Music - Singles of the Week - Monday, August 2, 2010
IndieLondon gleefully checks out the cream of the week’s singles. All you have to do is click on the pictures to order them…
SINGLE OF THE WEEK 1: DARKER MY LOVE – DEAR AUTHOR: One week after releasing their excellent new album, Alive As You Are, Los Angeles based psychedelic outfit Darker My Love drop one of its highlights, Dear Author, as a single. The track is a rousing psych-rock anthem that contains some of the best guitar riffing on the LP and a seriously Gallagher-esque approach to vocal delivery. It’s arguably the album’s stand-out track, with shades of Zeppelin as well. What’s more, the track is available as a free download and available from the following link
Released as a free download
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review
SINGLE OF THE WEEK 2: ARCADE FIRE – WE USED TO WAIT: Arcade Fire deliver the lead single from their new LP, The Suburbs, on the same day as the album itself. It provides compelling evidence of why it’s being so widely praised. We Used To Wait is as thrilling and vibrant as we’ve come to expect… beginning with a playful, urgent piano refrain before dropping in some angst-ridden lyrics (“I used to sleep at night”). The song then proceeds to layer in the elements and sounds to eventually deliver a thrilling slice of classic rock, which offers optimism and layering in abundance, and a head-rush kind of feel. The chorus is a belter and kind of radio friendly, while the belated guitar work adds another level of quality to a song brimming with things to rave about. By the time you’ve heard it three or four times, you’ll be singing along as euphorically as Arcade Fire (who reach that state around the two and a half minute mark).
Released across all formats
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review
MORCHEEBA – EVEN THOUGH REMIXES: Morcheeba release five remixes of their single Even Though, taken from their new album, Blood Like Lemonade (and a major return to form, complete with original vocalist Skye). The mixes come courtesy of two Belgian production duos: Mustang and Surfing Leons. One of the Surfing Leons mixes (the Surfing Leons Afternoon Remix to be exact) is available to download for FREE now from Morcheeba’s website Of the remixes, the Mustang remix contains some great synth workouts that lend a slickness to what had previously been a laidback, vaguely ethereal track (it relays the tale of a dying spaceman looking back at Earth and lamenting how humanity has laid waste to it). It’s a fine ride, embellished as ever by Skye’s sultry vocals. The Surfing Leons Afternoon Remix (aka the free one) employs minimalist beats and blips to enchanting effect, complete with a melancholy piano chord, that makes the lyrics all the more poignant. A beat does eventually kick in, but never becomes overbearing. While the same remixers Evil makeover fragments the vocals and adopts a more kick-ass beat, warping everything, including the quality. It’s the remix in the package to forget.
Released as a download
Rating: 3 out of 5
Order the album l Album review l Morcheeba interview
ADAM PARKER – OH MY: Adam Parker release his debut single Oh My on Stray Cat Records and looks to build on his growing word of mouth appeal ahead of the release of debut album Call Me A Medic. Featuring a woozy, trippy organ backdrop and subtle guitar chords, the track tells a tale of an unexpected sexy encounter with a wistful and thoughtful remembrance. The layered guitar hooks and electronic loops work surprisingly well in lending the surreal encounter a somewhat dreamy sound-scape, while Parker’s sense of wonder is palpable. Parker also manages to deliver the weathered soul of a tried and tested troubadour, while also mixing in occasional tongue and cheek humour. The whispered female backing vocals add to the sultry vibe. For those that aren’t aware of Mr Parker as yet, he has enjoyed ‘an organic rise’, having first burst onto the music scene in the US back in 2008 after acclaimed house DJ Sasha heard a few tracks from Call Me A Medic. Sasha instantly got in touch about featuring a remix of Adam’s track Highlife on the DJ’s Invol2ver album and the path to solo prominence was therefore put into motion…
Released as a digital download
Rating: 3 out of 5
BLUE EYED SHARK EXPERIMENT – TAPDANCE: First off, it’s probably best to tell you about Blue Eyed Shark Experiment’s unusual journey to success. Taking the nickname from a female friend due to the colour of his eyes and his friends calling him a ‘shark’, the ‘experiment’ part of the name refers to the album, from its inception to delivery and BES’s (Blue Eyed Shark’s) additional musical protagonists. Adopted at six weeks and growing up under the watchful eye of his Bolivian Godfather, surrounded by Andalucians and Columbians (including the great Garcia Marques), The Blue Eyed Shark certainly had a different start. With the passing of his father at age eight, trouble in his teens, broken hearts in the early twenties – and then cancer (thankfully removed and diagnosed gone) – you could say life has thrown BES a few curve balls. Regardless, as you will find, his resolve was in his cheerful, driven and optimistic nature. It’s great, therefore, to be able to report that his music retains that sense of hope and optimism, with new single Tapdance a breezy slice of pop-rock that drops a fine sense of melody and invites people to go tap-dancing in the rain. The guitar licks are crisp, the laidback vocals highly appealing, the lyricism quirky and endearing and the electronic arrangements a fine accompaniment. All in all, it adds up to a shamelessly enjoyable whole that bodes extremely well for the forthcoming album, The Fluffer (out August 16).
Released as a digital download
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I DREAM IN COLOUR – THE BOILER ROOM EP: I Dream In Colour, fronted by singer/songwriter Richard Judge, play stadium-sized anthems about love and life, with a captivating vocal somewhere between Matt Bellamy and Jeff Buckley. Formed in 2009, they’ve already caught the eye of BBC Introducing and are gradually building an army of fans. New EP The Boiler Room does hint at plenty of potential, with lead single Get Along featuring an emphatic vocal presence married to some nice guitar-work. It’s epic in scope and reach… but not quite the finished article as yet. They just need a bit more kick. That said, I Won’t Let You Down has a very persuasive chorus, during which Judge’s vocals can truly be said to emulate Bellamy’s (in their combined ability to hit some striking falsetto highs). The song is slightly let down by a punky attitude… but again, there’s promise. The remainder of the EP’s tracks have similar good points and bad, but on the whole this is a band to keep an eye on.
Released as a digital download
Rating: 3 out of 5
HUORATRON – PREVENGE: Last Gang Records is pleased to announce a multi-release deal with Finnish producer and executioner Huoratron (pronounced whore – a – tron). Setting the stage for the full-length release in early 2011, Last Gang will release Prevenge EP, which will be available digitally. Forged from the flames of darkness, Huoratron is the solo project of Finland’s Aku Raski, who began using two Game Boy consoles to produce experimental and dark electro. Since then, he’s risen from the digital underground and updated his gear while maintaining the pure black sound and raw aesthetics. As a founding member of New Judas Records, Huoratron has found its place among the movement in pulsating electronic dance music taking the stage on an international level. Clocking in at over interminable six minutes, the lead track Corporate Occult is a dark, twisted blend of home-produced blips and breaks that draw on the occult, sex noises and headache inducing propulsion. In other words, it’s complete noise… unrelenting, never-ending and a complete turn off. It’s followed by six equally droning offerings that increasingly become an endurance test. Fans of dark underground dance may dig it, but there’s a limit to even our patience – and it snapped halfway through this EP! The video, directed by Cédric Blaisbois, may not be suitable for most viewers. Urgent and impulsive like Huoratron’s soundscapes, the short exposes the demonized side of flesh, sex and excess.
Released as a digital download
Rating: 1 out of 5
BLABBERMOUTH – AGORAPHOBIA EP: Blabbermouth raises funds by busking album tracks on London bridge. This summer has seen him sell albums like hot cakes and be offered a monthly residency at The Worlds End in Finsbury Park following a passer by recommendation. Blabbermouth, aka Steve Thompson, burst on to the UK music scene in 2008. After leaving university with a degree in Fine Art. Ever the gambler, Steve struggled to be an ‘artist’ in the city and so he buried his paintbrushes when he won £250 at the casino and invested in a 12-string guitar. Despite having to trade his guitar on numerous occasions for rent, his talent, wit and love of songwriting has flourished, so much so that his new album, My Dancing Heart, is released in September. As a taster, he releases his Agoraphobia EP, which hints at an intriguing new talent. Lead single Agoraphobia admittedly takes a while to get going, unfolding in depressed troubadour fashion with just an acoustic guitar for company. But after the initial chorus, in which Thompson laments the “god damn people living in it”, the song begins to blossom nicely, and ends with a strings flourish that’s quite impressive. Paris, meanwhile, offers a nice melodic structure, some mouth organ and a thoughtful lyricism, while My Time Machine offers a vaguely ethereal, electronic backed slice of fuzzy pop that shows he can pick up the pace when he wants to as well. Like we said, Blabbermouth would appear to be an intriguing new talent.
Released as a digital download
Rating: 3 out of 5
STOP EJECT – I AM A SOCIAL NETWORK: Stop Eject – aka Alexander Scott (drums), Robert Enola (vocals), Rob Swift (bass) and Topher Batchelor (guitar) – have apparently established themselves as a band with a penchant for dark, brooding songwriting with a social agenda. Hence, second single I Am A Social Network is described as an anachronistic zeitgeist comparison of modern socialising methods to the bloody history of humanity. It’s also described as a summer anthem with a grotesque face. In truth, it’s neither. Putting aside the pretentious lyrics, or the foreboding and uninspired vocals, it’s a tedious listen that aspires to the heights of bands like Interpol and Placebo. It doesn’t come anywhere close. A Love Ends Disaster remix offers a slight improvement… but only slight.
Released as a digital download
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Heard a great single, but yet to buy it? Well, we may have reviewed it. Previous reviews:
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