18 October 2006

by Charlotte Otter

The Black Keys, My Latest Novel, Holy Hail, Blood Meridian, Razorlight, My Chemical Romance, Badly Drawn Boy, Bedouin Soundclash, Stoneleaf, Protest The Hero, Disco Ensemble, The Sleepy Jackson, M Craft, Luxembourg, Henrik Schwarz, Circuits & more

"An unruly, foot-stomping mass of noise that is nicely complimented by ‘Pretty In A Panic’, a gentle, acoustic tune backed by slow violins and expressive vocal harmonies"

The Black Keys - Your Touch
Deep, dark and dirty; The Black Keys are back with their take on old fashioned country rock. Their loud, resonating, squealing guitars and strong vocals that make you go weak at the knees at their sheer manliness, are enough to get you growing your hair, cutting the sleeves off your t-shirt and growing a handlebar moustache so that you too can be part of that seventies thing that the band have going on.

My Latest Novel - When We Were Wolves/ Pretty In A Panic
Slow to get going, ‘When We Were Wolves’ is an unruly, foot-stomping mass of noise that is nicely complimented by ‘Pretty In A Panic’, a gentle, acoustic tune backed by slow violins and expressive vocal harmonies. ‘Pretty In A Panic’ is by far the stronger and more single on this double A-side and as it rises to its uplifting finish, it’s all you can do to stop yourself from running out and buying all you can by this bewitching Scottish band.

Holy Hail - Country Fair (Part Two)
Utterly intoxicating, with its disco punk beats, syncopated rhythms and short, sharp staccato lyrics. The edgy twanging guitars, crashing cymbals and boy/girl combo on vocals make this catchy and addictive single even more delightful. Wonderful stuff.

Razorlight - America
Razorlight song formula: Take a dash of sensitivity (cue, voice break), melancholia (minor key) and include a key change before the final verse, and thousands of teenage girls will wet their knickers in excitement at the thought that Jonny Borell maybe singing a song for them alone. Erugh

Blood Meridian - Kick Up The Dust
Slow, gentle country type tune which gradually builds up layer upon layer of guitar chords and harmonies. Not what you expect form the name or the cover, but still not bad…

Disco Ensemble - Black Euro
Think of electronic twanging, loud guitars and angry men. Think shouting, closed eyes, sweat and lots of “wohohoho’s” sung in perfect harmony, in the style of The Offspring or similar. That’s the single, in a nutshell.

My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
Why is this awful song so annoyingly catchy? Why is the hideous singing and the overblown guitar solo so insistent on remaining in your brain making you turn into an emotionally fragile wreck hell-bent on self destruction? What is going on?!

The Sleepy Jackson - I Understand But I Just Don’t Agree
There’s nothing really bad about this single, there’s just nothing that good about it either. It’s wonderfully middle of the road, with the toe tapping beats and smooth violins that your dad or Radio 2 would just love.

M Craft - Sweets
M Craft is a bit like your first boyfriend; soft, gentle and tender he’ll make you fall madly in love with his dreamy vocals and floppy hair, but in the end you’ll want to trade him in for someone dark, dangerous and just that little bit more exciting.

Luxembourg - Sick Of DIY
Luxembourg sounds like he should be out of Spandau Ballet. The similarities are great, the only difference being that instead of backing by 80s sounding synths, there are the finest (and cheesiest) 21st century drums and echoes.

Piranha Deathray- Dolly Dolly/ Last Australian In Space
Ditto for Piranha Deathray. What is it with the Tony Hadley impersonations? Is this a sign that Spandau Ballet should reform for a comeback? And how is it possible that this AA side sounds camper than Luxembourg?

Stone Leaf - Each Last Act
A “dark brooding narrative on the trappings on modern life, a driving call to arms for the discontented;” Pfff yeah right…a whispered, droning mess of guitars more like, slowly building up to a frantic climax of squealing echoes, feedback and crashing cymbals, and non of the complaining.

Henrik Schwarz - Imagination Limitation
Boring, dull tune with cheap club beats, uninspired keyboard samples and the endless repetition of lyrics ‘imagination, limitation.’ The perfect example indeed of what a limited imagination can do to ruin a song.

Blood On The Wall - Mary Susan
If Blood On The Wall became a Pixies tribute band, it would then be a lot clearer why both songs off this single sound exactly like ones released by the aforementioned band, to the point that in a blind test, it would be impossible to tell them apart.

52 Teenagers - 3am
This sounds like every other mediocre rock/emo band with fast paced, squealing guitars, pseudo-deep lyrics and an instrumental in the middle which builds up to a loud, reverberating climax. Yawn.

Badly Drawn Boy - Nothings Going To Change Your Mind
BBDB seems to have lost ‘it’. Whatever that ‘it’ was that inspired him in songs like ‘The Shining’ has gone, to be replaced by an unexciting, ordinary single that seems 10 minutes longer than it actually is due to the constant time changes and surges in volume.

Protest The Hero - Heretics And Killers
Heavy, heavy guitars, deep throbbing bass-lines and enough roaring down the microphone to satisfy the most angry of listeners, Protest The Hero, with their energy, passion and complicated chord progressions make a refreshing change from other bands in this week's singles pile.

Bedouin Soundclash - 12:59 Lullaby
Dreamy yet uplifting, this beautiful little song, with its banjo and slide guitar brings a taste of the exotic to this simple, wistful tune.

Circuits - Say No Say Yeah
So similar sounding to Razorlight that the half spoken, half sung lyrics, with their rowdy, upbeat feel and London polish makes you check to make sure that Circuits aren’t in fact Johnny Borell side project.

The New Shapes - There’s No Escaping You
A prefect summery song, that works just as well on a sunny autumnal day leaving you wanting to skip, gloved, hated and rosy cheek-ed through the park, joyfully kicking thorough big piles of leaves before going home to a warm mug of hot chocolate.

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