Honestly, what in the world is better than having someone else do your work for you? Nothing? Check this: Clash got three people to do our work for us for this week’s Singles Round Up.
Sky Larkin are Katie, Nestor and Doug (pictured, l-r), and the three hail from Leeds; the band’s debut album, ‘The Golden Spike’, was released via Wichita earlier this year. Their next single is ‘Antibodies’, released next Monday, and its video can be seen HERE. We like them very much.
Because we like them so – and because they brought us nice tea and biscuits – we let them tear into the singles for May 4, 2009. Let banter commence…
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Single of the Week
Au Revoir Simone – ‘Shadows’
K: Are they the ones that play keyboards? Like, just keyboards?
N: No, that’s Kraftwerk. Dressed as girls.
D: Do Au Revoir Simone not dress up like robots?
K: I like the way the vocals are recorded – like, they’re close, but not too close. It’s girls, innit, so if I say anything bad I get thrown out of the union, the secret mafia.
D: Yup, I like this.
K: This is single of the week. Sorry Bono. This sounds like it’d be nice to listen to on headphones, in the van, on a sunny day. It could do with a ripping guitar solo, like a harmonised solo. But I’d actually like to listen to that again.
Download The Teenagers’ remix of ‘Shadows’ HERE.
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Also out today…
Empire Of The Sun – ‘We Are The People’
D: I say we’ll give this thirty seconds. Is this really a single?
K: Are they on a massive label? Virgin?
D: They’re massive in Australia.
K: And one of them’s in The Sleepy Jackson, right? Luke Steele, that’s it.
N: Skip this on a bit… Can you set it to twenty seconds from the end?
D: This is bad.
N: Empire Of The Sun are fucking dogshit.
D: There was barely anything in that worth skipping.
N: Boring, meandering horseshit.
U2 – ‘Magnificent’
D: Okay, are we ready for a classic people?
K: Do you have the lyrics?
N: They’re bound to be gold.
(Clash gets the lyrics on screen; Sky Larkin begin following them.)
N: “I give you back my voice from the womb… my first cry”? What the…?
K: I don’t think there’s anything you can say about Bono that hasn’t already been said.
N: I bet his first word was actually ‘Bono’. “BONO!”
K: It has a little handclap, like it’s going to be a disco song, which is exciting, but then… nothing.
D: I sort of like old U2, and this is better than their last few albums. It’s okay, it’s not offensive.
K: I think it is offensive.
Maxïmo Park – ‘The Kids Are Sick Again’
N: Is this that funny chap in the hat?
K: I’ve heard they are very nice people.
N: He’s got a massive cone-head, like, his head is the shape of his hat. Probably.
K: I do like singing in a regional accent.
D: I quite like Maxïmo Park, I think they’re alright. There are some good songs on their first album. This is… (begins listening closely)
K: I would like it if the word ‘sick’ came back around again, like, ‘sick’ as in good. This could mean that it has.
D: Does it have a press release?
N: Does it say: “My name is Paul, do you like my hat?”
D: (Quoting press release) I’d definitely describe this as: “An instantly immortal, poignantly timed, ridiculously addictive pop song”, wouldn’t you agree?
N: That is exactly what I was thinking.
D: I do quite like it, actually.
Various Production feat Georgia’s Horse – ‘As It Stops Raining’
N: Is she a robot? I’m not sure this is a horse…
D: This is shit. Well, maybe I should say it’s just not our thing.
K: Maybe if this was being played out of a car, it would sound better – in the environment for which it was intended.
The King Blues – ‘I Got Love’
K: D’you wanna hear a bad joke? They’re ‘king awful. Sorry.
N: Are these guys from Mexico?
D: Nah, they’re from Laahndaahn.
N: How have they been on the cover of Kerrang!?
K: Someone told us that Sugar Ray have one pop song on each album and the rest is, like, metal. This is like Sugar Ray, so maybe the rest of their songs are rocking?
N: They’ve toured with Enter Shikari, apparently.
D: Sorry, this is horrible Mike. Can we turn it off?
N: Wait, we didn’t listen to the instrumental version!
K: It’s just so… ball-less. Can we throw this out of your window, or would you get in trouble?
N: Maybe we should send it back to them, just covered in shit. Eat it, then shit it out so it’s covered in my blood, and then post it back.
Tommy Sparks – ‘She’s Got Me Dancing’
K: Oh, I’ve heard this. It sounds like The Ting Tings. I’m sure I’ve heard something about Island dropping loads of artists so they could sign this guy.
N: I don’t know what I hate more, this or The King Blues.
K: Oh, The King Blues, easily. If you were drunk – like, really drunk – you would probably dance to this.
D: It’s the kind of thing you’d hear on the radio and like enough to find out what it is, but then you’d never listen to it again because you’ll realise that, actually, you don’t really like it. But you don’t hate it.
N: Hearing The King Blues is going to scar me for some time.
K: If your kids were listening to this, you could be like, “Aww, kids”. It’s pretty harmless. But if your kids were listening to The King Blues, you’d have to be concerned. Tommy Sparks sounds like he should be soundtracking a Boots advert.
Bodies Of Work – ‘Better Sorry Than Safe’
K: They’ve got a certain sound to the piano… it’s like ‘The Way It Is’, that Bruce Hornsby song. And is that a girl singing backing vocals?
D: (Reading press release) It’s Lizzie Holdforth.
K: I’m disappointed in you Lizzie Holdforth, go to the back of the union. I bet she plays keyboards, or the bass.
Clash: She plays keys.
K: Oh god, it just turned into Scouting For Girls just then, that ‘dink-dink-dink’ piano bit.
D: Right, if we were reviewing this for somewhere like NME, we’d probably say: it’s like Scouting For Girls meeting Foals in a dark alley… and getting anally raped.
K: I don’t understand where the piano stands in the indie-dance world.
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Find Sky Larkin on MySpace HERE and watch their faces on the following stages…
May
5 Dublin Academy 2
6 Belfast Auntie Annie’s
8 Canterbury The Farmhouse
16 Brighton Great Escape Festival
23 Liverpool Sound City
