Tove Lo breaks some hearts (and beds)

Carnally-obsessed Swedish pop maven Tove Lo has been sharing her songwriting skills with Australian dance wunderkind Flume, and the results are predictably earth-shattering.

Their collaboration, Say It, is a sensual, spellbinding track in which Tove is torn between ending a relationship and staying for some amazing sex. "Bite me babe," she sings. "You make me love the pain / Break my bed to make me wanna stay."

Cor blimey.


The song premiered on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show last night, where Flume explained how the collaboration came about.

"I was in LA doing some writing and I went to see Kanye at the Hollywood Bowl. On our way back, we stopped off at a bar. I heard a track that she [Tove Lo] did, I think it was Habits — I wasn’t really familiar with her stuff but I really, really liked it.

"I was like, 'who is this, I need to figure it out', so I Shazam'd it. Basically, my manager hit her up the day after and she happened to be in LA too and she was down to write. So, all within about two days, we got together and wrote that track. It just happened, it was easy, it was natural."

Tove added:

"I was in LA for a few days between tours when Harley reached out to me about writing together. I've been a big fan of him for a long time so I pretty much ran over to his studio. He played me some ideas which one of them was the track for Say It, and I just started vibing melodies over it and we put together something we loved. It was so relaxed and fun and kind of a new way for me to write. Very excited for people to hear it!"

So there you have it.

Say It comes from Flume's second album, Skin, which is out next week. It also features the sublime Never Be Like You, which was released last month.

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An important announcement & eight songs you may have missed

Alright then... This might be the last regular post in a while, as mrsdiscopop and I are about to become parents. I'll check in to the blog as often as I can over the next couple of months, but you'll understand if updates are a little patchy.

That aside, there's still plenty of quality music knocking about. For example...

1) Charli XCX - Break The Rules
"Going to the discotheque / getting high and getting wrecked." Marvellous.





2) David Guetta - Lovers on the Sun (ft Sam Martin)
Guetta, now officially in his late 40s, has clearly been listening to Avicii and making a few notes. This new single is cut from the same cloth as Avicii's adventures in country music - although the French maestro adds a few b-movie flourishes of his own. Surprisingly effective, and a welcome break from his well-worn template.




3) Ella Eyre - Comeback
WARNING: These vocal stunts were performed by a professional Ella Eyre. Do not attempt them at home.





4) Arcade Fire - Afterlife (Flume Mix)
The phrases "Arcade Fire" and "dance remix" go together like "emotion" and "Nicole Kidman's face" - but this 10-minute epic is the exception that proves the rule that lives in the house that jack built.





5) Michael Jackson - A Place With No Name
Top YouTube comment: "I thought he was dead?"




6) Stacy Clark - Figured it Out
One of those rare, unsolicited songs that pings into my inbox and isn't utter rubbish.

Stacy Clark brings a refreshing singer-songwriter sound to electro pop. Imagine Katy Perry as written by Ingrid Michaelson and you'll have a fair idea of where this is heading.






7) The Spinners - Rubberband Man
Huey Morgan played this on his incomparable 6 Music show two weeks ago and it's my new favourite song in the world, not least because of this ridiculously 1970s TV performance (I won't spoil the surprise but you must stick around to the three minute point).

The 70s funk song, from the same band who sang It's A Shame, was written for their producer's son who was being teased about his weight at school.

Now, I'm only just starting down the road to parenthood but I'm not convinced the lyric: "He's a big fat man who moves real good" would have helped.



8) Ella Henderson - Glow
Following up the almighty Ghost with a slower, but no less catchy single, here's the best singer ever to escape the clutches of X Factor.

And that's a wrap. Hope to keep this going amidst the madness... Mrdiscopop xx

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New music: Flume - Holdin' On

"You're a hip-shakin' momma, I love you."

So says Flume, aka 21-year-old Harley Streten, an Australian producer who owes his career to a box of Sugar Puffs*.

As he explained to Oz website Everguide: "I discovered this little music-making program in a cereal box when I was around 10 or 11-years-old. I installed it on my computer and mucked around on it, and ever since then I've been getting better programs. I started making music as a hobby, but within the last two years it’s become my job".

It's a job he's pretty good at - Flume's debut album kept One Direction off the top of the iTunes Chart in Australia last year. His first UK single, Holdin' On, is now getting some love over at Radio One.

Built around a doctored sample from Otis Redding's I Can't Turn You Loose (the one from the infamous mall scene in The Blues Brothers), it dials down exuberance of the original, making Redding sound like he's about to explode with lust. It's really quite something.

Flume - Holdin' On

* Actually, it was a box of Nutri-Grain, but who's going to let facts get in the way of a good story? If it's good enough for Boris Johnson, it's good enough for me.

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