15 September 2008

by Simon T Diplock

A Silent Film, Camp Actor, Estelle, Five O'Clock Heroes, Ladyhawke, McFly, Model Horror, Mr. Scruff, The Black Keys, The Chemists, The Cure, The Dodos, The Hustle, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Zzz

"‘The Perfect Boy’ is blessed with charm, intelligence, addictive melodies, and no little dreamy style too. Properly good."

The Cure – The Perfect Boy
Properly good this. Oh sure The Cure might be a decade or so past their best but ‘The Perfect Boy’ is blessed with charm, intelligence, addictive melodies, and no little dreamy style. Quite special on its own then but working especially well as a taster for forthcoming ‘4:13 Dream’ full-length too.

Estelle - Pretty Please (Love Me)
She continues to impress by her choice of friends (Wyclef Jean, Kanye West of course, and it’s Gnarls Barkley big-man Cee-Lo that steps up here) rather than her songs, but Estelle sounds slightly more soulful here than before. About two months too late to be the summery hit it hopes though.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday
Despite everything suggesting this will be rubbish (oh, that name is just the start of it) this is sparkly noise like the Pixies make and actually quite lovely.

A Silent Film – Thirteen Times The Strength
This Oxford lot want desperately to be taken seriously. So desperately in fact that although ‘Thirteen Times…’ is a simultaneously soaring and solemn, big-sounding song, it forgets to do anything actually enjoyable at all.

The Dodos – Fools
An insistent little beggar this. But while The Dodos do do a fine line in noisy pop that’s still polite enough for the radio, we’re not exactly sure who’s really going to love it y’know. Sorry fellas, just be glad we didn’t stick an extinction gag in here somewhere.

Five O’Clock Heroes – Alice
Now that the ‘Heroes have stopped hanging out with supermodels it won’t be long before the world realises how dreadfully dull and derivative their shtick is. Right world?

The Chemists – Something For The Weekend
This sounds like Bush, except when the singer’s squawk makes it sound like Hard-Fi. Either way, it’s rubbish.

McFly – Lies
Ok now you can actually start hating McFly. Because where the London lads’ previous material has been stuffed to bursting with hooks and energy (seeeeriously), ‘Lies’ is turgid, vacant fluff.

The Hustle – These Days
Crisp, clean, and utterly fucking boring. Jesus, even McFly have got more bite than this.

Ladyhawke – Dusk Till Dawn
As if The Tings Tings weren’t bad enough.

Mr. Scruff – Music Takes Me Up
A nice message; a paean to the power of music -and a decent delivery- thanks mostly to the sexy sighing vocals of Alice Russell –might sound special on paper but this is Scruff at his most sedate and ineffective.

Model Horror – Catch This Disease
Thank god. Dripping with cool this. That does mean it sounds a bit like The Cribs, a bit like Foals, and a bit like the Test Icicles and you’ve probably already judged them for it but whatever, we’re digging it.

Camp Actor – Your Obsession
This is cool too- well it’s made by two dudes who run their own club night in Shoreditch at least- but this time that means we get boring, buzzy club fuzz.

ZZz – Grip
Like Elvis gurning over a backfiring synth, this initially sounds delightfully dangerous and devilishly promising. But then it goes nowhere, absolutely nowhere, for four increasingly achingly long minutes.

The Black Keys – Oceans And Streams
The second Gnarls Barkley boy in this week's singles run-down produces here, but quite what Dangermouse has done to The Black Keys, besides make their lo-fi rock sound a bit like Amy Winehouse, is unclear. A dreadfully wishy-washy way to round things off really. Sigh.

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03 December 2008

Telegraphs, Rafter, Dan Black, Jon Allen, Japanese Motors, Dissolved In, dEUS, Tame Impala, Kyte, A.Skillz, Mr Solo, The Wireless, This Is Radio Freedom, Voo

26 November 2008

The Black Keys, Florence And The Machine, The Wow Signal, Jenny Lewis, The Kills, Coldplay, Nick Harrison, Brighton Port Authority, The Amsterdams, Liam Finn

24 November 2008

Plugs, The Earlyman, Envy, Beach House, Society of Imaginary Friends, Kathy Brown vs White Knights, Discovery Zone, We Have Band

19 November 2008

Deekline & Wizard, Charlie XCX, Sleeping States, Stars and Sons, Jay Jay Pistolet, Fat Freddys Drop, The Raid, Death Cab For Cutie, The Shaky Hands, Stricken City, it’s a buffalo, Asobi Seksu, Christian Falk Feat. Robyn, Yo Majesty!, Subliminal Girls

17 November 2008

Conor Oberst, Mercury Rev, Gentle Friendly, Cass McCombs, James Blunt, Shinedown, Casino Brawl/First Signs Of Frost, The Verve, Tracy Chapman, Estelle, Emmy The Great, Santogold, Thomas Tantrum, The Tunics, New Rhodes

12 November 2008

Mumford and Sons, Boys Like Girls, Red Light Company, King Cannibal, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Tom Allalone & The 78s, Lykke Li, Manda Rin, Jape, The Tough Alliance

10 November 2008

The Raveonettes, Martha Wainwright, The Long Lost, Sigur Ros, The Bookhouse Boys, Clinic, Bear Hands, Howling Bells, Bears From Labrador, The Alexandria Quartet, Nickelback, Seasick Steve, Mako, Loyal Trooper

07 November 2008

Arms, Drink Up Buttercup, Esser, Findlay Brown, FrankMusik, Friendly Fires, General Fiasco, In Case Of Fire, Over The Wall, Popes Of Chillitown, Riz MC, Subsource, The Beat Poets, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Reluctant Heroes

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