Listening to music is a joy.
It may not always engender feelings of joy because let’s face it life is never that universally good, and so neither are the songs that given expression to it, but the actual immersion into music is one of life’s great pleasures.
It’s even when as well making you feel something, it gets you to think too which is precisely what all five songs this week do to a superlative level.
You will dance, you will sing you will feel and you will think, which makes listening to these songs one of those rare treats when everything is engaged and you are all the better for it.
“No” by Poppy Ajudha
Being defined by other people or having them make ceaseless demands of you is intrusive, invasive and damn near exhausting.
Learning how to say “NO” is quite the journey – it’s something this reviewer, the son of a minister, had to learn the heard way and, while liberating, it really takes it out of you – and it’s clearly one on which UK music artist Poppy Ajudha has long embarked, and which percolates all the way through the upbeat, defiant pop delights of “NO!”, the first new song to drop from her since her debut album, The Power in Us, in April.
In a world where anyone can reach you at any time, and say whatever they want through a computer screen, ‘NO!’ Is a rebellion against, the criticism and internet trolling, a social commentary on a world of chaotic political narratives, dishonest public figures and the ongoing flow of conflicting public opinions. The track is about owning who you are, being unapologetically yourself, and saying NO! to other people’s expectations of you. I wrote ‘NO!’ with Jungle on our first time meeting, our energies just clicked and we created the perfect rebellious and urgent record that speaks to how I feel in this moment. (courtesy DIY Mag)
Kicking off with playfully low key vocal stylings, “NO!” quickly amps up the energy and necessary attitude, both musically and lyrically, delivering a power pop anthem that takes no prisoners and leaves you feeling so empowered there’s no chance of ever saying an unthinking “YES” again.
“Holiday” by Crooked Colours
Australian band Crooked Colours – Phil Slabber [vocals, guitar, production], Leon Debaughn [keys, production], and Liam Merrett-Park [drums] – know their way around catchy pop with emotive vocals, all of which are on beguiling display in “Holiday” which begs someone close to them (“Wrapped in your embrace”) to “Take me away / I need a holiday”.
It’s the kind of lyrical plea which is likely to resonate with just about everyone in the pell-mell exhaustive forward momentum of the 21st century, something which is reflected not just in “Holiday”, which Acid Stag notes has “plenty of groove and electronic bliss to go around”, but in the album as a whole as the band observes.
This was an album created during very testing times for us as a group. We started the writing process coming off the back of really great momentum following the success of our sophomore record Langata. With solid progress overseas after a run of international tours and festivals, we inked a deal with Atlantic Records and had everything mapped out when the rug was pulled from underneath us as the reality of the pandemic hit. We have always generated so much inspiration from performing live to our fans so we worried how this record may translate without having that energy to draw from. We bunkered down in our studio in Fremantle and focused on what we could control and that was writing and recording as much music as we could. It became a long process for us as we battled with the reality around us, not knowing what lay ahead while maintaining a creative output. (Acid Stag)
This track, which Acid Stag says has an “incredibly catchy chorus melody is stuck in your head well before the groove and synth presence takes over to get you moving and grooving”, is a song of the moment, an anthem for everyone dealing with the after effects of the height of the COVID pandemic and its continues threat to life as we used to know it.
“The Excuse” by L D R U
Australian producer L D R U is another Aussie act who knows his way around a catchy tune, with “The Excuse” a retro-laced rock and upbeat pop song racing ahead with joyous musical abandon like its life depends on it.
The energy-filled music reflects the abandon reality feel of the lyrics which leads to an infectiously uplifting that the artist describes this way.
Synergy between great minds and feelings alike, all mixed into one harmonious blend of dance/rock and pop. It’s about not caring what anyone else thinks, clearing your head from all the drama and having a genuine childlike state of mind – really having fun, with the kind of laughter that makes your cheeks ache from smiling so much. (Acid Stag)
With his stage name drawn from the phrase “left, down, right, up”, which is, according to Wikipedia, “a part of a cheat code used in the Grand Theft Auto series of games”, L D R U aka Drew Carmody is one of those artists who though almost a decade into his career, has a lot of bright and good things ahead of time if “The Excuse” is any guide.
“On Air” (feat. Louis The Child, Captain Cuts, JRM) by What So Not
Why work alone when you can collaborate?
That seems to be the very fine idea behind Australian record producer Emoh Instead, whose electronic music project What So Not has gathered together electronic music duo Louis the Child (Robby Hauldren and Frederic J. Kennett), L.A.-based songwriting, record production and remix team (Ben Berger, Ryan McMahon and Ryan Rabin) and JRM aka Jaramye Daniels to create a slice of delicious electropop known as “On Air”.
A joyously vibrant giddy piece of sublimely jaunty pop, the song has “soaring synths, emphatic beats and resounding bass that sets the mix into overdrive with its sheer force” (Acid Stag) and shouldn’t be leaned into and not over thought says What So Not.
The easiest way to describe On Air is: it’s like Disney, it’s very unpretentious, very fun and channelling those ‘dancing in the sky’ kinda moments. I don’t usually write this happy, bubbly upbeat stuff, it’s always brooding and moody, but this time it felt so authentic – it felt inner childlike, so I went with it. (Acid Stag)
“Jogging on the Moon” (feat. Amber Prothero) by Lamalo
Another Aussie duo making some sweetly upbeat music that also enters into the spirit of collaboration is Lamalo who has combined with UK singer Amber Potherro, whose vocals are an emotive joy, for the sublimely electro-beautiful “Jogging on the Moon”.
The song winningly brings together the banality of a day-to-day with a future fantastical setting to gloriously enveloping effect.
The song is about losing yourself to mindless jobs and the monotony of working life. We set the song in the future because we thought it would be interesting to explore a sentiment that is so common now in a fantastical setting such as the moon. (Acid Stag)
A catchy, captivating song, “Jogging on the Moon” is one of those headily percolating tunes that is a danceable accompaniment to just about anything, mindlessly monotonous or not, and can only make your day a better place to be.
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EXTRA!
So as we roar into September, or dance with glittery abandon since this is Eurovision after all, it’s high time we caught up with everything that’s happened in that world during August which, it turns out, is quite a LOT, including the seven British cities jockeying to host Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine, which won the 2022 contest and is officially the host, and Israel’s representative for 2023 event!
It’s all very exciting with even more coming up in the months ahead (including who Ukraine will pick to represent for them) …