Still not as good as this…

[Video][Website]
[6.11]

Tara Hillegeist: I’m so grateful for mainstream-ambitious synth-pop’s rediscovery of the saxophone. There’s a heady brightness to “Jubel” that isn’t anything so much as the sensation of cresting the steps up from the club to the street just as the dawn breaks cross the road, put to a beat. It’s all in the collection of little pieces, bits to make you go “that” — that gentle sonic strobe that overtakes the song’s back half; that gormlessly cliche piano intro overtaken by a loping guitar melody; that shaking and clapping, dancing beside the rest of the track, except when they come up like apostrophes to bracket the song; and, of course, that smooth sax solo. At about two minutes in, convinced it had gone on for at least two more, I checked the timestamps to wonder how much longer it would last. I was worried Klingande would never stop and if they didn’t stop I wouldn’t stop, either, and I wanted to stop and catch my breath; it felt so good. But by the time they started counting off “one, two, three, four” — I could listen to this forever, you know?
[9]

Katherine St Asaph: House saxobeat! For something so inevitable, “Jubel” is refreshingly inventive and, crucially, un-selfconscious.
[7]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Life is corny and cold enough for this nonsense. “Jubel” is about safety and saving and that sax will probably tell you how to save great deals at your local SaxMart this week but ugh to this, guys. It’s January. I have no time for such asinine jollity.
[3]

Anthony Easton: This rests on a bedrock of delightfully greasy saxophone — which is almost enough — but the midpoint count-in with the handclaps and the synths, just before the vocals, makes everything that much more delightful.
[8]

Cédric Le Merrer: I’m French and I’ve never heard of these guys. They’re kind of an anomaly: the French electronic press is all about hyping Brodinski guys, and Klingande, with their Bleeding Gums Murphy-like sax solos, are way out of the current good taste zone. But even though I’d really like to be able to champion this underdog story, hating this type of cheesy sax solo is one of the Ten Signs I’m An 80s Kid. Klingande are from the 90’s, so they don’t care, but if you want me to recommend a French electro-jazz band (not that I’d expect anyone to ever ask me for that), I’d tell you to listen to Aufgang.
[2]

Scott Mildenhall: Laidback house tracks intended to be read as “tropical” and/or “jazzy” seem to be quite a thing in parts of mainland Europe at the moment, and generally they’re a good one. There can be a problem when getting too laidback though; this is as if Alexandra Stan went for boring instead of bubbly. Accordingly it’s far less instant than “Finder” or “Ein Tag Am Strand” or this Pnau remix, closer to the subtleties of “Sonnentanz”, but it’s clearly confident in its sax for a reason — it just might need time.
[6]

Zach Lyon: You could almost rename the video “10 Hours of Ecstatic 80s Saxophone” and I wouldn’t feel any less about it. But they do some nice things — the little sax, uh, drop, at 2:49, specifically, providing the necessary and nourishing climax.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Admit it, the first fifty seconds are dispiriting: David Gray piano, the politest of congas, the wobbly sequencer. Preparation, however, for a decent sax line, one of the better ones in recent memory. The guitar is even better.
[6]

Brad Shoup: I guess music’s in a post-comedy age, which is a shame, cos even with my track record of taking nonsense seriously, that sax cracks me up. (Also the synth programmed to go “wow-wow-wow-wow”. And the presence of Sergio on the first page of image results for the group name. And that they were nominated for a World Music Award for World’s Best Group with eight thousand fucking other acts.) The singer does her best to keep things on track — shaking out vowels like a dusty mat — but oh no, here comes that pervy sax, back to turn on the lights on!
[7]