Everything Everything - 'MY KZ UR BF'
So, we all know Hurts are reissuing 'Wonderful Life', right? This is largely because their album is imminent, and people are really going for their wartime chic and their doomy synthpop and their general air of bookish sheep in steely wolves' clothing. For them to reissue one of their defining moments (so far) makes a lot of sense. It's not a very haughty thing to do, and that seems a little out of character, but I'm sure we'll all muddle through.
In the meantime, this astonishing collective are also re-releasing an early single, in order to promote their album - it's called 'Man Alive'. And, sad to say, they seem to be getting only a fraction of the response that their fellow synthpoppers are.
For the LIFE of me, I cannot see why this should be the case.
(. It's got gauntlets in.)
OK, so the verses are a little twiddly, this could alienate a few confused ears. And they do seem to be musically in a hurry to rush on to their next idea sometimes. But everything (everything) is redeemed by that chorus. A chorus which is just plain perfect. A chorus which doesn't even have to make sense to Make Sense. A chorus which also happens contains one of the best throwaway pop lyrics of the new millennium, namely:
"I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend
Cos he was looking at me like 'whoah!'"
I'll repeat that, in case you didn't quite feel the magnificence the first time around:
"I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend
Cos he was looking at me like 'whoah!'"
C'mon, that's amazing. It possibly helps if you hear it sung, but even so, "he was looking at me like 'whoah!'"? Who has the NERVE to write a lyric like that? The sheer GALL of it is astonishing. The brilliant glee of whacking some daft slang in the middle of a densely constructed, angular pop song. And this from a band who are more than comfortable singing about a , or constructing a properly meaty image like "I'm watching the A4 paper taking over the guillotine".
And even if they weren't good with the words, that chorus, that glorious chorus! It's at the exact opposite end of the scale to what Hurts are doing. It's kind of goofy and silly, and floppy of limb instead of haughty and reserved. And it comes after those verses, which can be a little like a musical assault course, although they're a lot more pop than they seem on first listen. There is that pillowy close-harmony bit, after all. Everything (everything) about this song, apart from the title, is massively accessible and friendly. And this may be the problem.
I wonder if the band's innate awkwardness is preventing their wider success. It's like no-one really knows what they want. The verses demand approval from chin-strokey art-rock-snobs, the chorus wants to teach the world to sing. And the two things are sadly incompatible, partly because of the snob thing, but also because the world can't sing the verses without spitting its teeth out.
In any case, this is why nothing else seems quite good enough right now. It's basically exactly what great pop music is all about, and yet it probably won't go to No.1. We should all be ashamed.
Or grateful. It's so hard to tell.
Download: Out now
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
"Expect big things from these Northerners."
"You would certainly not say this was electro in the same sense as you would bands such as Klaxons who certainly have used similar instrumentation to achieve a very different sound."
"Sometimes there are bands you want to give two marks to - one for their high goals, and one for how successfully they have netted them...To my mind Everything Everything get a starred-A for both."
Comment number 1.
At 19th Aug 2010, f1fantic wrote:UK Top 40 This Week Amount of YouTube views- they have had
Club Can't Handle Me- 8.25 millions views
Love The Way You Lie- 47.4 million
Missing You- 1.4 million
We No Speak Americano- 11.2 million
Beautiful Monster- 4.7 million
Billionaire- 29.5 million
Airplanes- 34.3 million
All Time Low- 2.9 million
Pack Up- 1.3 million
In My System 715,480 thousund
One (Your Name) 6.3 million
California Gurls- 36.4 million
What If- 1.5 million
I Need Air- 1.1 million
Kickstarts- 3.6 million
Choices- 417,622 thousand
I Like It- 18.2 million
Bang Bang Bang- 1.6 million
The Writer: 443,166 thousand
DJ Got Us Falling In Love- N.A/ No Music Video
Commander- 8.2 million
Alejandro- 66.7 million
Stereo Love- 60 million
Not Afraid- 79.9 million
Just Be Good To Green- 2.2 million
Gold Dust- 667,213 thousand
Gettin'Over You- 29.7 million
Prayin' 988,373 thousund
Frisky- 2.6 million
Brainwashed- 571,033 thousand
The Club Is Alive- 3.5 million
Find Your Love- 25.2 million
Hey,Soul Sister- 14.5 million
OMG- 5.7 million
My First Kiss- 5 million
She Said- 8.2 million
Ridin' Solo- 23.4 million
Waka Waka- 12 million
Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart-7.6 million
What do you think of these stats of the Top 40 videos viewed on YouTube people? I like to hear your views.
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Comment number 2.
At 19th Aug 2010, harrythedog10 wrote:Amazing song, loved when I first it and so glad it's now getting re-released. Probably won't fair as well as the Hurts song but I hope it can make it to the top 40 at least, if not I'm ashamed of the British buying public once again.
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Comment number 3.
At 19th Aug 2010, SilverArcher wrote:LOVE these guys, and have loved this song since the first time it was out!
Won't be buying the single though, waiting for the album. Maybe they're more of an album band than a singles band?
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Comment number 4.
At 20th Aug 2010, U14429597 wrote:I could see this album being critically acclaimed and getting heaps of awards.
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Comment number 5.
At 20th Aug 2010, craftybison wrote:"Accessible and friendly"? "Goofy and silly"? Um... do you even know what the song is about?!
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Comment number 6.
At 20th Aug 2010, withtheband wrote:Great band, saw them at Glasto and they out performed a lot of bigger acts in my eyes.
I like the original video for this better.
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Comment number 7.
At 20th Aug 2010, kutox wrote:When I hear a song by a 'new band' on Radio 1, I usually don't take much interest - especially on the first play, but this one caught me straight away, when it was playlisted the first time. Completely brilliant in every way.
I agree though, it's funny how Hurts are being much talked about with their re-issue, yet this one seems to be being overlooked.
Album is getting rave reviews, and judging by this single alone I'm definitely going to give it a good listen when it's out.
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Comment number 8.
At 20th Aug 2010, harrythedog10 wrote:@ 6
Sorry to be pedantic but the video in Fraser's post is actually the original, the one you linked is the new video which I also prefer.
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Comment number 9.
At 20th Aug 2010, withtheband wrote:Haha thanks harrythedog. I confused myself along the way somehow. But yep it's much better.
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Comment number 10.
At 21st Aug 2010, Mark wrote:Everyone needs to listen to the Clock OPera remix of this track.
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Comment number 11.
At 21st Aug 2010, spirit wrote:Fantastic song , fantastic video , fantastic chorus , fantastic vocal performance .
Has a pop-dance sensibility like Friendly Fires at their peak , and that's a huge compliment .
Fabulous.
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Comment number 12.
At 23rd Aug 2010, harrythedog10 wrote:The album's streaming on Myspace for anyone whose interested, I'm listening now.
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Comment number 13.
At 23rd Aug 2010, kutox wrote:Ah thanks for that, I'll defo give it a good few plays through this week
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Comment number 14.
At 23rd Aug 2010, harrythedog10 wrote:Man Alive sounds like it has the potential to be a very good record but it needs some time to grow on me I think, at the moment it all feels a bit cluttered on a few tracks. Final Form sounds brilliant though.
My Premature Evaluation - Good not great
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