With the Clash office bods scattered around Europe over the weekend, at this year’s Tignes Fest in France, the annual Fence Homegame in Fife and The Prodigy’s explosive Friday night set in London (REVIEW), it seems the first offerings of summer fun have arrived.
Without our craniums exploding in a haze of all things music, we still managed to get stuck into this week’s singles round-up just in time. After we hit the Alka-Seltzer and dusted ourselves down, of course…
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Single of the Week
The Big Pink – ‘Velvet’
The Big Pink’s reputation has so far been built more on intrigue then the music, with early murmurs suggesting the duo started out playing in a disused glue factory before terrifying bewildered punters by unleashing nihilistic noise assaults nightly when supporting Florence & The Machine. Then there’s their (possibly) gargantuan intake of Bolivian rocket fuel. But ‘Velvet’ may be just the downbeat blast needed to cut through the speculator buzz. The pair aren’t exactly the types you imagine slipping on sandals and hitting the beach too often; instead they set about coating their low-slung drum loops in mountains of Mary Chain fuzz, with Milo Cordell providing ghostly monotone refrains amid the amp-shredding chaos. Summer smash? No chance. A vindication of their much-hyped potential? Yup.
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Also out today…
Friendship – ‘The Graveyard Shift’
Quite how London duo Friendship manage to meld the calypso guitar jerks of Vampire Weekend, the colossal noise tension of Lightning Bolt and the math-pop urgency of Foals into something so distinctive is beyond us, but the merrily titled ‘The Graveyard Shift’ aces it in one. The kind of three-minute sensory overload that leaves limbs flailing, eyes bursting from their sockets and ears spasming into perplexed pop chaos. Ace. (Watch the video at the band’s MySpace page.)
Gallows – ‘The Vulture (Act II)’
Just when you though Hertfordshire’s supreme scream-team had unleashed optimum chaos on their debut, along comes ‘Grey Britain’ to proclaim the U.K. even worse than before – read about the band’s new album HERE. Tearing through the tweeters and glassing you before showering you in a fountain of larynx-shredded bile, ‘The Vulture (Act II)’ will either have you pile-driving from a speaker stack come festival season or hobbling away muttering something about noise pollution. Or, hopefully, both.
Marmaduke Duke – ‘Rubber Lover’
Soon set to return with Biffy for the follow-up to 2007’s immense ‘Puzzle’, Simon Neil first turns his finger to dressing like a 17th Century pirate and knocking out concept albums with fellow duke J.P. Reid. By the sounds of ‘Rubber Lover’, the concept seems to be all about punchy basslines, eyebrow-raising comic tales of blow-up dolls, and our new favourite catchphrase in “funky all the way home”. Whilst doing so, they also sneakily usher in the previously-whispered-about disco direction hinted at in the past. Single of the week, were it not so darn short.
Tinchy Stryder feat. N-Dubz – ‘Number 1’
If Radio 1’s crooked daytime plotters were given any more power than they sadly already hold over the record buying public’s Nanos, every single released would sound like this steaming shower of urban MC beats and Europop-aping baloney. N-Dubz? L8RZ peeps.
Okkervil River – ‘Pop Lie’
Texan folk-rockers Okkervil River have been knocking out albums for so long they surely deserve some kind of indie medallion – a platinum cardigan, perhaps? ‘Pop Lie’ sees the ever-grafting country relics let loose another all-American stomp that’s sure to grant them a place on Letterman anytime now. Oh, they’ve just been on, you say? About time, too.
Golden Silvers – ‘True Romance (True No. 9 Blues)’
With a video reminiscent of ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ with added ‘80s facial fuzz and a slinking bassline to boot, Golden Silvers seem keen to take their Squeeze-meets-early Blur promise and inject it with as much fun as possible. Their debut album hits the shops in a week, until then this retro-pop firecracker will have to suffice.
