6. Tensnake – Glow
The word pop means different things to different people. Some believe that as soon as your music, whatever genre it is, goes mainstream and hits the charts it automatically becomes ‘pop’. Then there are those who see pop as a dirty word, a word that automatically means the artist has sold out and is aiming for the lowest common denominator. But it’s actually a lot simpler: there’s good pop (MJ, ABBA, Blondie) and bad pop (Ant & Dec, Zig & Zag, R Kelly).
Tensnake’s debut album ‘Glow’ is a pop record at its core – there is no doubt. It’s an ambitious debut album that sees the Hamburg house producer challenge himself to make something that’ll stand the test of time. The great thing about any really good pop record is the variety on offer and that’s where ‘Glow’ shines. Not only do you get a variety of sub-genres – from disco to house to funk – there’s also a wealth of collaborations on offer, too, including Jacques Lu Cont, Nile Rodgers, MNEK and Fiora.
Tensnake’s debut album ticks almost all the boxes, there’s at least 4 or 5 songs that could easily make the grade as full-blown singles – and the collaborations work just as well individually as they do as a group. It’s razor-sharp pop without any of the downsides, and these sorts of albums only come around once in a blue moon. Essentially, Tensnake could have easily made a straight-up house album and I’m sure that would have been quite nice, but with ‘Glow‘ you’ve got something so much more: it’s fantastically over-the-top in places and at no point does it sound forced – it simply sounds like a man having fun.
Written by Andrew Rafter
