Rogue Traders
Voodoo Child
BMG
You know Izzy from Neighbours, right? The tart without a heart who split up Ramsay Street’s golden couple Karl and Susan? Well, even if you don’t, you’ve doubtless spotted her killer cleavage while flicking over from a dull segment about war postcards on Richard and Judy. Anyway, the actress who plays this legendary bitch – Natalie Bassingthwaighte, we believe they call her – is now fronting Aussie electro-rock band Rogue Traders. Trivia fans might like to know they’ve just scored a triple platinum album over in Strewth-Mate-Put-Some-More-Shrimps-On-The-Barbie-Land. Voodoo Child is a dirty great slab of dance-rock, built around a re-recorded riff from Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up, and properly sold by a persuasively hammy vocal from Bassingthwaighte. Like one of those hand-held fans you get in Woolies, it’s cheap, disposable and absolutely essential this summer.
More singles reviews after the jump, you lucky bleeders, from Jim Noir, Shayne Ward, Shack, Webb Sisters, Mogwai, Tapes n' Tapes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Dirty Pretty Things…
Jim Noir
Eanie Meany
My Dad
Isn’t it a bit late for a football single? After all, it’s been over a week since England waved goodbye to World Cup glory, Cristiano Ronaldo waved goodbye to a hatemail-free life and bar owners in the Baden-Baden area waved goodbye to the goooood times. At least Jim Noir’s Eanie Meany – “If you don’t give my football back, I’m gonna get my dad on you” – isn’t some kind of chest-thumping anthem. It’s actually a psychedelia-tinged slice of acoustic pop, not a million miles away from Badly Drawn Boy, and a bit too humble to be used on an Adidas ad. The ‘spray’s advice? Savour those melancholy guitar chords while sobbing into your pint.
Shayne Ward
Stand By Me
BMG
Once upon a time there was a handsome young man who won the nation’s hearts on a TV talent show. His first single was a smash – he’d had a nice lot of exposure, after all – and his first album sold very nicely indeed, thank you very much. Two years later he’d disappeared. Er… what’s that… wrong guy? Oops! But that’s the thing about the new Shayne Ward single, it sounds just like Gareth Gates circa 2002. It’s a power ballad that nicks its falsetto swoop from Unchained Melody and its tune from R Kelly’s If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time. What’s more, a choir comes in at the end to make things a bit soaring in a Like A Prayer-esque fashion. Needless to say, it’s nowhere near as good as any of those songs. Nope, not even the R. Kelly one. Shayney needs to get hold of Jodie Marsh’s number, and sharpish.
Shack
Cup of Tea
Sour Mash
From one of the albums of the year so far, The Corner Of Miles And Gil by Shack, comes one of the best songs from it. Words won't do Cup Of Tea justice – it's a song by professional cosmic Scousers produced by one of Space about a man drinking a cup of tea laced with LSD and going on a mystical journey – but it's so much better than that wishy-washy description would have you believe. The verse melody skips and splashes playfully around before the chorus arrives and explodes into a million different directions at once. It's classic, satisfying, majestic stuff that your milkman would be whistling by the end of the week – if you still had a milkman, that is.
Webb Sisters
I Still Hear It
Universal
Have you ever woken up and thought, “Ooh, I really fancy listening to some Wilson Phillips today”? Nah, we haven’t either, but if it ever happens we’d gladly make do with the debut single from the Webb Sisters. I Still Hear It’s Californian soft rock evokes Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac – but with Bangles-esque harmonies – and it’s easy to see why it’s been squatting on the Radio 2 playlist like Daryl Hannah protecting an urban garden for the last few weeks. Now, if only we had a SUV and an endless stretch of highway in front of us…
Mogwai
Travel is Dangerous EP
PIAS
Fresh from soundtracking an arthouse film about tired old headbutty Frenchman Zinedine Zindane and releasing their frightening well-acclaimed Mr Beast album, Mogwai are back with this, the album track Travel Is Dangerous – basically Radiohead doing My Bloody Valentine quite well – backed by a handful of remixes and live tracks. Error's remix of Auto Rock is a fantastic slice of electro glitch pop that you'll no doubt hear on several TV shows about architecture before the year is out, while the Acid Casuals remix of Friend Of The Night is so ornamental sounding we're scared to listen to it too hard in case we break it. Throw in a couple of apocalyptic live tracks and you're in post-rock heaven, buddy.
Tapes ‘n Tapes
Insistor
Xl Recordings
Minneapolis’ Tapes ‘n Tapes are pushing all the right buttons in indieland at the moment. They’re enjoying favourable comparisons to The Pixies, nailed an acclaimed performance at SXSW* and now their debut album’s getting what labels feel obliged to call a “high priority re-release”. Insistor is a blistering alt-rock romp, with some nice country undertones and some surprisingly dark lyrics (“My cold razor’s edge will meet you in the light”). It gallops along like Red Rum in the Grand National of 1977, but the overall effect is a bit too Tarantino soundtrack to be properly write-it-on-your-pencil case loveable.
*an annual music festival in Austin, Texas that, in our eyes, never quite manages to shake off its underlying wankiness
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth
Wichita
To be honest, we're still a little bit bummed out that Arctic Monkeys stole Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's 'very very famous on the Internet first' crown last year – whenever we hear that singer doing an impression of the boy out of Kes singing songs about looking good on dancefloors, we always imagine how great it'd be if Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were in their place. Just to rub salt into our imaginary wounds, The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth is a genius little song, sounding a bit like New Order as sung by a man being scared by a very large dog. For breathless old-fashioned pop larks, this has to be the tune for you. What do you mean you've already got the album? Oh well done you.
Dirty Pretty Things
Deadwood
Vertigo
That Carl Barat, he’s such a mumbler. He mumbles in interviews – the ‘spray’s had the misfortune of transcribing one of his chuntering monologues – and he mumbled in the Libertines. Now he’s mumbling in Dirty Pretty Things. Deadwood, the band’s second single, isn’t as catchy as their top five smash Bang Bang You’re Dead, but it’s still a rambling, rollicking rock ‘n’ roll nugget. A job well done, for sure, but we reckon Barat might well learn something from the patron saint of over-enunciation; and he’s got no excuses: she’s on Channel 4 every night at the moment.
[reviews by Nick Levine]