Clean Bandit

i think they're about to become quite popular, at least in the UK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-M1AtrxztU

Previously

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VvILRC6QAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd0cT7Dnpt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdfL2nY-Xs8

was thinking of starting this thread, love this lot

I'm pretty baffled by the way they continue to combine elements that should not operate well together in ways that are tidy and attractive

cf. the 1975? haha

i mean, the latest single is only a few steps away from what adele could conceivably sound like in 2014 (esp. considering sandé is the heiress apparent to her, and she's featured so heavily on stuff w/ rudimental and has done loads of work w/ naughty boy), but i don't find it cloying or horrible?

cover of "Royals" today on R1:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/eccdgw

+ (somewhat inexplicable) interpolation of "walking in the air" !

So they got the #1, and still leading on iTunes ahead of Gorgon City as far as I can tell.

it's getting rinsed on kiss, heard it about 30 times at work today. No complaints, it's massive.

It was the clear standout track when I saw them live last autumn; delighted to see it do so well.

It's really such an odd track, they're like the UK pop house mungolian jet set.

It's a great song and the idea of a Clean Bandit/Gorgon City/Katy B top three is immensely pleasing.

They might actually be the UK pop house Vampire Weekend.

Haha I do see it

#1 for 2 weeks running, debut album New Eyes out May 12th.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1505448_10151985479838576_225746296_n.jpg

01 Mozart's House
02 Extraordinary (feat. Sharna Bass)
03 Dust Clears
04 Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)
05 A+E
06 Come Over (feat. Stylo G)
07 Cologne (feat. Nikki Cislyn & Javeon)
08 Telephone Banking (feat. Love Ssega)
09 Up Again (feat. Rae Morris)
10 Heart On Fire (feat. Elizabeth Troy)
11 New Eyes (feat. Lizzo)
12 Birch (feat. Eliza Shaddad)
13 Outro Movement III

a friend of mine went to Cambridge with them, they are the only band - outside of Coldplay/Deskmond Dekker/Manu Chao - that I have ever heard him mention since we were 11 years old. I'm going to assume that they are terrible.

really disappointed by "rather be", horribly twee and fussy in the way that "dust clears" somehow wasn't

and completely completely bloodless

kind of in 2 minds about that assessment - perhaps writ larger here maybe but it's nothing that hasn't been innate in everything they've yet done i'd say

otoh though the thrilling/terrifying prospect of them having a track called TELEPHONE BANKING feels like a tru reckoning alright; dreadful thatcherkid mondeo pop corporate kowtow for cloying whimsy advert spot (better yet - hold music) or insurgent 'penthouse & pavement' style flash of fangs? (i. oh god i knew i'd sink into marcelloblivion someday) (ii. should probably take mdc's hint and finally listen to vampy weeks if only just to accrue ammunition) (iii. hey don't suppose anyone else has ever wondered about all the sophistipop mnek could conceivably cover no ok i'll see myself out)

either way - as iirc was suggested on the dumont thread - the opinions of those for whom whose aesthetics are outright vexed or consolidated by this lot will not be relevant ultimately

btw last year may have brought back the one hit wonder vibe but consecutive weeks at the top now feels a v notable diff kettle of fish imo

oh yes and

http://www.planetnotion.com/2014/01/23/botw-premiere-clean-bandit-rather-be-royal-t-remix/

(you really rather want his remix of route 94 'my love' (also purportedly featuring jess glynne, only this time sounding like a goat) instead though)

Kinda want to elaborate on the VW comment upthread now I've listened to everything that's out there, and yeah I agree there's something in the new single that was latent in them all along. This sense of tidiness, of fussed-over arrangements, they're kind of the *prissiest* dance act ever, and I'm eagerly anticipating to the inevitable handwringing from continuum bores.

Like, considering their obvious and overt pop sensibility, they're such a weird band, just the sheer oddness of building a dance act out of a string quartet, this mix of Fisher Price house music and chamber pop. They're kind of the apogee of the Grange Hill rave thing I was talking about re: the Rudimental album. There's almost zero danger in this end of the Black Butter stable, none of the grit *or* the glitz of UK funky, just a kind of primary coloured collaborative virtuousness. Even the ruffer end of Black Butter has a kind of soft play boshiness to it.

Best thing about them is their way with a tune and an out of the blue sonic juxtaposition, like the one where she's bouncily singing "get down low to Rihanna on the stereo" and there's this dolorous solo violin in the background.

I suddenly like this "Rather Be" much better than the first time I tried listening to it. I think I like it more without the video.

"rather be" has the most streams in a single week of any song on UK spotify ever

4 straight weeks at No.1!!

Started to catch on in Australia as well, entered at #15 this week and is currently #4 on iTunes.

Whatever that means these days (xp).

No idea what Matt DC’s going on about, as usual – hey, no offence, I’m fifty, I’m allowed not to give a shit – but all I hear from “Rather Be” is formula. Chris Martin soundy-likey vocal? Check. Beats enter in second bit? Check. The only thing in the current top five that’s even more formulaic is “Shot Me Down.” And HE’S going to be 47 this year. Who’d have thought I’d start feeling nostalgic for the sodding Audio Bullys?

for some context, marcello, the only songs in 2013 to stay at No.1 for this long were "get lucky" and "blurred lines"

Things have gone downhill rapidly and/or there’s not much else out right now.

A week late but that's a great post Matt

i have gone from being disappointed by this to full-on hating it. they sound like incredibly annoying people, too, middle-class nice'n'twees get out of my life

can you actually imagine any of them in a club???

or DANCING??

like, some thought disclosure were a white ppl version of garage/house but they had no idea how much whiter it could get

feel like their album cover should come with a KEEP CALM AND LISTEN TO TWEE HOUSE sticker on the front

Just put a donk on it, lex

Sort of shocked there isn't a big jackin remix of this. "There's no place I'd rather - BWONK BA BNNG BNNNNNNNNGGG"

Their album will be called Sticking To Our Long-Term Plan and will be marketed as House music for hard working families.

I feel like all the things dance purists were unfairly saying about Disclosure can be accurately applied here.

they sound like incredibly annoying people, too, middle-class nice'n'twees get out of my life

It's always good when you can take a break from the coal mines to join these discussions.

oh i didn't realise they were white. should have known it wasn't a asian singer but rather the classic exotification of japanese culture in a pop video trope

rewatching the video again and the japanese dude pulling off his face at the end to reveal the white singer probs gives it away. i feel dumb.

I feel like all the things dance purists were unfairly saying about Disclosure can be accurately applied here.

Maybe so, but what dance music purists think about pop-dance acts like Disclosure and Clean Bandit feels pretty close to irrelevant, don't you think?

Jess Glynne's voice lends it a nice bit of rawness; without that I doubt it would have gone anywhere tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQgljrdZbDQ

Question and answer: What is a rapper doin when he starts at hardcore, but can't sell enough records to remain in the record business?

Answer: He goes pop. This answer is not set up to diss anybody who starts at pop, but for the rappers who started out hardcore, and now makin weak
ass dance music, cause they couldn't stay down with the hardcore.

I just got a question for you: How does it feel to wake up every morning, and look in the mirror, and realize that you're a fuckin ho?

This from an album whose lead single was weak ass dance music based on the Tubular Bells theme.

are you talking about "mozart's house"? i didn't think that was weak-ass at all, the beat was appealingly clumsy and boshy, a counterpoint to the fiddliness, which is lacking in the current thing

"dust clears" was terrible though, with a truly unforgiveable video that i had managed to avoid til now

in fact that video may have turned me against them permanently :(

I was wondering how long it'd be before anyone called them out for being middle class. Not that it matters given that the UK dance scene is absolutely fucking FULL of Oxbridge educated yuppy types but because they're making nggggggggggggggh daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark bass music no one gives a shit.

Best moment on any of their songs is the bit on A+E when she sings "I'm a come for you I'm a predator" and then follows it up with the weediest vocal noise imaginable.

"UK dance scene is absolutely fucking FULL of Oxbridge educated yuppy types"

It is? I have no idea tbh

I'm being pretty elastic with the term 'yuppy' here. But yeah there are a fair few out there, except nobody ever mentions it because it doesn't matter.

I like most of what I've heard from CB so far but I'm not going to ride in too hard to defend them here because a) like Vampire Weekend I can totally see why people would be annoyed by them and b) they genuinely only are one ill-judged debut album away from being the musical equivalent of an Innocent Smoothies-sponsored alldayer in Victoria Park.

Yeah they have a potentially horrible debut in them. "The musical equivalent of an Innocent Smoothies-sponsored alldayer in Victoria Park" is what I assumed Lex was getting at.

At least in Australia, Clean Bandit would no longer code as middle class specifically, this kind of vibe is now the advertising monoculture. "Rather Be" sounds like a bank or insurance advertisement to me (that's not even particularly a diss).

The other reference point that occurred to me, in vibe rather than sound, was Morcheeba's third album.

"Rather Be" sounds like a bank or insurance advertisement to me (that's not even particularly a diss).

totally.

the beat is kinda cool on this but it's just so precious

i bet you they think "call me maybe" was Pop Gone Right

that backlash was quick

I bet you any money that 'Rather Be' totally fills up unheralded High Street dancefloors in places like Croydon and Wembley and Romford.

Also splitting this scene down class lines doesn't really work, like even though you know that Clean Bandit and MNEK and Scrufizzer and Syron all come from different backgrounds, they'd all have been hanging out in the same sixth form college music room at lunchtime.

what about barnsley or rhondda or worksop

I bet you any money that 'Rather Be' totally fills up unheralded High Street dancefloors in places like Croydon and Wembley and Romford.

― Matt DC, Monday, February 17, 2014 9:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I'm not gonna weigh in on what happens in London, but I feel like around here this kinda vibe is much more attractive to people hanging out in middle-suburban shopping malls and clubs than to some reverse-idealised notion of white uni-educated innocent smoothie drinking yuppies.

I would describe it as a Boost Juice feel more than an Innocent Smoothie feel.

it'd be something you drink through a straw, man

Yes I think there is consensus around that point.

Leveraging all those years of music lessons! Demonstrating how to make pop music without disappointing your parents so much that they stop paying your rent!

Wait that song went to #1 wtf

like marcello i am an old'un, so not really audience of value, but i have a soft spot for coffee table friendly trip hop/ melodic house
(hello buzzin' fly !).
so, i gave these videos a spin.
one track in : loved it - i will buy this album.
two tracks in : not bad - i will probably buy this album.
three tracks in : ok, getting bored now - will buy this in fopp for a fiver.
four tracks in : bored. f*ck'em.

it's not about clean bandit being middle class themselves, it's the entire innocent smoothies keep twee and twee on vibe that they encapsulate

posh boys doing boring ~dark~ sub-burial tedium is always annoying but that doesn't mean this is any preferable

Best moment on any of their songs is the bit on A+E when she sings "I'm a come for you I'm a predator" and then follows it up with the weediest vocal noise imaginable.

also this moment is complete cringe

it'd be something you drink through a straw, man

― Internet Alas (wins), Monday, February 17, 2014 2:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, can't tell if Tim missed the pun/point here or chose to respond as drily as possible

it's the entire innocent smoothies keep twee and twee on vibe that they encapsulate

― lex pretend, Monday, February 17, 2014 6:37 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

if only dom could see us now

who?

He's probably out there rocking Belle & Sebastian and Hefner like he always was.

The thing about the whole Keep Calm & Put Up Bunting faux-nostalgia is that a significant part of it is about fear of black culture and that's clearly not what's happening here. Like it feels significant that Clean Bandit came up through the Black Butter stable, rather than through, say Wichita or someone. There's the fact that this is being rinsed on 1xtra and there's been minimal attempt to break them on 6music (despite them being spiritually pretty close to, say, Hot Chip).

Tbh focusing on the plinkiness of the verses overlooks the euphoria of the chorus and *that's* why this record is #1. Even the string flourishes in the intro function in a kind of MJ Cole way. So either there's some bizarre counterintuitive entryism in trying to break twee indie dance to a black British audience or there's something else at work here.

None of this is gussying them up or pretending they're anything they're not, like it's obvious they know what they are and what they can and cannot pull off, and generally UK dance scenes are at their best when they're at their most pluralist. (ie one Clean Bandit is fine, a rash of them would ruin everything).

Keep calm and keep the meme alive fellas

I mean "this band suck because of pippa's arse" really does seem to be the level here

If Dicslosure = Basement Jaxx then Clean Bandit = Groove Armada.

sub-carmody at best

xpost

Seems like they forgot to write a hook for this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40nFOYGVJtY

With the exception of Rather Be and the earlier singles, the album is DIRE.

I mean this was always a distinctly plausible scenario. Telephone Banking somehow manages to be even worse than its title suggests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMKsR_wUSfA

Hey, this "Rather Be" song is rather all right!

i think it's lovely. sometimes when i hear it a little tipsy i get rather emotional.

they (recently?) put out another jess glynne collaboration and it is... not very good

yeah idk why i was hating on it earlier in this thread

dope song

Somehow I missed this when it came out at the beginning of the year but I've heard it a few times recently and have really fallen for it.

it's one of my most played songs of the year. i don't really understand how anyone could hate on it.

Ooh, there's a Pentatonix version!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWPa-HMpj8

(Paging DJP.)

Wondering how popular this song has become in the U.S. after hearing it on the radio for the 2nd time tonight. Made it to #10 at one point and 23 weeks on the chart.

love this song

And, what do you know, just heard it for the 3rd time. My 13 y.o. daughter knows this song.

This song should be a hit everywhere.

it pretty much was

missed the top 40 in Japan but that's about it

ha that's perfect

japan rejecting the orientalism :)

this song is v boringly pleasant

the one dropped snare in the middle of the chorus is everything imo

I remember this song

was a good song imo

Rev otm

the one dropped snare in the middle of the chorus

It's almost not even a chorus. It sounds like a pre-chorus but then there is no chorus, just the vamping on the title words. I think it's a beautiful construction.

Oh, I just heard the dropped snare! You were talking about the vamping part as being the chorus.

That also suggests that the part before ("If you gave me a chance..." etc.) is a pre-chorus.

there's some interesting ideas going on in the newest single with jess glynne but i'm not sure if it really comes together as well as it ought to

i just think of it as a chorus with multiple parts. is it really a vamp if it appears with every single chorus?

I think so. I don't think the term is only used to describe situations where improvisation is going on.

The chorus is "No-no no-no / No place I'd rather be"

The rest of this album has faded but Rather Be sounds better than ever.

I played out a remix of this on Friday night as the last song of the evening and it was joyous.

I don't really get the 'boringly pleasant' tag it's been given. There are so many different hooks, and as is alluded to above, it's hard to tell which bit is the chorus. I also like the casual cheesiness of 'with every step we take/Kyoto to Dubai'. And the way the little 'dadalada-da-dah / dadalada-da-dah dah' vamp gets passed on from instrument to instrument. And that missed snare. And the way it drops out and comes back in with 'yeah-e-yeah-e-YEAH-E-YEAH-E YEAH YEAH!'. I like it all really.

oh and the almost-clumsiness of those club-marimbas on some of the phrases where they sound like a fumble, but it's def on purpose.

and the italo-house pianos and how they land and mimic the rhythmic pattern of 'it's a shot in the dark but I'll MAKE. IT.'

Can we go back to the "Chris Martin soundalike vocal"

aka 90% of British chart pop in the last 10 years

you made me laugh, cortana!

went to school with two of these absolute dullards, i have latterly realised. one of them was so indistinct i didn't even know him, and i made a point of knowing who everyone was

That advert really makes me want to punch them all, hard.

clean bandit sounds like some sort of no-brand cillit bang

we're far enough from the EOYs to say with some impunity that everyone who voted for them is a literal disgrace

Don't give a hoot who they are or where they come from. Rather Be's still a jam.

Agree 100%, even hearing it on the radio every day for the best part of a year hasn't killed it.

I'm glad people get so much joy from it, cannot fucking stand it personally.

Their non-"Rather Be" tracks are terrible.

"Their non-"Rather Be" tracks are terrible."

this is true =\

and the "rather be" video is horsewaste, too. still was the best thing all over radio last year

enjoyed the first 5 seconds of water before the music started

seeing the advert they feature in is the closest i've come to putting a boot through my tv since david cameron was announced as uk prime minister.