Singles Round Up – June 21st

The week's releases rated

The sun is out, Wimbledon has begun…

SUMMER IS HERE!

Even the Scottish office are sweltering in the sunshine, with a little used bottle of sunscreen making a brief cameo appearance. There’s something about a good dose of Vitamin D that shifts the way we listen to music – suddenly The Beach Boys are transformed from geeky throwbacks into the coolest dudes around.

The Drums take note, for when those dark clouds begin to linger…

With a sunny disposition, ClashMusic takes a look at the latest single releases. This week: Micah P Hinson, Chief, Tender Trap and a bunch of Jurassic Park inspired beat merchants.

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Single Of The Week

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – All In Two Sixty Dancehalls

This is bloody amazing. No beating around the bush here, this is four tracks of dancefloor excellence which will make you move like nothing else around this summer. Released on Joe Goddard’s Greco-Roman label, the imprint is fast becoming a huge favourite in the Clash office due to its sublime taste. Continuing a sterling run of form with the new EP, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs return with four tracks which nod at dancehall, UK funky and even drum ‘n’ bass. The sun is out, the volume is up…

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden

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And the rest…

Harper Simon – Wishes And Stars
Harper Simon was recently interviewed by our very own Simon Harper, which must surely be breaking a few ‘Back To The Future’ style rules right there. Expect the four dimensions of space and time to collapse in on themselves sometime soon, but not before listening to ‘Wishes And Stars’. The redoubtable Simon returns with another blast of sunshine acoustic pop, with his weary tones suggesting a few clouds lingering on the horizon.

Scissor Sisters – Fire With Fire
The soundtrack to Satan’s own hen party. The disco divas return, with no divas and precious little in the way of disco glitz. Some slick piano playing gives way to near power ballad levels of schmaltz, but whereas before there were subtle nods and winks it seems that this time IT’S SERIOUS. Losing their sense of humour, Scissor Sisters head straight to the karaoke bar when it seems they borrowed the lead vocal. ‘Fire With Fire’? You could barely heat a tin of baked beans with this inferno.

Tender Trap – Do You Want A Boyfriend?
In which Tender Trap list the qualities a man must possess. Good looks, charisma, a good job? Nope. A healthy collection of Jesus And Mary Chain records is a must to bag these dames. Just as well I kept that autographed copy of ‘Psychocandy’ from before Bobby left the band… Fun filled twee pop, alas with no sharp edges but then that’s kind of the charm, I suppose.

Tender Trap – Do You Want A Boyfriend?

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HEALTH – USA Boys
Since ‘Get Color’ was pretty much the best thing ever, demand for new HEALTH material is enormous. Taken from ‘Disco 2’ new download ‘USA Boys’ is a typically breath-taking mixture of bone-crunching guitars and eye bleeding synths.

Chief – Breaking Down Walls
Slow motion dream pop reigns supreme on the new single from West Coast group Chief. Sunshine drenched guitars chatter beneath softly hymned vocals, with ‘Breaking Down Walls’ sounding like Galaxie 500 faded at the edges. Bodes well for the long player, due out in August.

Micah P Hinson – Take Off That Dress For Me
So apparently Micah P Hinson is a conservative. We don’t care that much. It’s not as if he’s a Nazi he just finds a few flaws in Obama’s ideals. As for his single, ‘Take Off That Dress For Me’ is a deeply seductive ode to getting it on. With his rich reverb soaked voice we’d have trouble resisting, but that Republican membership card would probably have to go before the knickers came off.

Micah P Hinson – Take Off That Dress For Me

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