Saturday, April 23, 2011

New music: Jai Paul ? BTSTU

One year on, this internet hit is released in its finished version. And the phenomenon continues ...

When Jai Paul's demo of BTSTU emerged last March it sent the music blogging community into meltdown. Superlatives were thrown around like confetti and ? as with any good blog phenomenon ? a lack of information about the song's creator only fuelled the interest. Made in under an hour on a basic computer program (and featuring a strange sax solo on the outro simply because that was the only instrument his friend could play), it was only emailed to blogs after Paul's brother heard it and got excited. Fast forward a year and the song has emerged in its finished form via XL Recordings, who won a signing war with practically every other label. So why the fuss?

The brilliance of BTSTU is the way it juxtaposes elements that shouldn't really work together ? the way the falsetto vocals ride over the big drum claps, or the big juddering synth riff that rumbles under a gorgeously melodic chorus. The finished version isn't a million miles away from the demo, but the devil's in the detail, with just a few extra elements thrown in for good measure (the way the beat drops out suddenly at 1:34, just before he sings "but ..."). Expect big things.

BTSTU is available to buy on iTunes now.


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