Dancing, Crying and Dying

Can this song be any more perfect? Bouncy, moody synthpop with a bombastic hook: "I can't get over you / Even if they're dying in Africa." Well, I think an American pop singer would probably get a lot of flack for that, but it's a really effective line. Most of us have been in some sort of a tumultuous emotional relationship that makes you forget there are greater sufferings in the world.

I don't know very much about this Nicolas Makelberge, except that he's Swedish, has a myspace page that won't load on my computer, and released "Dying in Africa" in 2006 on an album with the same name. Johan Agebjorn put him on his Crying On The Dancefloor mix, so he's kinda jumbled in that neo italo disco revival, or possibly a male Sally Shapiro.

Of course, "Dying in Africa" sounds more like classic British synthpop than italo disco. It's super addictive, too. I've been fast-forwarding to this song from Agebjorn's mix quite regularly. Listening to some other album cuts from Makelberge's artist page on Rico Records will probably make me shell out the cash to buy it on import.

Great album artwork too. A bit like The Strokes' Is This It with a European sensibility.