Songs of the Day

Reviewing tracks 4 - 7 esta noche: "Within," "Instant Crush (ft Julian Casablancas)," "Lose Yourself to Dance (ft Pharrel Williams)," and "Touch (ft Paul Williams)."  The piano intro to "Within" is pretty dope, and the modulation into the motif is nice.  I'm a little indifferent to the talk box - I could have gone with it, or an actual voice would probably be cool too.  This groove could be so much better if the drum feel was different, I really am not a fan of them.  They made the song sound kind of corny when a different drum feel could have made it funky.  Coulda been betta.  Luckily "Instant Crush" has a pretty cool groove.  It's got this 80s rock/electronic-pop feel going on that I dig.  The pick up in the chorus is really funky and has a great upbeat feel that really makes you want to dance.  I also really like that the funkiness of the chorus is unexpected since the verses are a more low-key feel - it's a cool juxtaposition.  Julian Casablancas voice effect works for the song, so I dig it.  Solid song.  "Lose Yourself to Dance" follows right on with it.  I wouldn't have expected anything less since Pharrell is on it.  This is a pretty funky groove goin on.  The bass is holding it down, and I like that the guitar part is keeping it up.  The track has a really cool build to it throughout the tune, adding addition vocal parts that continually build the song up.  Love the guitar/claps break, and then bringing the groove gradually back in.  The last two are definitely my favorite tracks on the album thus far.  "Touch" is kind of a weird song, and I don't know how I feel about it.  The intro is pretty cool, sounds like we're on an alien planet, but like what people thought an alien planet would sound like in 1950.  The dude speaking gets pretty creepy, but the whole thing is pretty entertaining.  Was not expecting it to go to the opening feel.  This song is a compilation of five different styles of one motif, the first being low with the piano and Paul.  I'm not a huge fan of Paul Williams voice, I can't pinpoint it, but it's almost got too much of a (bad) Broadway feel to it.  Just doesn't fit with the album.  I like what it starts to go into, but I don't like the saloon piano sound in the second feel.  I think it makes it sound corny, and the groove didn't need it.  The much slower version in part 3 is pretty cool, and I dig the talk box harmonies, but I wish the choir wasn't added in the background.  The choir didn't provide anything beneficial to the sound.  Part D is pretty cool too, the strings sound really good.  The choir sounds much better on this feel, and I think it's really cool that it starts very much in the background and slowly comes forward in the groove.  The space shit that takes it out is cool, but I wish it just ended there instead of going to Paul.  I understand how the cohesiveness of bringing it back ties the song together, but I think going back to that really slow beginning brings the groove down when it was in such a high place.