Last night, I was driving around listening to early MTV VJ, Nina Blackwood's radio show, 'New Wave Nation'. I usually get a good fill of alternative and "post" everything from the '80s whenever I listen to her weekly program. This track from 1992, "Sweet Harmony", by the Beloved came on the air, and I wasn't really paying attention until the saxophone made an appearance. I Shazaam'd the song on my iPhone and made a note to check it out later on.

I searched out this video and really listened to "Sweet Harmony" this time. What really caught my ear was the Beloved's sound, and how it represented such a transition of decades and styles. The track definitely makes use of the growing Euro-dance vibes that ruled pop radio in the mid-'90s, but there's still something genuinely '80s about the band. There's a real moody, New Order sort of feel to the song that I really like.

You can find "Sweet Harmony" on the Beloved's 1993 album, Conscience. I've sampled a handful of the band's songs on iTunes to see what the rest of their catalog sounded like compared to to "Sweet Harmony" and they seem to be pretty consistent. There are some tracks are a bit more darker than others, while some are more dance-able and club driven.

- Matt