''Real Life Is No Cool'' is a

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Norwegian musician

Hans-Peter Lindstrøm Hans-Peter Lindstrøm (born 16 February 1973) is a Norwegian music producer who works under the name Lindstrøm. He established the music label Feedelity in 2002. He often collaborates with fellow producer Prins Thomas (together constituting th ...

and Norwegian-

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

singer Christabelle. The Lindstrøm-produced album was released January 18, 2010 in the UK and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the following day, on the

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

-based

Smalltown Supersound Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label, founded in Flekkefjord in 1993 and now based in Oslo, Norway. It is dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music. Their catalog features albums by Kelly Lee Owens, Deathprod, Nene ...

label. The special edition of the album was released with a bonus disc, containing six remixes. An exclusive edition containing a second disc which featured Lindstrøm's disco version of the Christmas classic "

Little Drummer Boy "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 195 ...

", was available only from the

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record store Rough Trade's website. This edition of the album was released November 30, 2009. The album's title is taken from a lyric in the track "Keep It Up".

Album history

Lindstrøm first met Christabelle (Isabelle Sandoo, then known as Solale) in 2001, while he shared studio time with her brother, DJ Dennis Jr. Lindstrøm listened to some of Solale's tracks, and got interested in collaborating with her. The first collaboration between Lindstrøm and Christabelle was the 12" titled "Music (In My Mind)" from 2003. Then in 2007, Lindstrøm released the 12" "Let's Practice" and the 10" "Let It Happen", which also featured Christabelle on vocals. These three tracks appeared at their first collaboration album, ''Real Life Is No Cool''. A collaborative album between the duo was planned since they first started working together, but did not materialized until 2010, due to Lindstrøm's hectic schedule. They began working on the album in 2008, before Lindstrøm released his debut studio album, '' Where You Go I Go Too''. Following this album's critical success, a hype was created around Lindstrøm's music, fueled by an overwhelming interest from music magazines, blogs and clubs. In December 2009, Lindstrøm released his 42-minutes long version of "

". It sparked huge interest and was mentioned in countless music blogs, among others by Edmund Conway in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''. As stated by the duo on Norwegian television show "Lydverket", several of the songs were improvised in the studio. They also performed "Lovesick" at the show. Lindstrøm is known among music journalists for preferring to work in studio, rather than performing live. However, he and Christabelle went on tour in March 2010.

Critical reception

The album was met with generally favorable reviews by critics, and generated a score of 80/100 on the review calculator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Several critics applauded Lindstrøm's new pop-oriented format, and his new take on disco, mixing

Balearic beat Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance music that wa ...

space disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and new wave. Christabelle's voice was described as "sexy and whispering" and Matthew Richardson in

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praised her contributions as being "alternately enthusiastic, aloof, earnest, and esoteric". Most critics highlighted the track "Baby Can't Stop", noting the similarity to

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's 1982 hit "

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson recorded for his sixth studio album '' Thriller'' (1982). It is the opening track of the album and was released as its fourth single on May 8, 1983, by Epic Records. It wa ...

" and his '' Thriller'' album. The collaboration between the two Norwegians was compared to

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

and

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

's work together in the 1970s. Louis Pattison in BBC Music described the experimental penultimate track "Never Say Never" as a "...whirl of backwards beats, twinkling harps and discombobulated vocals that’s both utterly disorientating and quite delightful." In an interview with

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Sea ...

, Lindstrøm and Christabelle named the songs "

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" by

Mtume Mtume (pronounced ''em-tu-may'') was an American funk and soul group that rose to prominence during the early 1980s and had several R&B hits during its career. Its founder, former percussionist James Mtume, previously played and toured with M ...

, " Between the Sheets" by

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

and " Computer Love" by Zapp & Roger as references for their work. They also said that they had tried to record a cover of the latter, without success, stating "maybe it's just too perfect".

Chart history

''Real Life Is No Cool'' debuted at #19 on the Norwegian album chart. The week after it fell to #39, before slipping out of the chart. The album did not manage to peak higher than Lindstrøm's debut album '' Where You Go I Go Too'', which peaked at #11. "Lovesick" was released as a digital promo single at March 22, 2010. It performed well at the Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders), where it peaked at #12 and has stayed four weeks on the chart.

Chart positions

"Lovesick"

Track listing

All songs written by Lindstrøm and Christabelle, except where noted. # "Looking For What" – 6:06 # "Lovesick" – 3:12 # "Let It Happen" (Vangelis, Dassin) – 4:53 # "Keep It Up" - 3:28 # "Music In My Mind" - 3:19 # "Baby Can't Stop" - 6:11 # "Let's Practise" - 5:42 # "So Much Fun" - 4:55 # "Never Say Never" - 3:08 # "High & Low" - 6:21

Bonus disc

# Baby Can't Stop (Aeroplane Vocal remix) - 7:24 # Baby Can't Stop (Prins Thomas remix) - 9:29 # Baby Can't Stop (Idjut Boys remix) - 7:32 # Looking For What (Sally Shapiro remix) - 6:59 # So Much Fun (Dølle Jølle remix) - 7:58 # Lovesick (Fan Death rework) - 3:17

Exclusive Rough Trade edition

# Little Drummer Boy - 42:42

Notes

* "Let It Happen" is a cover of track with the same name from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

artist

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

' 1973 album

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. * "Lovesick" was used in a

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commercial in the United States in the spring of 2010.

Personnel

* Christabelle Sandoo - vocals and songwriting *

- songwriting, electronics, recording and mixing. * Marita Sørlie - additional vocals on "Baby Can't Stop" * Eivind Lønning -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

on "Baby Can't Stop" * Erik Johanessen -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

on "Baby Can't Stop" * Knut Sævik - horn arrangements, additional mixing and recording *

Kim Hiorthøy Kim Hiorthøy (born March 17, 1973) is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator, filmmaker and writer. Biography Hiorthøy was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (1991–96 ...

- artwork

References

External links

Lindstrøm & Christabelle on My Space

Real Life Is No Cool on Metacritic.com

Feedelity Records
{{Authority control 2010 albums Hans-Peter Lindstrøm albums Collaborative albums Smalltown Supersound albums