Singles - May 2009

Baddies – Holler For My Holiday

Half Devo, half Talking Heads.. all spittle-flecked, ranting lunacy overdriven to within an inch of its life. Imagine if the world stopped in 1979 and bands took whatever was around at the time and refined it to razor sharpness – the Baddies would be the poster children at the head of the wave. Holler For My Holiday is a warped little blast of sparse new wave guitars and frantic vocals vaguely reminiscent of Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’ that grows on you in unpredictable and worrying ways with every listen. It’s a manic little beastie that promises good things for the live show

Eels – My Timing is Off

Pressing play on a new Eels single always reminds me of spinning a Wheel Of Fortune where every category bears no relation to the others - you just have to take it as it comes. My Timing Is Off comes in the form of a mellow little reflection on taking that chance of the heart and finding that it wasn’t to be. It’s downplayed, subtle and melodic, drifting along on a dusting of guitar arpeggios and a gentle lilting bassline - a delicate little soundtrack-to-our-lives contender and well worth a listen

 The Answer – Tonight

The Answer don’t try to make deliberately cool records – they just do their thing because that’s what they’re good at. ‘Tonight’ is a no-nonsense four to the floor rocker, simple and loud road music reminiscent of Deep Purple crossed with AC/DC. Don’t expect intellectual lyrics or sophisticated time signatures because you won’t get them, but what you will get is three and a half minutes of solid, blue collar rock n roll. Roll down the windows, crank the stereo and take it as you find it.

The Proclaimers – Love Can Move Mountains

The bespectacled brothers from Leith make a return to the charts with this fist-in-the-air anthem for the disaffected, delivered with that fine balance of melancholy and clout that only they can manage. This is a simple, unpretentious tale about picking yourself up when things aren’t going too well, and doesn’t attempt to be cool or clever; it’s just the lads offering out a hand to the downtrodden as they have for all these years… football terrace philosophy for those who like to keep their feelings buried until it matters. From the moment that heavily accented first line lines roll out of the speakers you know it’s for the best that some things never change.

Gary Go – Open Arms

Gary Go has been tipped for success by just about everyone from Q magazine to The Guardian, sentiments echoed by the offer of a support slot with Take That’s sold out tour later this year. Gary has been called a ‘One man Coldplay’ in the past, and you can see where that’s coming from – they both write rich, layered dramatic pop, bombastic and heavy on the melody. Open Arms is just that, a pleasant and quite uplifting little tune, but maybe not quite capable of grabbing you by the ears and delivering the emotional headbutt that first impressions might suggest. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing amiss with it at all and it’ll be a great summer song but I reckon his best is yet to come.

La Roux – Bulletproof

The problem I have with 80s influenced electropop is that I still remember it well from the first time around, and I struggle to hear anything new that significantly improves on the originals... most of which really wouldn’t be that hard to improve on, it has to be said. I can’t shake the feeling that La Roux’s compositions often play like a collection of elements that might originate in the same era, but don’t have much in common with each other. Bulletproof is one of those tracks where I get the feeling I’ve heard it before, but in little chunks gathered from across that fateful decade, and I struggle to get into any sort of flow when hearing it. It’s sparse, jarring and choppy, with lots of disparate bleepy synth hooks that pop up from nowhere and then vanish without making their point. I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass, but I get the feeling that someone hearing this style of music for the first time might well appreciate it in a way that I can’t.

Metric – Sick Muse

I’m glad this track has made it as a single release because I made special mention of it in our review of the album ‘Fantasies’ as a highlight of the record. It’s a cracking little guitar pop blast, reminiscent of Lush’s later singles and jammed with sweetness and vitriol in equal measures. For such a stripped down musical arrangement it sounds surprisingly ‘big’ and never fails to give you a swift and playful kick whenever it comes on. One thing that does become apparent with this radio edit (and the previous single ‘Help I’m Alive’ to some degree) is that Metric have managed to focus the album recordings into something that, dare I say it, actually improves on the originals in many ways. The album packs a lot in and allows the tracks room to grow, but both of these radio edits cut to the core of the songs and tweak them for radio perfection. This is gutsy and energetic electro-pop that resurrects the indiekid in me.

Lily Allen – Not Fair

I’ve listened to this twice now just to make sure I get it, and there no way I can sugarcoat this I’m afraid. It’s a country and western pop song about someone with a poor sex life, sung from the perspective of a monumental sulk. I’m sure it’s meant to be funny but I don’t think Ms Allen has the wit or talent to make it so. I’m going to have to break with my ethic of trying to find the positive in all review items and simply say that it’s well and truly horrible, and your mum will hate the lyrics..

Pet Shop Boys – Did You See me Coming?

It’s taken a few listens but I think I’ve worked out what it is that’s been bugging me about this single. Whatever track the Pet Shop Boys released in the past, you could always be certain of one thing – it’d have an absolutely killer chorus. This one doesn’t, which is odd because I’ve been listening to the album it’s taken from recently, ‘Yes’, and there are some stormers on there. Did You See Me Coming is very light sparkly europop with a hint of the old Bernard Butler/Johnny Marr project ‘Electronic’ which which vocalist Neil Tennant was briefly involved. Lack of a singalong chorus aside, it’s not a bad little track for those summer evenings but there are others that I think would have far more punch as singles. It’s a good taster for the album, but not the last word.

Cosmo Jarvis – Chapter Two

I have an unpleasant suspicion that I’ve just been listening to one of the country’s very few bona-fide creative geniuses. Why unpleasant? Because at some point I’m going to have to tell someone else about him and play them some stuff, and at that point they’re either going to get it completely or look at me like I’ve skipped a few pills and slowly reach for the phone. Cosmo Jarvis’ latest release, consisting of three vastly different tracks and a short film, covers a lot of ground from the extremely dark Tricky-esque ‘He only goes out on Tuesdays’ through the PG rated yet surprisingly sweet and sentimental ‘Mel’s song’ to the bare and absolutely brilliant ‘Little Wasted Angel’ – think of the dark flipside to Strawberry Fields Forever. Each style is nailed with absolute confidence, with Cosmo donning different creative roles like a second skin. The short film on the CD was made by, and stars Cosmo himself - ‘Dave Says Hi’ is like Reservoir Dogs unplugged, pared back to the bare essentials and deliciously unhinged, and is an unexpected but very welcome bonus. Looking through Cosmo’s bio reveals that there are a lot more where that came from, along with a back catalogue of over 250 songs written since he was 14… and as that was only 5 years ago, you might now be able to see where the start of this review was coming from. Visit Cosmo’s myspace and have a listen - you might not get it the first time, or even the second but…