SINGLES REVIEW ROUND-UP - Temples, John Foxx, Placebo, Love Buzzard, Joe Goddard, Section 25, Pearl Jam etc
The autumn is approaching and so are some big (and not so big) guns with promises of new albums and impending tours. First things first though - they've all opted to release a single/EP beforehand....
One such outfit are Bloc Party whose aura still glows and whose music shifts enough units to score Top 5 albums at the drop of a baseball cap. On 'Ratchet' (out 12th Aug - 5/10), singer Kele sounds as though he's running uphill for the last bus, while the rest of the band are desperately pressing every button on their synths to find out which one goes 'woop' at some point. In short, this is dull. Bloc Party circa 2004-06 were an enticing prospect - somehow Bloc Party circa 2012-13 seems past its sell-by date and the sort of music you'd put on if you wanted to disperse a peace convoy.
Another man in the habit of pressing every synth button on the planet is Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame. On this solo effort, he's prodded all the right ones on new hip-wiggling single 'Step Together' (out soon - 7/10]. Evoking memories of Balearic beach-parties (in Devon, rather than the real Balearics) and Italo-house bangers, Goddard's oeuvre covers all clubbing bases, provided it's been booming out of a dodgy Cosworth or a Litten Tree during the traditional Friday fracas. S'all good, if a little pedestrian after four minutes or so - it needs some funky bass, that's what.
As well as bass, guitar and drums, Manic Street Preachers need a cardiogram to kickstart their new single 'Rewind The Film' (out soon - 6/10). Despite featuring the always-acceptable earthy croon of Richard Hawley, this floundering 'epic' fails to engage into first gear. Sure it's possessed of that lovely sweeping retro sound we've come to expect from Hawley but when coupled with the Manics, who frankly sound euthanized on here, all hope of recovery is lost. Until, that is, the final few minutes when the song bursts into life (sort of) and concludes with a stately crescendo that screams 'anthem'. So, not all bad then.
Much of Placebo's recent output has also floundered but for different reasons. I hate to use the statement but 'they all sound the same these days' but sadly'Too Many Friends' (out soon - 5/10) is a trudge through previous riffs and cliches that even Molko fans must be finding a bit wearing. Stuck in the '90s and laboured to the extreme, the one glimmer of hope comes from the rousing chorus which lyrically descends into repetition, repetition, repetition ad nauseum. This is the same band that gave us Pure Morning, by the way. Yep, I know - what happened?
And what the hell has happened to Babyshambles? Gaw blimey alright my son acoustic-pop now makes way for indie-by-numbers, strike-a-light. Actually, it's really business as usual for pop's poetic pipe-dreamer Peter Doherty and chums and, y'know, 'Nothing Comes To Nothing' (out soon - 6/10) actually adds up to something in a trite studenty way. The jingles jangle, the strumming strums and old Pete gives us his best Stereophonics impression this side of the Albert Bridge, gaw bless 'im. Mercifully, it's less contrived than the bloody Libertines.
Fusing dubstep-ish and electro beats and pleasant pulsating synth-lines is the 'Sinas' EP (out soon - 7/10) by Grigori and rather good it is too. With the current swell of similarly constructed music out there at the moment, most of it a pile of tramp's piss to be honest, some manage to be marginally inventive and worthy of being called into action as a release. Considering Grigori comes from East London, an area over-populated by talentless laptop-prodding gits in trilby-hats and cardigans, he's alienated himself away from the detritus with a near-impeccable quartet of tracks. The self-titled opener is rather hypnotic, the second track broods soulfully, the third skitters about pleasingly enough, but 'Turn Tide', the final track, doesn't quite fit into this jigsaw, despite being a rather more organic example of this man's work - it's sort of a belly-gazing Twin Shadow meander and a tad draggy. Still, three-quarters of this upcoming EP is all good.
Fiction's singer looks a bit like John Malkovich, I shit you not - sadly, Be Clear (out now - 6/10) doesn't sound like him. Instead, we're back in the mid to late '80s, listening to any one of those major label bands that either never had a hit, had a rare slot on Top of the Pops or who were buried beneath a maze of permed hair and childrens TV appearances. Actually, there was a band called Fiction Factory who weren't a million miles from this. Or Ca Va Ca Va, or Fra Lippo Lippi, Blow Monkeys and today's new romantics Theme Park. Do we need all that again? Next.....
John Foxx, another '80s icon (and deservedly so), returns with another release, although this 'Exponentialism' EP (out now - 7/10) is actually two acts performing four covers from his considerable catalogue. First up is operatic techsteppers I Speak Machine who tear up the blueprint originally applied to the Ultravox classic My Sex, by turning it into a writhing twisting carnal classic with breathy smokey vocals and balls-deep bass. Oooh nice. More please, this is promising. 'Tis a pity therefore that the same band forgot to inject the same amount of passion and vitality into another 'Vox anthem, I Want To Be a Machine. Better is Gazelle Twin's interpretation of Foxx and Louis Gordon's Never Let Me Go, which comes over all madrigal before morphing into gently throbbing slice of musique concrete. Also worthy is the Twin's loyal recital of Metamatic favourite, He's a Liquid, although not a huge leap away from the original to be fair.
Without a shadow of a doubt, single of the round-up comes from Temples, an archly psychedelic outfit from the Midlands. Previous single Shelter Song was a bit too Beatlesy to be hailed as anything but pastiche (although it's been fetching big bucks on eBay, I hear) but this limited 10" 'Colours to Life' (out now - 9/10) is far more believable and the work of genius. Yes, they sound like The Byrds or even paisley-shirted younger (and Australian) cousins The Church, but it's the songs that count and both sides of this wholesome piece of wax are a reason for getting out of bed in the morning. And I have to say - the flipside 'Ankh' is even better with its more direct approach and a super hook-line from the middle portion onwards. Inevitable comparisons to Tame Impala, Triptides or The Tambourines will be bandied around at some point, but Temples are unique enough to carry themselves through to the knockout stages, I fancy. Score!!
Also rather moreish is Mind Your Manners (out now online - 7/10) by Pearl Jam which harks back to their Vs days. It's a heads-down no-nonsense rifftastic racket that reminds me of Spin the Black Circle or something that the likes of Black Flag might have knocked out in their SST days. OK, let's forget authenticity here - Eddie Vedder's mainstream charges will never get a pass-key into the hallowed hardcore halls of Rollins and co but, on the basis of some of their output, I'd give them a day-pass. QOTSA might be the cool guys on the rock block right now but don't write off PJ just yet - new album Lightning Bolt might turn out to be their best for some time.
And sounding like Pearl Jam might have sounded had they eaten six Shredded Wheat, smoked twenty packets of fags (old ones - Capstans, perhaps) and inhaled a gravel drive-way is London-based garage-rock shovellers Love Buzzard. There's an element of early SST or Sub-Pop about them, right down to the Savage Pencil-style sleeve and potent, if short, 'brewhaha' on offer here. Caught in the Deed sounds like Lemmy with his knackers trapped in a bungee-rope, while the a-side Everything About You (out now on 7" - 7/10) barely (noisily) makes it over the minute mark and is all the better for it. Garage-rock rarely sounded so concise and rough around the edges - that's what Pearl Jam should be aiming for.
And finally, released across the channel around Northern Europe (namely Belgium) comes another limited 10" pressing, this time on clear vinyl. Factory's revitalized Section 25 have a slew of new releases around at the minute including new album Dark Light (reviewed here), a remix album Eigengrau and this six-tracker, 'Invicta Max' (out now - 8/10) which gathers up the four contributions from their Invicta EP issued on Hacienda Records in 2011 and adds two mixes of new track Microgroove. The obvious standout is the 'straight' Song Mix of Colour Movement Sex and Violence, a more organic take on one of the standouts from Dark Light and, in a strange way, more human (much as I adore the album mix). Inner Drive comes in two forms with another CMSV version thrown in. Absolute Body Control give Microgroove a dubby going over (they've also remixed early tune Beating Heart for that Eisengrau project), concluding the EP in similar mode to Fad Gadget or Goldfrapp. Good stuff.
One such outfit are Bloc Party whose aura still glows and whose music shifts enough units to score Top 5 albums at the drop of a baseball cap. On 'Ratchet' (out 12th Aug - 5/10), singer Kele sounds as though he's running uphill for the last bus, while the rest of the band are desperately pressing every button on their synths to find out which one goes 'woop' at some point. In short, this is dull. Bloc Party circa 2004-06 were an enticing prospect - somehow Bloc Party circa 2012-13 seems past its sell-by date and the sort of music you'd put on if you wanted to disperse a peace convoy.
Another man in the habit of pressing every synth button on the planet is Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame. On this solo effort, he's prodded all the right ones on new hip-wiggling single 'Step Together' (out soon - 7/10]. Evoking memories of Balearic beach-parties (in Devon, rather than the real Balearics) and Italo-house bangers, Goddard's oeuvre covers all clubbing bases, provided it's been booming out of a dodgy Cosworth or a Litten Tree during the traditional Friday fracas. S'all good, if a little pedestrian after four minutes or so - it needs some funky bass, that's what.
Much of Placebo's recent output has also floundered but for different reasons. I hate to use the statement but 'they all sound the same these days' but sadly'Too Many Friends' (out soon - 5/10) is a trudge through previous riffs and cliches that even Molko fans must be finding a bit wearing. Stuck in the '90s and laboured to the extreme, the one glimmer of hope comes from the rousing chorus which lyrically descends into repetition, repetition, repetition ad nauseum. This is the same band that gave us Pure Morning, by the way. Yep, I know - what happened?
And what the hell has happened to Babyshambles? Gaw blimey alright my son acoustic-pop now makes way for indie-by-numbers, strike-a-light. Actually, it's really business as usual for pop's poetic pipe-dreamer Peter Doherty and chums and, y'know, 'Nothing Comes To Nothing' (out soon - 6/10) actually adds up to something in a trite studenty way. The jingles jangle, the strumming strums and old Pete gives us his best Stereophonics impression this side of the Albert Bridge, gaw bless 'im. Mercifully, it's less contrived than the bloody Libertines.
Fiction's singer looks a bit like John Malkovich, I shit you not - sadly, Be Clear (out now - 6/10) doesn't sound like him. Instead, we're back in the mid to late '80s, listening to any one of those major label bands that either never had a hit, had a rare slot on Top of the Pops or who were buried beneath a maze of permed hair and childrens TV appearances. Actually, there was a band called Fiction Factory who weren't a million miles from this. Or Ca Va Ca Va, or Fra Lippo Lippi, Blow Monkeys and today's new romantics Theme Park. Do we need all that again? Next.....
And sounding like Pearl Jam might have sounded had they eaten six Shredded Wheat, smoked twenty packets of fags (old ones - Capstans, perhaps) and inhaled a gravel drive-way is London-based garage-rock shovellers Love Buzzard. There's an element of early SST or Sub-Pop about them, right down to the Savage Pencil-style sleeve and potent, if short, 'brewhaha' on offer here. Caught in the Deed sounds like Lemmy with his knackers trapped in a bungee-rope, while the a-side Everything About You (out now on 7" - 7/10) barely (noisily) makes it over the minute mark and is all the better for it. Garage-rock rarely sounded so concise and rough around the edges - that's what Pearl Jam should be aiming for.
