This is perfect. It’s genuine talent, making an instantly recognisable, stupidly memorable pop song. It has the capacity to drive a nation mad with over-exposure. Let’s hope it gets it, eh?
MIDDLEMAN do all their own stuff, but I've spent a weekend trying to track down the famous opening clip that I assumed they had sampled. It's a two-line hook that demolishes 15 year old ego-fragility and gives it a massive cuddle of approval in the process. Kids, their desperate parents and their worn-out teachers will love it just the same - from all ends of the battleground.
All together now:
He's talkin' at me he's like, "blah blah blah blah"
And I'm not listenin' I'm like, "yeah yeah yeah yeah"
It seems I had heard a version on Alan Raw's BBC North programme a month or two back - just once, and it had stuck fast in the chunk of brain cells reserved for perfect zeitgeist markers. Hearing it again was like bumping into a deep memory: it's some sort of collective catchphrase that we all know instinctively. Utterly ace. And 100% original to the MIDDLEMAN boys. (I had it checked). After that, an adroit set of bass synth growls and MIDDLEMAN'S unmistakable bounce keep it up - trampolining Andy Craven-Griffiths' smart vocal rap off Slurpy's goodtime drum sound.
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B side "When You're In Love" is racing optimism and Krishna Thiruchelvam's rousingly upbeat slide guitar. There's a great tune too, and why it wouldn’t be a number one hit in it’s own right needs careful explanation. Especially once the totally groovy bleeps have taken over 26 seconds before the end.
MIDDLEMAN will be all over the festivals this summer. The people who know these things tell me the live show is even bigger than these two monster tracks. Go see 'em. I will be.
www.myspace.com/middlemanpop
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