Featuring Major Lazer, Keane, Dog Is Dead...
Online journalism, eh? GOTTA LOVE IT.
Words... on a screen. Scrolling down, veering across, maybe place an embed in there to spice things up. Focus on the week's singles, chuck in a few jokes and some personal asides.
Find it below, start scrolling.
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Single Of The Week
Major Lazer – Get Free
Well this is just... special. ‘Get Free’ is just smothered in sunshine, with Amber Projectors’ vocals adding something soft, something sweet to Major Lazer’s bashment template. Head and shoulders above everything else I’ve heard for this column, the track has been around for a while but finally gets a release this week. As beautiful as the moment it first traipsed into our eardrums, you can delve into its cool waters below.
Major Lazer - Get Free
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...and the rest.
Paul Weller – The Attic
Weller’s re-invention has taken me by surprise. Not that he’s opened himself up to new influences, of course, but that it’s come as such a shock to some observers. I mean, haven’t you people explored The Style Council? ‘The Attic’ is taken from ‘Sonik Kicks’and it’s further evidence that Weller’s innovation is growing in confidence along with his audience’s waistline. Tis brave, but who knows where he now sits? Vacating one throne, reaching for another.
Dog Is Dead – The Glockenspiel Song
Dog Is Dead are nearly always touring. The band must return home every few months with beards tapering down their chins, and dirt from a hundred venues under their fingernails. When they’re not touring, though, Dog Is Dead like to release whopping great big pop singles and this is one of them. Named after the instrument beloved by every primary school child, ‘The Glockenspiel Song’ is another determined step forward. Next stop? Another tour, of course.
Dog Is Dead - The Glockenspiel Song
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Jagga – Love Song
I’ll be honest here: I don’t know that much about Jagga. Me and him (it is a him, right?) exist in different worlds, one where he speeds past in an expensive car while I make do with wrestling past the pavement crowds. ‘Love Song’ is no doubt a CHART SMASHER the sort of thing that mauls the mainstream on a regular basis. The flip belongs to a remix courtesy of Slugabed, though, and it’s more my kind of thing. The sly, cheeky grin that adorns everything the producer puts his name to is present, with ‘Love Song’ shot through with ebullient energy and some childish bass burps. It’s fun, trust me.
Opossom – Blue Meanies
Opossom are – it seems – quite the thing in New Zealand. The band boast a lineage which includes connection with Flying Nun (who I am very much aware of) and have an art-punk vibe. ‘Blue Meanies’ is an intriguing crafted song, something which recalls the cut ‘n’ paste psychedelia of early Creation or some long lost Super Furry Animals project. It’s good, and definitely piques interest ahead of the new LP.
Keane – Sovereign Light Cafe
Here’s a confession. I don’t mind Keane. They seem like nice boys, the kind of person you’d set up with a slightly fragile older sister who needed looking after. Their tunes, for what they are, are fairly well put together – choruses in the right place, a middle eight to pad things out and the odd toe tapping verse or two. But sadly “don’t mind” doesn’t equate to love, and “the right place” doesn’t really stir the heart strings. That said: I don’t object to their right to exist.
Words... on a screen. Scrolling down, veering across, maybe place an embed in there to spice things up. Focus on the week's singles, chuck in a few jokes and some personal asides.
Find it below, start scrolling.
- - -
Single Of The Week
Major Lazer – Get Free
Well this is just... special. ‘Get Free’ is just smothered in sunshine, with Amber Projectors’ vocals adding something soft, something sweet to Major Lazer’s bashment template. Head and shoulders above everything else I’ve heard for this column, the track has been around for a while but finally gets a release this week. As beautiful as the moment it first traipsed into our eardrums, you can delve into its cool waters below.
Major Lazer - Get Free
- - -
...and the rest.
Paul Weller – The Attic
Weller’s re-invention has taken me by surprise. Not that he’s opened himself up to new influences, of course, but that it’s come as such a shock to some observers. I mean, haven’t you people explored The Style Council? ‘The Attic’ is taken from ‘Sonik Kicks’and it’s further evidence that Weller’s innovation is growing in confidence along with his audience’s waistline. Tis brave, but who knows where he now sits? Vacating one throne, reaching for another.
Dog Is Dead – The Glockenspiel Song
Dog Is Dead are nearly always touring. The band must return home every few months with beards tapering down their chins, and dirt from a hundred venues under their fingernails. When they’re not touring, though, Dog Is Dead like to release whopping great big pop singles and this is one of them. Named after the instrument beloved by every primary school child, ‘The Glockenspiel Song’ is another determined step forward. Next stop? Another tour, of course.
Dog Is Dead - The Glockenspiel Song
- - -
Jagga – Love Song
I’ll be honest here: I don’t know that much about Jagga. Me and him (it is a him, right?) exist in different worlds, one where he speeds past in an expensive car while I make do with wrestling past the pavement crowds. ‘Love Song’ is no doubt a CHART SMASHER the sort of thing that mauls the mainstream on a regular basis. The flip belongs to a remix courtesy of Slugabed, though, and it’s more my kind of thing. The sly, cheeky grin that adorns everything the producer puts his name to is present, with ‘Love Song’ shot through with ebullient energy and some childish bass burps. It’s fun, trust me.
Opossom – Blue Meanies
Opossom are – it seems – quite the thing in New Zealand. The band boast a lineage which includes connection with Flying Nun (who I am very much aware of) and have an art-punk vibe. ‘Blue Meanies’ is an intriguing crafted song, something which recalls the cut ‘n’ paste psychedelia of early Creation or some long lost Super Furry Animals project. It’s good, and definitely piques interest ahead of the new LP.
Keane – Sovereign Light Cafe
Here’s a confession. I don’t mind Keane. They seem like nice boys, the kind of person you’d set up with a slightly fragile older sister who needed looking after. Their tunes, for what they are, are fairly well put together – choruses in the right place, a middle eight to pad things out and the odd toe tapping verse or two. But sadly “don’t mind” doesn’t equate to love, and “the right place” doesn’t really stir the heart strings. That said: I don’t object to their right to exist.
