hecklerspray Singles Review 13/2/2006

Goldfrapp
Ride A White Horse
Mute
Is it homage to Bianca Jagger’s legendary entrance to New York’s Studio 54 nightclub perched atop Chalky the Shetland? Or rather a paean to squatting down on a man’s love-muscle? Whatever it’s about, the third single from The ‘Frapp’s excellent Supernature album is almost certainly the first disco song ever to name-check the Winnebago motor home. Ride A White Horse is another floor-filler from Bath’s finest electroglam duo: a little bit Moroder, a little bit Bolan and even a little bit Blue Monday. The twosome’s influences are as flawless as Sharon Osbourne’s facelift, but the super-modern production and euphoric vocals ensure they only ever sound like Goldfrapp (CDs). 

There’s more singles reviews after the jump, from Boy Kill Boy, Liz McClarnon, The Magic Numbers, Friday Hill, Karmakops and Missy Elliott. Oh yes.

Missy Elliott

We Run This
Whenever hip-hop starts to seem a bit stale and predictable- every time
50 Cent has a single out, really - you can always rely on Missy (CDs) to come
along and liven things up a bit. She’s like that friend you always
invite to strained family get-togethers because you know she’ll never,
ever be boring. She might flirt outrageously with your granddad; she
might drink too much and get her tits out just as everyone else is
sobering up; she might even out “sensitive” cousin Simon. But she will
nev-ah, ev-ah be boring. We Run This, the third single from Missy’s
Cookbook album, is as singular and inventive as we’ve come to expect
from the one-time Misdemeanour. This time she’s only gone and nicked
the hook from Grandmaster Flash’s Apache and built a sexy, hypnotic
club track around it. Not bad for a lady who once needed a leg-up from
Melanie B to climb the dizzy heights of the British top ten.

Friday Hill

One More Night Alone
Longside Records
We Brits are a fickle lot, aren’t we? This time last year we were
clutching Kenzie of Friday Hill (CDs) and “ooh, Jodie Marsh put her
love-lumps in his sweet little face!” fame to our collective bosom; he
was the boy who became a man before our very eyes standing up to John
McCririck in the Celebrity Big Brother house. Now McCririck is
yesterday’s bully - he never lapped cream from Rula Lenska’s hands,
after all - and Samuel Preston is our favourite reality TV cheekie
chappy. Hell, said Marsh isn’t even the nation’s foremost Essex blonde
anymore. But, reassuringly, some things haven’t changed. Friday Hill,
the phoenix that rose from Blazin’ Squad’s ashes, are still loitering
on that street corner we call Popular Music. And, as if to compensate
for Kenzie’s fading tabloid star, they’ve adopted a “controversial” new
indie-pop direction. Anyone who remembers A1’s guitar-strumming phase
or anything at all about the career of BBMak will know how long this is
likely to last. One More Night Alone does have quite a nice chorus,
though.

Karmakops

Creatures
Newmemorabilia
The legend goes that Karmakops (CDs) were taken on by their management after
their first gig, and by their third they were supporting The Stereophonics.
You’re probably starting to think that Karmakops sound like an even
more mainstream version of Feeder by now. And you wouldn’t be far wrong,
except that Karmakops seem to be far more capable of making unexpected
twists and turns in their songs. Judging by Creatures - their first
single - Karmakops are going to be all over the place very soon. And by
‘all over the place’ we mean ‘on the soundtrack of Top Gear‘.

The Magic Numbers

I See You, I See Me
The Magic Numbers (CDs) are doing all right, aren’t they? They’ve scored
three hit singles since June, enjoyed a top ten album and now they’ve
got a Brit nomination for British Breakthrough Act. I See You, I See
Me, the fourth single from that self-titled debut album, wears its
influences on its billowing, hippy-chic sleeve: a sixties-style melody,
intertwining male and female vocals recalling The Mamas And Papas and,
that vital Magic Numbers ingredient, a whole lotta country-pop longing.
But unfortunately the overall effect is that of musical candyfloss:
it’s sickly sweet when you’re chewing on it, but there’s no real sense
of satisfaction afterwards.

Liz McClarnon

Woman In Love
Ten things you might* want to know about Liz McClarnon (CDs) and her new single Woman In Love:
-Liz is a member of girl-group Atomic Kitten, who are apparently “having
a break” at the moment. -Atomic Kitten were never as good as the
following late nineties/early noughties girl-groups: Spice Girls, All
Saints, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, B*witched. However, they were better
than the following late nineties/early noughties girl-groups: Girls@Play
-Last summer Liz appeared on ITV’s Celebrity Love Island.
-Miquita Oliver likened grilling Liz on Popworld recently to “interviewing air.”
-Liz thanked the “ugh-may-zing” Top Of The Pops crowd after performing on CD:UK last week.
-Woman In Love, Liz’s solo debut, is a cover of Barbra Streisand’s transatlantic number one from 1980.
-Liz’s version is produced by Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees; Barry Gibb
from the Bee Gees produced the original version for Barbra Streisand.
-Those Bee Gees get about a bit, don’t they?
-Robin has essentially nicked his brother’s original arrangement and added a few “modish” drum loops.
-And Liz doesn’t sing it nearly as well as good old Babs.
-But, then again, who would?

*probably didn’t

Boy Kill Boy
Back Again
Vertigo
Leytonstone’s Boy Kill Boy (CDs) are apparently The Next Big Thing in indie
world (a curious place, the ‘spray has recently discovered, located
somewhere between Camden and the offices of the NME).  Back Again,
their debut-on-a-major-label’s-indie-imprint single, is Duran
Duran-esque pop with a soaring chorus and an intriguing lyric about
adultery (“please forgive me…I’ll never go back again”). The synths and
intermittent electronic bleeps not only make their eighties influences
more obvious than Traci Bingham’s boob job, but also render the band’s
current “British Killers” tag inevitable. The path they’re following is
well-trodden, but they might just have enough.

[reviews by Nick Levine]