This is the time you've been waiting for

Swedish group Da Buzz may fall into the category of "for those who love what you think of when you say 'Swedish pop' only"--that is, their work is seen as too cheesy and formulaic in some eyes--but for those of us who are in the former group, it's tough to find a more reliable act to turn to for good, usually dancey pop songs.



"Let Me Love You" from their first album is as good an indication as any of their sound. It's from 2000, and it sounds like it, a stylistic mix of Cheiron and dance pop with a sweet melody.



Their 2003 Melodifestival entry "Stop! Look! Listen!" does sound better in its studio version than live, but still included a good vocal performance from lead singer Annika and deserved far better than fifth in its semifinal. It's a little less dancey, a little more poppy, and one of my favorite things they've done.



On the other side of things is the purer dance sound of "Without Breaking," a single from their last studio album which is produced by the Jonas Von Der Burg of September fame. The harder electronic beats and little electronic squiggles make this track harder-hitting than many Da Buzz songs, but it's still in keeping with their aesthetic.



After a greatest hits album a few years ago, the three-person group has been on a break, with the members pursuing different projects, but this summer they've returned with a new single, "U Gotta Dance." I have a pretty bad track record of judging Da Buzz songs right off the bat, with a tendency to underrate them, but I feel pretty confident in saying that 1.) "U Gotta Dance" will win them no new converts, but 2.) fans will be happy. Da Buzz includes some pretty talented musicians, so really, we shouldn't be surprised, but still: thank goodness they're back.

I'm not sure when the single for "U Gotta Dance" is coming out, but the song is included on the compilation album Bodywork 11, which you can buy here (physical).

(This post was going to include something about the new Magnus Carlsson single--out, available on iTunes internationally, and sounding like Star Pilots meets Velvet--and the new Ola single--called "Overdrive," co-written by Sharon Vaughn, at radios, as yet unheard by me--but it's already a bit long and I still, as mentioned, haven't heard the latter yet.)

The right way straight to my heart

There aren't many artists more generous with their material than Magnus Carlsson. While, say, Frankmusik's generosity tends to take the form of constantly sharing new songs he's created, Magnus shares older demos of often unreleased songs, but I'm just as eager to hear those, even if they lack the production touches we would have heard if they'd been worked up for a proper release.

The most recent selection of songs Magnus shared on his official site are from his work with the Da Buzz team. Apparently, after participating in Melodifestivalen in 2006, Magnus felt an urge to begin working on English language material and, being a fan of Da Buzz's work, he recorded some demos with the group (well, with the two men in the group) in the summer and fall of 2006. Only one of the songs made it onto the main edition of the album in the end, but the song that made the cut was one of my absolute favorites, though I didn't realize it was by Da Buzz until now: "Don't You Worry," the song I've always imagined in my alternative handling of Live Forever - The Album to have been the late fall/early winter 2006 single (with "Crazy Summer Nights" as the summer 2006 single instead of "Waves Of Love"). It's an incredibly sweet but poppy song which I strongly recommend you seek out the album version of.

Anyway, Magnus recently uploaded to his official site the demos from his work with Da Buzz, though some of the songs--all the ones never previously released except for one, and that one's a ballad--are only long clips, not the full thing. If you bought the deluxe digital version of Live Forever - The Album, you already had the demos for "I Belong To You," "I Found Love" and "Don't You Worry," but the amazing transformation of the latter from its demo to final version hints at what a treat we might have been in for had these demos--which are already pretty good--ever been reworked for actual release. The previously unheard (as far as I'm aware) songs are "Can't Believe," "Even If I Want To," and "Rescue Me." I'd love to hear full versions of those last two if they exist, given how great their up-tempo pop sounds to my ears, but I'm mainly glad we got this little glimpse into Magnus's and Da Buzz's recording vaults.

#53 Da Buzz, "Take All My Love"

If you wanna be in paradise,
You better put your shoes on

One of the world's most consistent pop groups releases yet another hard-hitting pop-dance single. The three person Swedish group Da Buzz has a knack for churning out great pop songs and, if you don't know much of their work, you'd do well to pick up their recently released greatest hits, which features this song, followup single "Baby Listen To Me," and two other new songs in addition to eleven previous singles (and that's not even all of their previous singles). Great as the radio edit of this song is, though, "Take All My Love" would probably come even higher (lower?) on this countdown if the club edit (which, at 3:25, is only 20 seconds longer than the radio edit) had been the main version--that opening instrumental part and the playing up of some underlying electronic squiggles just ups the strength and power of the song even more.

Take All My Love (Club Edit)

Find it on: Da Buzz's Greatest Hits

You know I can't get over, no matter how I try

Sorry, I can't get the Scott Mills show to play at the moment, but I'll get up a better version of the McFly song (I hope) whenever that happens, though I expect it should be all over the Internet by then.

Anyway, quick Ola Svensson update: his new single "S.O.S." will debut on Rix FM this Friday morning (well, Friday morning in Sweden) at 7:30 AM. Oh, and the album, Good Enough, is officially out October 3. I really want to hear "S.O.S." to get an idea of what the rest of the album is going to sound like and to try to get a better idea of its quality.

While we're talking of Swedish albums, though, September's sure-to-be-fantastic third album Dancing Shoes comes out September 26, BWO's third album (excluding Halcyon Nights, which was all remixes) Fabricator comes out September 19, Da Buzz's greatest hits album comes out October 24 (if you've not heard much from them--and their albums are available on iTunes stores throughout the world, I think--it would be worth picking up, or at least thinking about), and Martin Stenmarck's fourth album Det är så pojkar gör när kärleken dör comes out November 7. Did I forget anyone?

(Still wish I knew something about what Tony Nilson was doing, though--his own album would be great, but failing that, I hope he's writing for people...)

Don't look back

I'm worried--first I'm underwhelmed by the latest September single and now the latest Da Buzz single has me feeling similarly underwhelmed. It's not that "Can't Get Over" or "Baby Listen To Me" are bad songs, but I know both the acts in question are capable of pop brilliance. Of course, the first time I heard "Take All My Love," Da Buzz's latest single in Sweden ("Baby Listen To Me" hasn't been released in Sweden yet and I'm not sure if it's going to be--fingers crossed they've got a stronger song instead--it's out in countries like Russia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania) I was underwhelmed as well, and now I think my initial impressions couldn't have been more wrong, so I'm definitely still excited about the album (the same is true for September's next album), which Da Buzz said was due out this summer. Speaking of September and Da Buzz, "Cry For You" is doing well on U.S. dance charts and it's hoped that will lead to some inroads on pop radio and "Take All My Love" is getting a U.S. release (as some previous Da Buzz singles have in the past). I don't truly expect anything to happen outside the dance charts, but I would be thrilled if September and Da Buzz could have some sort of mainstream success here!

So, if I'm disappointed, why am I sharing it? Even a subpar Da Buzz single makes for a good fun pop song. "Baby Listen To Me" would make a more than respectable album track and even an enjoyable listen on the radio; it just doesn't compare to, say, "Without Breaking," "Dangerous," or "Let Me Love You."

Baby, Listen To Me--I think my main problem is that this song isn't as hard-hitting as I would like. It's not as if I think Da Buzz are only good in dance stormer mode (I love "Stop! Look! Listen!"), but this song is in the same vein as their dance tracks without actually being as strong as them. That said, it's already grown on me a good deal in the time I've been listening to it, so I'm hoping it will continue to do so; don't be surprised if I'm saying I love it soon. As is true for most Da Buzz songs, it's catchy, poppy, and danceable. At first, the "nah nah nah nah nah hey"s seemed sort of like a cop-out, a weakness--"we don't know what else to say, so let's just throw in some of these"--but I like them now. In fact, as I listen to the song while typing this up, I keep wanting to take back any criticism I might have of it...but then thoughts of the power of the aforementioned tracks slip back into my mind. I guess maybe the best way to say it is this: in the world of pop, it's a good song, but it's not going to be challenging for the title of Da Buzz's best single anytime soon.

I'm not sure where you can buy "Baby Listen To Me" (which I've seen elsewhere referred to as just "Listen To Me"), but you can buy Da Buzz's most recent single in Sweden, "Take All My Love," here (physical) or here (digital). Their albums are available in iTunes stores around the world and if you don't know any of their previous work, I definitely recommend picking up some other songs (albums, really) by them.

Next up: an American duo.

You don't know what you're missin'

Numerous other blogs have featured Da Buzz, but I have to write about them anyhow--they've created some great music over the years. The three person group, fronted by Annika Thörnquist, is from Sweden. They're on their fifth album so far and, though I don't have all of those five albums, I'd say it's definitely worth buying some of their work if you like upbeat pop/Euro-pop/dance-pop. It's hard to even know where to begin with them, as they've created so many good songs over the years. I will say that you absolutely must hear "Without Breaking," but I'm not going to post it as other blogs have. Interestingly, despite releasing singles since 1999, the band only got its first #1 in 2006, when "Last Goodbye," the title track and lead single for their latest album, managed to make the top of the charts.

Dangerous--from the album also titled Dangerous, this song reached #5 back in 2004. Like most of their songs, it's poppy dance-pop and very catchy.

Stop, Look, Listen--though still upbeat, this song is less dance-influenced, probably because it was their entry in the 2003 Melodifestivalen. I like the idea of the back-and-forth voices, though I'm not sure how well it actually works. Still, though the song has its weaknesses, it's also so poppy, so catchy, and so fun that I love it. I love the live performance of it as well, though maybe it wasn't showy enough to do well in Melodifestivalen (like most of my favorites this year, it didn't make it out of the semifinals). Plus, as I've mentioned before, I love poppy songs that have a "breakdown" moment where it feels like you should be clapping along with your hands over your head...and, yup, "Stop, Look, Listen" has one.

I'd without doubt recommend buying some of their albums; the song "Dangerous" comes from Dangerous, which you can get here (physical) or here (digital) and the song "Stop, Look, Listen" comes from the album More Than Alive, which you can get here (physical) or here (digital). Even US iTunes has their albums! I generally avoid tossing around the word "poptastic," but that's truly the best way to describe Da Buzz.

On the topic of Swedish pop, if you're at all interested in it, you absolutely must be reading You Don't Know Pop--Troy's just got back from Sweden and the Melodifestivalen final, and he brings with him 50 CDs!

Next up: probably a song from France.