-distracted brain.

Tim: Hang on – I think I’ve just lost something. Oh, right. ANY RESPECT I ONCE HAD FOR YOU. But anyway, whatever the reason for my enjoyment, though, I’m happy.

Tom: So am I, but alas for different reasons.

PULS – Platin

“I think the video made me dislike the music.”

Tim: The first thirty seconds of this video will irritate you; the remainder of it will freak the hell out of you.

Tom: Yep. Anyone who’s got issues with kidnapping and violence – played for bloodless brutality, but not for laughs – shouldn’t watch this.

Tim: Blimey. Not sure how often the whole psycho-stalker thing has been tackled in music videos previously, but it certainly works to distract attention from the music.

Tom: I think the video made me dislike the music. It’s just unpleasant. There’s no real story there, no rhyme or reason behind it, it’s just nasty throughout for the sake of it.

Tim: It is, really. I don’t know if distraction was the point, but I can’t quite think why it would be because the tune is, quite frankly, a BANGER. It is loud, it is jump-around-able, it has excellent vocal parts to begin with and calm down to.

Tom: I listened again, keeping away from the video, and I’m still not convinced. It’s a BANGER, that’s for sure, but it seems to fall more into ‘noise’ territory than ‘music’ for me – the rap bits in particular leave me cold.

Tim: It’s also nice to hear the return of the snare drum build-up, which I haven’t heard in a while despite them being obligatory up until quite recently. So great song, shame about the video (although if you put it in a background tab, the five seconds from 2:55 do sound quite fun when you’re not expecting them).

Tom: This is one where I’m going to disagree: it’s an unpleasant video for an unpleasant song.

Saturday Flashback: PULS – Ingen Som Du

Ooh, it’s Promising and Earnest Piano Intro Time.

Tim: Remember Icona Pop from a few weeks back, where I first heard the song and didn’t like it, but then I heard it again and I sort of did? Well, that, with this from a couple of months ago, but more extreme.

Tom: Ooh, it’s Promising and Earnest Piano Intro Time, isn’t it? This had better pay off.

Tom: I WANT TO DANCE. Wait, hang on, you like all of this?

Tim: Yes, even the rapping. I’m in the mood to MOVE, and the music underneath it complements it in just the right way that it works. And as for the singing and the rest of the musical bit, well that’s just great as well, from the piano opening and fairly speedy build-up, through that big drop, chorus and ever onwards.

Tom: They’re saved by a good backing melody – it’s no Penguin, but it ain’t bad.

Tim: My only complaint is the sudden quiet chorus after the build-up at about 2:20, because my instinct there is to put my hands in the air, pump my fists and go for it, but then I suddenly feel misled. MISLED, and I don’t like that. But I do like everything else about this, so I’m not so bothered.

PULS – Lad Det Slå

I liked it from the start.

Tim: This one took me a while, so give it a couple of listens before you dismiss it.

Related pointless thought in the meantime, though: people say ‘it grows on you’ as though that’s good, but another way of saying that is surely just ‘it’ll wear you down eventually’.

Tom: Actually, if I remember right that’s pretty much what happens. The more you listen to a genre of music or an individual track, the more your brain recognises the patterns and gets used to it. But for me, that didn’t happen here: I liked it from the start.

Tim: Good. Stylistically, it goes pretty much all over the place. Google wants me to think the title translates to ‘Let it Beat’, so I’m guessing it’s basically about how dance music is amazing.

Tom: Wrong. I translated the lyrics, and they’re talking about a heartbeat – it’s pretty much your standard dance-track love song.

Tim: Fair enough. It’s the Danish duo’s second single after the similarly messy Superstar a year ago, and I have decided that I think I like it.

Tom: The trouble is, I can’t tell whether I like the track because of the music or because of the video with the woman dancing in front of fire.

Tim: There are also three separate songs this slightly reminds me of, none of which I can think of, irritatingly – the first half-second, the tinkly piano bit, and the high electro bit that first appears about twenty seconds in.

Tom: Also, that “ding ding ding” sound a little after two minutes in? It’ll make loads of people think their iPhone’s just received a text. That’s deliberate – he says ‘iPhone’ in the line slightly after that.

Tim: Finally, two non-musical observations: I’ve not seen many music videos in 1080p, so they get bonus points for effort there as a minor Danish boyband, and also that girl is totally wasting her time with the dark-haired one. What with that ear stud and the wink and everything, you can stroke him all you want, dearie, but he’s not interested.

Tom: Tim, I’m offended at your stereotyping. He might not be gay – he might just have stepped straight out of the 1990s.