- Audio CD (17 May 2010)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Heartbeat
- ASIN: B003GE69KW
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,715 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Review
The much-quoted epithet "writing about music is like dancing about architecture", which may or may not have been first uttered by the late, great Frank Zappa, is never more applicable than when a scribe is presented with a dance record. The sole intention of Grum, aka Leeds-based Scot Graeme Shepherd, is to fill a club with revelry, not to flick the switches of the critical consignetti. His music is a gateway to release for the everyman, not the preserve of the muso.
Which is not to say this is a bad record–it's far from that. This is a great record in the right circumstances–a great record with giant disco balls hanging from its extremities, stupidly dangerous heels on its feet and a row of neon shots lined up before it. A shiny set that exudes a carefree spirit and nails its colours to the mast of mass sing-alongs after just two tracks: the Hall & Oates-meets-M83 magic of Through the Night and Can't Shake This Feeling, which fuses classic New York house with a beachside rave on a Spanish island. Both are deceptively detailed of design but absolutely instant of hit; both are mindless fun on an escapist level, and meticulous of arrangement should one take the time to really listen to what's going on.
As Heartbeats shifts its shape to accommodate forms including Italo-disco, Justice-like bangers and future funk, it never loses sight of its central purpose: to enliven anyone's night, be that before the taxi arrives or when the evening reaches its arms-aloft peak. It's no surprise at all to learn that Shepherd's favourite albums include Daft Punk's Discovery, as Heartbeats shares that record's glossy aesthetic–not so layered that it only reflects its influences, but able to present them anew with a hefty dollop of individuality.
Call it dumb if you must–it sure isn't going to turn the tastes of more rockist types–but unlike much music that focuses purely on the dancefloor there are hidden depths to Heartbeats. It charms with such ease that it's hard to accept it's a debut, and that its maker is only in his early 20s. Every track hits a sticky sweet spot, and when one reads elsewhere on the 'net that an album's title-track is the "greatest song of the 21st century", well, it's worth investigating. Just be sure that the context is right before cracking this open. --Mike Diver
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It's good to dance! Grum is Graeme Shepherd. He comes
from Scotland and makes very good dance music.
Truth-be-told it's quite simple fayre but the beauty of some of
the best music to hurl yourself about to lays in its simplicity.
Mr Shepherd understands this very well.
His creations are relatively uncluttered. Four-square beats,
shiny synth melodies, undemanding singalong vocal contributions.
What more could you want? A perfectly-formed, mindlessly happy,
soundtrack for the summer. Sangria, six-packs and sunshine!
With an eye turned craftily backwards to the disco-ball euphoria
of the eighties and nineties and a deft grasp of the gyratory
needs of clubland's current fast and furiously fickle appetite,
'Heartbeat' is a cunning and well-constructed manifesto for discerning
modern movers and shakers. There really isn't a duff tune in the bunch
as long as you're open to the possibility of simply enjoying yourself.
If, however, you are in search of music which explores and stretches
the boundaries of what it is possible to achieve in the medium of
sound and rhythm then you may need to look and listen elsewhere.
'Can't Shake This Feeling' sounds like a familiar old sweater
whose wool has been unraveled and re-knitted to wrap around a
brand new, slimmer, fitter, contemporary silhouette. Delightful!
'Runaway' gives a respectful nod and wink towards Giorgio Moroder.
I half-expected Mme Summer to chime in at any moment. (She doesn't!)
Title track 'Heartbeats' is chock-full of wonderful bleeps and
twitterings. The big anthemic synth chords (even though you've heard
their like a hundred times before) are so guilelessly constructed
that it is virtually impossible to resist the urge to wriggle!
'Turn It Up' gets all tangled up in the skirts of late-eighties
Madonna and lives to tell the tale. A convincingly cheeky confection.
Oh my! 'The Really Long One' really is very difficult to stay still
to! The slippery disembodied voices and deliciously anachronistic
electronic string arrangement weave in and out of the big, bad
and highly infectious synth-bass and drum motif, adding depth and
atmosphere to one of the album's most satisfying compositions.
Final track 'Someday We'll Be Together' bumps and grinds
like a wildebeest in heat! (Hold that thought!) A powerful
mid-tempo conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable collection.
(I'm just loving the robot-world vocal treatments!)
Rip up the rug, turn on the liquid wheel
projector and get into the groove!
Highly Recommended.
from Scotland and makes very good dance music.
Truth-be-told it's quite simple fayre but the beauty of some of
the best music to hurl yourself about to lays in its simplicity.
Mr Shepherd understands this very well.
His creations are relatively uncluttered. Four-square beats,
shiny synth melodies, undemanding singalong vocal contributions.
What more could you want? A perfectly-formed, mindlessly happy,
soundtrack for the summer. Sangria, six-packs and sunshine!
With an eye turned craftily backwards to the disco-ball euphoria
of the eighties and nineties and a deft grasp of the gyratory
needs of clubland's current fast and furiously fickle appetite,
'Heartbeat' is a cunning and well-constructed manifesto for discerning
modern movers and shakers. There really isn't a duff tune in the bunch
as long as you're open to the possibility of simply enjoying yourself.
If, however, you are in search of music which explores and stretches
the boundaries of what it is possible to achieve in the medium of
sound and rhythm then you may need to look and listen elsewhere.
'Can't Shake This Feeling' sounds like a familiar old sweater
whose wool has been unraveled and re-knitted to wrap around a
brand new, slimmer, fitter, contemporary silhouette. Delightful!
'Runaway' gives a respectful nod and wink towards Giorgio Moroder.
I half-expected Mme Summer to chime in at any moment. (She doesn't!)
Title track 'Heartbeats' is chock-full of wonderful bleeps and
twitterings. The big anthemic synth chords (even though you've heard
their like a hundred times before) are so guilelessly constructed
that it is virtually impossible to resist the urge to wriggle!
'Turn It Up' gets all tangled up in the skirts of late-eighties
Madonna and lives to tell the tale. A convincingly cheeky confection.
Oh my! 'The Really Long One' really is very difficult to stay still
to! The slippery disembodied voices and deliciously anachronistic
electronic string arrangement weave in and out of the big, bad
and highly infectious synth-bass and drum motif, adding depth and
atmosphere to one of the album's most satisfying compositions.
Final track 'Someday We'll Be Together' bumps and grinds
like a wildebeest in heat! (Hold that thought!) A powerful
mid-tempo conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable collection.
(I'm just loving the robot-world vocal treatments!)
Rip up the rug, turn on the liquid wheel
projector and get into the groove!
Highly Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this album after I read the AMAZING review above. Get this...every track on this album is a total corker especially Turn It Up.
Format:Audio CD
After reading all the reviews i couldn't resist buying this as I am a fan of Daft Punk and good old dance music. This is awesome! You could listen to this on a Sunday morning whilst chilling and recovering from the night before; when you were playing this at full volume and partying.
Would love to find some more stuff like this. (Will sit in my collection next to Mylo, Royksopp-Melody AM..........)
Would love to find some more stuff like this. (Will sit in my collection next to Mylo, Royksopp-Melody AM..........)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great music - But not all expected
The music is great and very 80s - A bit dissapointed that they are all radio edits though and no club mixes. Read more
Published 21 months ago by lex
Groovy!
Aww man, that second track - "I cant shake this feeling". Pure 80s groove. Makes me all nostalgic for summers in the park, with a big ghettoblaster (sorry kiddies you wont have a... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Snaggletooth
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