Calvin Harris - 'Merrymaking At My Place'
Wow! What a week for music. No doubt you鈥檝e all been shocked to the very core by recent stirrings in the redtops and broadsheets. Indeed, the headlines screamed a warning that set klaxons (not those klaxons, real ones) going off in the nerve centre of Chart Blog Operations: Pop star ANGERS PARENTS by encouraging teenagers to be NAUGHTY.
Yes, Calvin Harris wants you to have a party, and your moral guardians are worried that you won鈥檛 use coasters. The Mail warned of the 鈥渨ave of destruction鈥 that was about to hit parental homes across the nation. The Telegraph wagged a wooden spoon and bellowed forth with the headline 鈥淣O CALVIN HARRIS 鈥 NOT IN MY HOUSE.鈥
Harris issued his own riposte in the form of an instructional video about how to party responsibly. Fingers a-quiver, ChartBlog neglected to eat or sleep as we kept our fingers firmly pressed on the refresh button of its music news feed, awaiting the next development. What would it be? 鈥淧op star uses marketing campaign to publicise single鈥? Oh Lord save us, no.
And now, as Calvin Harris fans up and down the country diligently take notes from the conveniently re-issued Skins advertising trail, as our teen rebels endeavour to submit their entry forms before the closing date, and as stocks of lycra across the country hit a dangerous low, two thing concern ChartBlog:
a. is Calvin Harris Santa Claus, because if he鈥檚 not, how else is he going to get round to everyone鈥檚 party and decide who wins and
b. is the single any good?
Let鈥檚 tackle b. The answer is yes. Its the third slice of faultless electro-pop from the CH Soundsystem. Squelchy beats, hip-jutting basslines, and a chorus reminiscent of 'Midnite Vultures' era Beck. Why Harris isn鈥檛 given the same credibility as other elektro-coolsters we鈥檙e not going to speculate. But we will step in to give the Disco Duke of Dumfries 4 big love stars. As for a. dunno. But doesn鈥檛 he look a bit like a vinyl jacketed Richard Madeley in the video?
Download: Out now
CD Released: August 20th
(Nickie Latham)
Comments
You do realise that Calvin Harris is a huge practical joke being perpetuated on the people of popland in an attempt to show how any old keech can be propelled up the charts via the medium of Emperors new clothes.
Oh, you didn't. Sorry to be the one to break the news.
[You do realise that if the Emporer's New Clothes story happened now, a lot of people would say "wow, the Emporer, he's, like TOTALLY NAKED. I really like that! I'm gonna GET NAKED TOO! NAKED IS THE NEW BLACK!" - Fraser ]
Of course he's a practical joke. I think the last person to pull this sort of thing on the unsuspecting British public was Sandi Thom. At least "Calvin" has a sense of humor about it. :p