Music - Singles of the Week - Monday, June 29, 2009
IndieLondon gleefully checks out the cream of the week’s singles. All you have to do is click on the pictures to order them…
DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEK: THE VOLUNTARY BUTLER SCHEME – TABASCO SOLE: Expect The Voluntary Butler Scheme to explode in a big way this summer. They’re due to release a debut album but first drop the hopelessly addictive, utterly feel-good Tabasco Sole that has to rate as one of the funkiest cuts of the year. Think Jackson 5’s I Want You Back crossed with Mellow Gold era Beck, and a smidgen of Beta Band, and you have some idea of what to expect from the deliriously good mayhem that ensues. Tabasco Sole is the sort of gem that could easily get overlooked by the mainstream, but it has a brash positivity about it that’s guaranteed to put whoever hears it in a good mood, as well as dancing. The fusion of indie values and classic Motown is bordering on genius and once you’ve heard it the first time, you’ll be hungry to repeat it over and over again. A remix from Akira The Don merely heightens the charm value. Trust us, this is the sort of anthemic offering that will take you through the summer. A cover version of Together In Electric Dreams is just as well-delivered and proof that The Voluntary Butler Scheme could well be your favourite new band.
Editor’s note: The Voluntary Butler Scheme will be playing his ‘one man band’ show at the Flower Pot, Kentish Town this coming Monday (June 29). Rob will be playing a number of tracks from his debut album The Voluntary Butler Scheme at Breakfast, Dinner, Tea, out August 31.
Available as a download
Rating: 5 out of 5
SINGLE OF THE WEEK: THE RUMBLE STRIPS – NOT THE ONLY PERSON: The Rumble Strips latest single Not The Only Person is described by its PR as a “Queen meets Elvis Costello revelation”. Hmm… Backed by huge orchestration that lends the track a fuller sound, it also boasts some emphatic, occasionally euphoric vocals, as well as some vibrant guitar flourishes and a foot-stomping beat. The strings and orchestration, though, really provide the rush… lending the song a cinematic feel that also gives rise to the suspicion that The Rumble Strips are growing all the time as a band. Zane Lowe has already made it a “Hottest Record in the World” and declared it “an evolution of sound” and “a fantastic song”. With a certain Mark Ronson also on hand to deliver production duties on the album, you just might be inclined to agree. This is fun, rousing stuff.
Available on all formats
Rating: 4 out of 5
BILLY TALENT – RUSTED FROM THE RAIN: Canadian four-piece Billy Talent return this summer with their third studio album in the form of Billy Talent III. The first taster is the anthemic Rusted From The Rain, a lively standard-bearer that should thrill and invigorate in equal measure. With meaty guitar hooks that sound distinctly like those of Green Day, as well as the odd solo that’s tailor-made for stadium filling, it’s a heady brew of punk-rock that boasts impeccable production values and a keen ear for a strong chorus. Vocally, it’s even reminiscent of Guns ‘N’ Roses. But that’s no bad thing… this has plenty of potential for broad appeal and bodes extremely well for the remainder of the album.
Available on all formats
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
ROYKSOPP – THE GIRL AND THE ROBOT: Röyksopp, aka Svein Berge & Torbjørn Brundtland, release their funky new single The Girl and the Robot, featuring pop star of the moment Robyn, and look set to have a monster smash hit on their hands. Already the track has become a worldwide word of mouth smash with over 100,000 views on Vimeo and You Tube in the last week alone, and an incredible 1,000,000 plus views via Perez Hilton’s and Kanye West’s recent video blogs. Taken from new album Junior, it offers a seamless fusion of Robyn’s distinct, haunted vocals and an epic synth-background. It drives along at a cracking pace and is sure to become a future hit. The brilliant video for the track has Robyn looking super-fierce in Lanvin, features a bizarre gardening robot and sees Svein and Torbjørn appear in one of their own videos for the first time, as a couple of dodgy mustachioed robot salesmen. There are remixes galore, too, from Spencer & Hill, Kris Menace and Jean Elan, as well as Joakim and Chateau Marmont. Get busy with Royskopp.
Available on all formats
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review
LISA HANNIGAN – I DON’T KNOW: Lisa Hannigan releases the first track to be taken from her debut album Sea Sew in the form of the happy go lucky I Don’t Know – one of its highlights. More indie in focus than a lot of the material on her album, this is a rollicking good listen that shimmies along in pleasing fashion, with Hannigan’s lush vocals provide a nice, vaguely ethereal accompaniment. The musical layering is spot on, too, with folksy guitars jostling for position with violins, horns and the faintest of beats. Fans of Damien Rice may know Hannigan from her time spent with that singer’s band. But now she’s branched out on her own, she’s becoming a major force in her own right. Sea Sew is a great listen too.
Available on all formats
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review
AMADOU & MARIAM – MASITELADI: Amadou & Mariam follow-up their Main Stage appearance at Glastonbury with the release of new single, Masiteladi, which comes out through Because Music and features remixes from esteemed BBC Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank as well as Mo DJ. Taken from the duo’s Welcome To Mali LP, which also featured Damon Albarn, it’s a lively fusion of African influence, chanting and guitar work that could find a place on the soundtrack of either a Spaghetti Western or a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. It’s also evidence of why Amadou & Mariam are currently so popular and doing so much to raise the profile of African music. Rob Da Bank’s remix is typically classy… placing a chilled out beat over the African rhythms that effortlessly conjures imagery of Africa in the mind. But it’s Mo DJ’s pumped up work-out that really is the pick of the CD’s mixes… laying down an irresistible beat that ought to get everyone up on the dancefloor. Amadou & Mariam will next be seen supporting Blur at their Hyde Park gig on July 3… and they’ve recently got back from the States, where they’ve been supporting Coldplay. There’s just no stopping them at the moment.
Available as a download
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM – THE ’59 SOUND: New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem limber up for their UK summer festival appearances with the release of the anthemic rock track The ’59 Sound, the title track from their acclaimed LP. It’s a lively, rousing crowd favourite that owes plenty in inspiration to both Bruce Springsteen (who they’re supporting) and more contemporary acts such as The Killers. The guitars are vibrant, the drums thumping and the chorus catchy enough to sing along with after a couple of listens. The Gaslight Anthem have been enjoying a prolific time of late and are certainly one of the hardest working bands of the moment as they look to capitalise on the goodwill generated by the album. In the past eight months alone, they have performed over 200 shows – and their enthusiasm shows no sign of diminishing with songs like this.
Available on all formats
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
NOISETTES – NEVER FORGET YOU: Noisettes continue to provide proof of why they’re currently one of the brightest UK acts around with the release of Never Forget You, the latest offering from their excellent Wild Young Hearts LP. A sassily delivered, yet entirely infectious nostalgia trip that drips ‘60s soul and Motown era funk, it’s a party record that’s made for maximum airplay during the summer, such is the feelgood vibe surrounding it. You’ll swing for its duration and no doubt be crying for more. Noisettes have a busy schedule for the remainder of the year as they look to capitalise on the success of Wild Young Hearts – they’re just completing some festival dates, played a gig in London last week to mark the release of the single, and have announced an 11-date UK tour for October. Phew… Catch them while they’re hot!
This single has been available since June 22
Rating: 4 out of 5
Order the album l Album review l Noisettes October tour dates
PANTyRAiD – BEBA: Now here’s something weird but kinda cool! Pantyraid are Josh Mayer – aka Ooah of The Glitch Mob – and Marty Folb – aka Marty Party. They described their sound as futuristic hip hop… or rather a crossover of hip hop, dub step and electro-crunk. The result feels strange but is curiously addictive. Beba pulls together a sexy mid tempo beat and a classic electronic vocal hook and fuses it with a rich and heavy bass. It’s kind of what might happen if Daft Punk mated with Robyn and dropped a hip hop vibe courtesy of Timbaland-style beat-making. The opening half of the track is genuinely addictive, especially when the woozy electronics kick in… but they lose themselves a little bit by stop-starting things a little too frequently halfway through. What begins as endearing threatens to become annoying. But proof of their strangely addictive talent is borne out by bonus track Get The Money, which drops another slick beat, some sexy synths and a funky loop over an instrumental that’s every bit as appealing as the opening half of Beba. Trust us… PANTyRAiD is worth looking up – so long as you don’t inadvertently visit a porn site instead! We’ve provided a link for safe surfing… careful-minded, thoughtful chaps that we are.
Available as a CD and download
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
LISSY TRULLIE – SELF TAUGHT LEARNER EP: A native of Washington, DC and now calling New York City home, Lissy Trullie is both the name of the front woman and the band she sings in. Lissy’s love of music began at an early age and was perhaps cemented when she was taken to Operation Ivy gigs as a kid. Having made some serious waves at this year’s SXSW festival, Lissy releases the Self-Taught Learner EP to deliver the UK a first taste of what to expect. And that’s fuzzy guitar pop that evokes the sound of new-wave, New York in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s (and which has seen her compared to artists such as Chrissie Hynde, Blondie and Television). Tracks like Boy Boy (rousing and with a head-rush “woo-hoo” vocal) and She Said (with its vibrant back-beat and spiky, new wave guitar sound) confirm Lissy as a talent well worth hearing more from. But it’s the EP’s title track that really marks her out as a song-writer of daring versatility. At the two minute mark Self-Taught Learner makes a quite extraordinary turn, breaking into a rousing two minute crescendo of piano and Motown bass with Lissy repeating the lyric “Oh, I want to die with you”. It’s a live favourite that really forces the listener to sit up and take notice. Needless to say, its inclusion on this EP is a wake-up call to the UK that Lissy has arrived! Money, too, with its retro sounding guitar licks and Strokesian vibe is also worth checking out.
Available on all formats
Rating: 4 out of 5
BOB SINCLAIR feat SUGARHILL GANG – LALA SONG: In 2007, after the success of the albums Western Dream and Soundz Of Freedom – the latter a compilation/DJ mix stuffed full of unreleased tracks – BOB SINCLAR decided to say goodbye to the Paris rat race and spend a year in Los Angeles to find the right inspiration for a new record. Once there, he came upon some folk-rock that he hadn’t heard before (America, Boz Scaggs, John Fogerty, Michael McDonald, Dan Fogelberg). The events leading up to his forthcoming album Born In 69 had been set in motion. In New York, the song that was soon to be chosen as the first single from Born In 69 was recorded: the legendary Sugarhill Gang – who released the old school hit Rappers Delight in 1979 – accepted the offer of a collaboration with Bob Sinclar. With a baseline concocted by Cutee B, MCs Wonder Mike and Master Gee rapped out in their unique trademark styles, accompanied by a killer hook inspired by a kid’s choir from a Kid Creole song! And thus LaLa Song was in the can: a hybrid rap/dancefloor killer where new style meets old school. The result is strangely endearing… a fun, lively mix of old-skool hip hop, children’s choir choruses and a curiously Wham! rap vibe. It’s a party anthem… the cheesiest kind, but gloriously retro in a good way. Get on down!
Available as a download
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
BOY CRISIS – DRESSED TO DIGRESS: Armed with the same combination of hedonism and surreality that saw their heroes George Clinton and David Bowie through the ‘70s and ‘80s, Brooklyn five-piece Boy Crisis are on a mission to make you party your way out of the credit crunch – or so they hope. According to their PR, they specialise in papercut-sharp lyrics delivered in a pleading Prince-like falsetto over sinuous electro p-funk grooves. Their debut single L’Homme offered a slice of sexed-up electro disco (and featured additional vocals from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek) and now, having just finished recording with Mark Saunders, they unleash the new single Dressed To Digress with a little mix help from Mark ‘Spike’ Stent. The song channels the angular arthouse discoid post punk of Talking Heads and the nonsense cartoon funk of Funkadelic and the Tom Tom Club and definitely sounds like it could have come from New York. It combines funk, disco and soul and has a certain snappy appeal – but while hip to some of the trends of the moment, there’s a nagging suspicion that they’re also not going to turn out as special as the predictions suggest. Dressed To Digress is only ever good; it’s never great and the whole ‘80s New York scene is beginning to wear thin right now.
Available on all formats
Rating: 3 out of 5
THE SATURDAYS – WORK: The Saturdays look to follow up the massive success of their Comic Relief single Just Can’t Get Enough with new single Work – and it’s a bit like hard work. A fusion of sassy R’n’B vocals (that sound desperately as though they want to be Beyonce), and poppy beats and hooks, it’s admittedly a maturer, fuller sound for The Saturdays. But it’s just so derivative of better material… or even lacklustre material that it feels like a jumping on the bandwagon record. Hailing it to be the best thing The Saturdays have done is faint praise indeed! They’re excited, though. Vanessa claims: “I’m so excited about releasing Work. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album so I’ve really been looking forward to performing the routine. It seems to be a lot of people’s favourites too, so we’re hoping it will do really.” Sadly, that’s almost a given!
Available on all formats
Rating: 2 out of 5
CASCADA – EVACUATE THE DANCEFLOOR: Cascada are ‘credited’ in their PR as pioneering the Europop sound that’s a mainstay of the Ibiza super-club scene. Hence, anyone that likes to give that particular isle and all that it symbolizes a wide berth should also do similar for this wretched dance track. Supposedly full of euphoric, arms-in-the-air synths and vocals (from Natalie Horler), it even drops in an Eminem sounding rap midway through that just sounds desperate. The chanting “everybody in the club” is more about what the track is designed to do… get you swaying in [drink induced] ecstasy. Sobriety is a bit of a bitch when it comes to listening to a song like this at any other time. Avoid!
Available on all formats
Rating: 1 out of 5
SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM – IT’S NOT MY PROBLEM: Sneaky Sound System release their new single It’s Not My Problem that boasts a new mix from Stuart Price/Thin White Duke as its main selling point. It’s a dance record that employs a gradual build, skyrocketing with a pumping bassline, layered synths and Miss Connie’s distinct vocals (she also appeared all over Kanye West’s Graduation LP). The remix actually isn’t that bad as dance tracks go… it’s generic, of course, when set against the Ibiza context. But Miss Connie’s delivery makes things more catchy than normal, while the beats zip along in tandem with the synths to create quite a heady dance brew – especially in Thin White Duke remix form. Sneaky Sound System fans will be able to catch the act at various European locations this summer – Tiesto has asked them to support his Victoria Park show in July, while Erick Morillo has asked them to take residency in the Global Room at his long-running Subliminal Nights @ Pacha, Ibiza, this summer.
Available as a CD and download
Rating: 3 out of 5
YOUNG GUNS – MIRRORS EP: High Wycombe based quintet Young Guns released their four-track Mirrors EP earlier this month and immediately lay down their credentials as heavy rockers with an eye on filling stadiums sometime in the future. Their sound is full-on, yet melodic enough to suggest they could generate some airplay on the mainstream. But while they’re competent enough – boasting production values from former SikTh members Dan Weller and Justin Hill (Enter Shikari, Gallows) – they could do with mixing things up a little as most tracks are pretty straight ahead rockers. Lead offering Daughter of the Sea lulls you temporarily with some lush, melodic opening guitar riffs and a pleasing back-beat, before coming over all heavy after about 20 seconds and really pounding its way into your head. The Weight of the World, meanwhile, repeats a similar trick, while There Will Be Rain ramps up the heaviness and angst. Even In The Night comes on strong. But then what else could we expect from tracks that cover subjects such as party-induced excess and temptation, and adolescent aspirations and dependency. Perhaps the boys have a little growing up of their own to do before graduating to the really big leagues!
Available as a CD and digital release since June 22
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
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