Cards on the table, for a while there I wasn't gonna bother reviewing this at all. Not because there's anything wrong with it, you understand. It is, after all made up of a truly monolithic synth riff, the kind of thing you could build a sonic Stonehenge out of. And then adorned with a silly wheezily cheesy 'n cheap saxophone sample: you can't tell me they paid a real sax player to make his cherished horn sound like that. 

The ace in the hole is the brilliantly bored-sounding Belgian voice intoning the title, and a few choice observations about the point of our measly existance, over the top. Even his most engaged and exciteable moment, the drunken "la-la" refrain, is riddled with a sneer made up of pure "oh MUST I?"

What, I ask you, is there not to love about that?

The problem is, there just didn't seem to be a lot to say about it, beyond "good job, Stromae", and possibly "you might want to hire a real saxophone player next time". And before you say it, I am WELL aware that not-having-anything-to-say has never stopped anyone from writing about music in the past, least of all the good people of ChartBlog. Maybe there was a world tangent shortage or something. In any case, no review. Nosirreebob.

Of course, now Kanye West has got involved, and decided to throw a remix out there. That changes EVERYTHING. Not least because it offers a fascinating glimpse into the working mind of our egotistically-enhanced rap hero. I mean, how does Kanye West even approach a remix?

(">Here is the original video. Here's a picture of a seagull.)

Well, being a practical sort, he has elected to keep the things that he likes, and throw out the stuff which he does not. So the riff stays, as does the sax and the Belgian's bored choruses. What you will now struggle to hear is the absence of Kanye West, that was the first thing that just HAD to go.

Next up, why keep all that silly doubtful talk, about the woes of the world, and where we all fit in and how depressing our lives may or may not be? Why wallow through all that bleakness before we get to the shrugged revelation that dancing is, and always has been, our best release? It's all in French anyway, so why not bin it and replace it with...replace it with...I KNOW! How about a big rap about how brilliant Kanye West is, by Kanye West? That's something the world has NEVER HEARD BEFORE.

And - with a little help from Gilbert Forte - before you can say "whoah horsey!", the remix is done.

What can I say? The man knows what he likes.

Download: Out now

www.myspace.com/stromae
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

Musik's My Life says: "I could not tell you who these people are, other than Mr. West of course."

Planet Ill says: "'Alors On Danse (So We Dance)' was released last year with Stromae rapping in French, which by the way, is a brutal language on the mic."

SlothBoogie says: "It will get in your head and stay there"

It's always great when a song comes with a little bit of room in it, a little space to play around in. It doesn't have to be much, just the sense that there is something incomplete in what you are listening to, something that you have to fill in for yourself.

That's not to say everything has to sound unfinished, just that you don't have to either explain or repeat every single impulse that went into making the song. You also don't have to make everything childishly simple. Clear is good, but if you leave some of your thoughts unfinished, and let everyone else finish them for you, it's almost like a conversation.

This is a perfect example. A fairly straightforward early-days relationship song about trust, from the perspective of someone who's a bit too tightly buttoned-up to let her defences down. She'd like to, but she's not going to.

It's also a song which raises questions left and right, and refuses to answer a single one of them.

(">Here's the video. For a tour video it's amazingly unsweaty.)

For example: why does Robyn want to put someone through what seems to be a fairly rigorous selection process, just in order to be pals with them? Why does she want to be reassured that they can just be friends, and then sing "I know what's on your mind, and there'll be time for that too"?

Why does she insist that it would be a terrible idea for that selfsame person to "fall recklessly, headlessly in love" with her? Why is she so sure it'll lead to heartbreak? Is it because she's been hurt so badly in the past that she HAS to be in control of her relationships, to an obsessive degree, and therefore she knows she'll spoil things? Chances are it is, but we don't KNOW, and it's the not knowing which is the fun.

Well, the not-knowing and the deathless rush of the chorus, which is mighty. And Robyn's frail warble, which is always at its most powerful when she's acting tough. All of which combine to sell a song which - from other voices and dumber lyricists - would possibly struggle to be quite the thing it now is.

Luckily, this is not a problem we will ever have to deal with. *dusts off hands*

Download: Out now

www.robyn.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

Pop Journalism says: 'Hang With Me' is Robyn's best single yet -- which is saying a lot considering her prodigious output over the past five years."

Spin Or Bin Music says: "It's difficult to chide her on not breaking new ground when she does what-she-does so well."

That Dork Jordan says: "I am in LOVE."

We've all got friends for whom pop music is not a big thing. They might feel they're above it, or too old to get excited about it nowadays, as if the ears suddenly turn to cardboard once you're past a certain age. They still well up if a song has been used appropriately in a TV drama or a film, and they'll be up on the dance-floor with everyone else if the situation demands it, but otherwise it's not an abiding passion.

I also have friends like this, and we've never really felt the need to discuss or debate the issue. I'm into music, they're into cricket or literature or toast or whatever and that's just the way it is. However, recently there's been a change. Two of my non-music friends, entirely independently of each other, recently admitted to being rather partial to the songs of Example. They didn't even really know who he was, they just heard some tunes and decided they liked them.

Now, from a sample group of this size it is not possible to draw scientifically significant conclusions, but if it was, would that not rather suggest that Example's sonic stylings are stronger than normal music? Strong enough to break past years of indifference and avoidance?

Or would it just mean that he literally makes music for people who do not like music?

(">Here's the video. Can you feel the force?)

It's a tough one to call, isn't it? Because on the surface of it, it's not like this song contains music which is SO amazingly distracting that it simply cannot be ignored, even if you are up to the most exciting chapter in The Expert's Guide To Newt Management. Or at least, not more distracting than other modern forms of popular song.

Mind you, it does start with those stabby synths, an introduction that dramatic has to be an attention-grabber. And once the ear has been pricked, that's a good place to jump in with your little tales of bad behaviour. It's nice that the taxi-driver they've just run away from has the chance to offer a disapproving little grunt too. That's inclusive. People like to feel included.

And he sings the first bit, thus drawing in the rap-phobics, before hitting them full in the face with his lyrical flow. It's like he's saying "yeah, you want to know why we don't sit in the seats when we're on the tube? Well you're gonna have to put up with THIS RAPPING FIRST". So by the time we get to the chorus, he's treated us mean, he's kept us keen, and then, the double-whammy: stabby synths AND singing AND a drunken arm around the shoulder leading us outside for a night of pure silliness.

And it's a very euphoric kind of silly, which is the best sort. The kind of euphoria you just don't get from stamp-collecting, unless you have found a very rare penny black in someone else's library book, and run off with it before they can protest.

Download: September 12th

www.trythisforexample.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

Sputnik Music says: " I caught half of his headline set at a local music festival hoping in vain I'd be treated to some of his early work only to be disappointed."

The Kaje says: " I'm just not sure the album makes a big enough statement to make it memorable this time next year."

Coffee City Music Lounge says: "Check out this cover [Ed Sheeran has] dropped of rapper Example's forthcoming single 'Last Ones Standing' I personally dig it 1 000 000 times more than the original which is quite cool."