13 November 2006
Jon Drake
Pet Shop Boys, Oakenfold, Moby, Thom Yorke, My Alamo, DJ Shadow, The Young Knives, Duels, Love Is All, Peter, Bjorn And John, The Tacticians, The Raconteurs, Spank Rock, National Heroes, Milburn, Under, Keane, Butterfly Stitch, Cut Chemist, The Horrors
"People finally seem to be realising how good this band are. This fourth single from their amazing debut album carries on the slightly unbalanced sounding three-piece’s rise to power. Order your tweed suits now."
Pet Shop Boys – NumbDoes anyone else remember when the Pet Shop Boys were good? This aptly-titled song isn’t a patch on previous work and sounds better suited to one of those teary-eyed montages on Hollyoaks.
Oakenfold (feat. Pharrell) – Sex N Money
Considering this is about how soulless the Hollywood party scene is, it’s quite fitting that the track turned out the way it did. The beat is generic, the hook sounds it was robbed straight off a Human League album track making it sound like a mid-set filler track. Pharrell might as well not be there as there is none of his previously shown talent on display.
Moby (feat Debbie Harry) – New York, New York
Wasn’t it good when people stopped making crappy house music with crappy female vocals laid over it? Oh, wait a second, Moby didn’t get that memo. 'Go”'it isn’t and the Armand Van Heldon remix sounds like Super Mario Bros broke into the studio and switched the masters.
Thom Yorke – Analyse
While it may not be the best track on 'The Eraser', this is still a strong effort from the Radiohead frontman. Beautiful in its simplicity and typically despairing of the modern world it’s good but not one for the bus to work on a Monday morning.
My Alamo – 1994
My Alamo seem heavily influenced by Nirvana. Not in a bad way but noticeably so. They’re following in the footsteps of some strong Welsh bands and sticking to a straight up and down rock vibe.
DJ Shadow – Dats My Part
DJ Shadow has always been good at providing catchy danceable beats and this is no exception. Clearly a change in direction for Shadow but a fair one involving E-40 bringing some angry rapping to the party and he really doesn’t sound happy about much.
The Young Knives – The Decision
People finally seem to be realising how good this band are. This fourth single from their amazing debut album carries on the slightly unbalanced sounding three-piece’s rise to power. Order your tweed suits now.
Duels – Once In The Night
Sounding a bit like the Arcade Fire seems to be working out well quite for Duels. It’s not to say that this is their only influence but they were sitting next to them during the last class test and their answers were remarkably similar. Still it’s quite nice to hear an entire EP sung through a distorter.
Love Is All – Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up
This is pretty relentless, charging through the chorus and not waiting for you to catch up then stopping for semi harmonised, distorted shouting. It’s not easy listening and with a completely deranged Yoko Ono cover as a B-side, it’s best to have a little lie down after listening to this one.
Peter, Bjorn And John – Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
More Swedish madness from this Stockholm trio with percussion and male harmonies to boot. It does seem to be a running theme in Sweden that relationships generally don’t work. Maybe it’s the harsh winters and lack of sunlight getting people down.
The Tacticians – Girls Grow Up Faster / Get A Move On
They might look a bit like The Libertines but, thankfully, they don’t sound like them. Happy-sounding music that has more of a bite when you hear the lyrics is always a refreshing change from songs about sofas or some such rubbish.
The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldier
Not the best track on the album by any means but still cracking fun with Robert Plant style vocals and pounding drums. It’s still pleasantly surprising to hear Jack White’s vocals over a track with drumming above the standard of Grade 3 too.
Spank Rock – Bump
Early LL Cool J-esque hip hop beats and foul mouthed nasty little boys and girls combine to produce something that could never be called radio friendly. But that’s a good thing as this seems like something best kept in the clubs away from the prying eyes of people who probably wouldn’t understand it anyway.
National Heroes – Tales Of The Town
So, whose idea was it to sign a Libertines covers band? There isn’t much originality on this EP apart from a song about an ancient sunken galleon, which can be referenced in any GCSE history textbook without having to listen to this band.
Milburn – What You Could Have Won
This isn’t a terrible song. The only problem is it isn’t a great song either. With it only being their second release, it raises questions about Milburn's longevity.
The Siegfried Sassoon – Electrocuted Means Dead
More from the GCSE syllabus as The Siegfried Sassoon (named after a war poet) go all DIY and bring out their own record all by themselves. Sounding a bit like At The Drive-In but with their teeth clipped, it’s a fair offering that sounds better than a lot of bigger budget music around today.
Under – The Cars Below EP
Ideal for those Sunday mornings when nice music is all that will do, this San Francisco troop’s debut ep should have a place in everybody’s record collection next to the Zero 7 cd’s.
Shawn Emanuel – You Better Believe It
So it’s R‘n’B. Ordinarily not a good start but Mr. Emanuel has managed to get a hold of Kanye West’s “How to write a decent r ‘n’ b song” and studied it late into the night. The result is uplifting horn samples and a charm that recalls a young Will Smith.
Butterfly Stitch – Flaunt It
Apparently these boys are still doing their A-Levels. They sound original and don’t spray their jeans on every morning. In short, they’re really quite good and this is a very strong debut from such a young band.
Cut Chemist – The Audience Is Listening (Theme Song) / What’s The Attitude
Evil beats that DJ Shadow himself would be jealous of. ‘What’s The Attitude’ has a brilliant acoustic sample with Hymnal’s laid back vocals mixing sickeningly well with the simplistic beats.
The Horrors – Count In Fives
'Count In Fives' is a great punk song. It’s catchy, it’s got a cracking organ accompaniment and it’s short. It’s a burst of aggression screamed out at the top of their lungs but as is the problem with so many punk outfits the rest (eg. B-side 'Night Of The Long Knives') is just middle of the road noise.
Keane – Nothing In My Way
If someone put a turd in a really nice presentation box, it would still be a turd. This is a really pretty looking CD with a really nice sleeve, but it’s still Keane.
Comments
Other Singles...
Elsewhere On The Site
NEW NOISES
NEW ALBUMS
- Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
- Katy Perry - One Of The Boys
- Rose Kemp - Unholy Majesty
- volcano! - Paperwork
- Metronomy - Nights Out
- Nuggets - 27 August 2008
- Unbunny - Snow Tires
- Nightmares On Wax - Thought so…
LIVE
- Rapturefest 2 - 9 Aug 2008
- The Dodos - 12 Aug 2008
- of Montreal - 9 Aug 2008
- The Brute Chorus - 14 Jul 2008
- British Sea Power @ Latitude - 18 Jul 2008
- Joanna Newsom @ Latitude - 20 Jul 2008
- Interpol - 8 Jul 2008
- O2 Wirless Festival 2008 - 4 Jul 2008