Surely it’s not already August already. Just September to go and we are into the barren release wasteland that is October/November. Let’s just concentrate on the here and now, with a selection of reviews from this week’s most notable singles.
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Single Of The Week
Miike Snow – Animal
It is a pity this song is so good. Perhaps if it were a little less infectious and melodically startling, it wouldn’t become victim to the destructive over-airplay and Channel Four commercial background tune use that is almost inevitable. Still… credit where credit is due, the songwriting dream team of Andrew Wyatt, Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg have nailed their first single with Vampire Weekend meets A-ha aplomb. Two of Miike Snow were formerly the producing and writing force of Bloodshy & Avant, a partnership that yielded hits for Britney Spears, Rachel Stevens, J-Lo, Madonna, Christian Milian, Ms Dynamite, Ultra Nate… the list goes on. Most notably, they produced the pop cornerstone that was Spears’ ‘Toxic’. Their own material is a stones throw away from their previous work on chart straddling pop, however, their experience in just knowing what will go through your ears, into your head and rattle around for weeks, is still rather evident. ‘Animal’ rides along on a steady summery synth melody above gentle percussion, as Wyatt delivers the vocals with a distant optimism. If this weren’t enough, then the song has been brilliantly remixed by hottest DJ of the moment, Fake Blood.
Mariachi El Bronx – Cell Mates
You may of known this band as the hardcore L.A. punk rockers, The Bronx. And in one of the boldest moves of 2009, since Muse decided to just become Queen and Preston (Ordinary Boys) became Frankmusik, they have picked up their trumpets, vihuelas and violins, and become one with mariachi music. ‘Cell Mates’ sets the scenes of a lover at the gates affair in which our man in prison is mourning for what could be a wife or even just the concept of freedom. Either way, the union of emphatic trumpets and Matt Caughthran’s melancholic crooning create a marvelous three minutes of ‘Battle Of The Alamo’ victory music. You can see an acoustic version of ‘Cell Mates’ below.
Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend
Where the Miike Snow track was so well written it’ll get more airplay than a Westwood sound bite, this track is so bland it will achieve that exact same feat. The promo should just come as a blank cd with ‘Radio 1 Daytime Music’ emblazoned on the front. It’s basically an unlikely attempt to rekindle a mind numbing genre of 90’s dance diva music (circa Rozalla, Ultra Nate, Robin S). Except back then it was a fad that intrigued, because it lasted about five minutes. Fifteen years later, big Calvin has ripped open an unrequested hole in the time/space continuum for us to drone out his chorus of “I’m gonna buy shoes and I’m ready for the weekend”. So to follow the promising tranced-up disco of ‘I’m Not Alone’, we’ve got a tinny piano sub-melody and nonsensical lyrics that stray from general observations about a mirror “when I tilt it towards the sunlight, you fall out of view” to brutal honesty about his DJing skills, “pushing knobs, pushing faders but I… don’t know what they do”. Tiga still reigns supreme for best song of 09′ about shoes.
Memory Tapes – Bicycle
This dreamy, ambient indie-pop gem begins in a timid fashion, whilst subtly growing into a flurry of cosmic beeps, whirring synths, haunting vocals and balearic drum beats. Subtle, in that during that last minute of the song your quizzing yourself on how you got here from the opening beats. With their unmistakable off-kilter cool, Memory Tapes are no doubt going to become the name drop of the moment for those loose jumper-ed, tight jeans arty shites (referring to the shites, not all interested in art) that carry copies of Sartre on the underground but never seem to read it, “I’ve actually been listening to a lot of Memory Tapes, but, erm… you probably won’t of heard of them”. But they are worth so much more. Evident that before a release was even announced; Mr Badwan (The Horrors) himself was on the blower begging for remix permission. You can download that very remix from their blog HERE
A Mountain Of One – Bones
A Mountain Of One are slowly moving musical territories with a treading patience that is going to ease their followers into new material whilst drawing those attracted to pastures new. ‘Bones’ is an ethereal psych rock journey that retains the elements of AMTO1’s electronic past, by slowly integrating their grinding guitars as the song develops.
Peter Andre – Behind Closed Doors
This guy has been through enough without us slating his single. Let’s be as positive as possible, it ain’t great. It barely has a chorus. Since Jordan left, nobody has been refilling the toilet paper and Pete has resorted to ripping the pages from his ‘Songwriting For Idiots’ book to wipe his arse. As a result when it came to writing ‘Behind Closed Doors’ he forgot that there needed to be hooks and verses. Poor Pete. If this weren’t bad enough, the initial official YouTube upload of the video was removed and replaced due to how out of sync it was, which is a rather comical coincidence for any who witnessed Peter perform live at T4 On The Beach this summer. If this again weren’t bad enough, Pete’s Video involves him playing the role of a trendy pervert trapped in masquerade world.
