Bros Laughing Alone(-Together) With Booze

[Video][Website]
[3.78]

Scott Mildenhall: As imaginary youth “movements”/musical genres go, nu rave gained quite a lot of traction, the remnants of its aesthetic visible as late as September last year. Beyond Klaxons, Hadouken! may have been the only band to bring it to the UK top 40, but then for a sound that only ever really existed in the respective minds of the writers of Skins and NME, that’s not bad going. Over half a decade on, stripped of both the albatross and assistance of that tag, as well as a record deal, they seem to have made best use of Billboard’s recent rule changes and earned themselves a minor American hit. Opinions on that may vary, but the song stands up on its own well enough; a bit too loud to suggest levitation — maybe more of a Pendulous motion — but that revving chorus replacement of a bassline is exhilarating, and that is very much the point.
[7]

Iain Mew: Hadouken! must have thrown some party when the Hot 100 rules changed. The video to “Levitate” is their second to rack up more than 50 million YouTube views. This time, the lyrics appear to have been written with the viral video in mind. Watching it I was struck by the fact that the first shot is of an American Football player; Hadouken! are British. Billboard is basically rewarding them for becoming the musical equivalent of The Oatmeal. The only slightly endearing feature is that their music is still far too gawky to feel search engine optimised.
[3]

Jonathan Bogart: Well bully for you.
[3]

Brad Shoup: This song is a Ministry of Sound deal, but the full-band dance attack has that brototypical Red Bull Records feel. I guess it levitates — like how Criss Angel levitates — but a neater trick would be acceleration. If you’re going to crib from the rave era, go to the wall. As it is, I have to wonder what the power metal version would sound like.
[5]

Jer Fairall: Storming ’80s metal guitars, shrieking video game synths (appropriately enough) and an exclamation point tagged onto their name. Vocals this wan need all the help they can get.
[2]

Patrick St. Michel: There might — MIGHT — be enough going on here to justify like two minutes, but more than four? With this guy’s voice? Intolerable.
[1]

Crystal Leww: The going higher metaphor seems kind of obvious for dance music, doesn’t it?
[4]

Will Adams: Much as I’d like to believe that everything has a purpose, I’ve spent the past half-hour wondering what function “Pendulum wedding band” could serve. Still nothing. This must be what people hear in that Swedish House Mafia song.
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: Lately I’m on this kick where I keep downloading the past decade’s crossover dance tracks of variable quality — you know, up to and including “Sandstorm” — just to hear them one more time, gonna celebrate. “Levitate” is thuddingly obvious bro-rave, paced less like levitation than being juggled by mechas on molly. It’s probably bad, but I can already tell in 2023 I’m gonna be hunting it down with the M. T. Anderson cloud chip that’ll be welded to my cortex by then. Hopefully we’ll still have privacy settings in 10 years.
[6]