Eurovision 2012

This weekend, while we were all watching Paul McCartney trying to remember the words to “Rhinestone Cowboy”, Hungary made their final selection for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great… … umm, with great… great… oh, whatever.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the men of Compact Disco, a sullen bunch who make up in shoulder pads what they lack in stage presence. Sadly, I can’t see this song making it very far in a competition that rewards spectacle. It’s positively dour. It’s ESL lyrics are laughably clunky even by Eurovision standards, and, well… have a look:

The saddest part of whatever that mess was is that Compact Disco are really not a bad band. They’re just not a very good live band. (And this song is pretty horrible too, although the studio version is markedly better.) This Budapest-based quartet led by producer Benham Lofti, and featuring the vocals of former talent show finalist Csaba Walko, are coming off the regional success of their singles “Fly or Dive” and “I’m in Love”, both of which (but especially the latter) are pretty great dance songs – upbeat but with a dark thematic core. Check out the video (NSFW) for “I’m In Love” below. Then go to Amazon, where, in fact, you can actually download both their studio albums (or, y’know, just the singles) at refreshingly non-import prices!