REVIEW - Singles Round-Up August 15th - Prince, Elvis Costello, Moby, Nightmares on Wax, The Vaccines etc
After briefly scaling the sheer cliff-face of indie-rock's hallowed mountain of hero-worship, The Vaccines appear to have slipped onto a ledge normally reserved for doomed Americana hopefuls or crest-fallen 'alternative' potentials. The Lemonheads - I'll say no more. But hey, someone throw them a rope - they've got a melody, it's a pretty one and it's calling your name. Lighter and breezier than much of the London band's previous witterings, Melody Calling is a likeable, if rather unchallenging, country-pop romp that is perfect playlist material for BBC6 Music (I'm right - tune in, they'll be playing it in a minute). 7/10.
Back with more glow-stick melancholia, Moby retreats back to the golden era of his Everything Must Go and Play albums with this collaboration with promising vocalist Cold Specks. As with the likes of Mimi Goese (on 1995's Into The Blue) and Laura Dawn (on 2004's Hotel album), Moby has selected a strong soulful singer to uplift the mood created by the down-key piano rolls, majestic symphonic synths and half-paced beats and for the most part on this taster from new album Innocents, he's succeeded. But it all feels a little too familiar - has Moby really moved on from Play? Does he want to? Does he care? Probably not, but it'll be interesting to see where his imagination has taken him for the rest of the album. A return to form, I'd say. 7/10.
Naked and Famous - Hearts Like Ours
New Zealand's big hopes brewed up a tea-pot of promise with their last album Passive Me Aggressive You and three years to the week, they've announced the completion of the follow-up. Frankly, I won't be buying it. Unless you crave T-Pau and Belinda Carlisle rampaging through your ears after a huddle with the likes of Lissie or Florence, I'd avoid Hearts Like Ours. It's a superfluous bombastic pop trudge that is crying out to be the accompaniment to a trailer for some teenage TV drama or the sound of your life imploding. Oddly cheerless. 4/10.
Elvis Costello and the Roots - Walk Us Uptown
No-one could accuse Costello of resting on his creative laurels during the past few decades, despite accusations of self-indulgence being levelled by a few (particularly about his Spinning Songbook thingy - lighten up, it was a gas). The songwriter's bright mood continues on his much-anticipated dalliance with hip-hop crew The Roots which is set to spawn an album later this year. Questlove's companions pep up what is an otherwise average song, albeit a gutsy one. Its confident brassy babble wins through though and Walk Us Uptown becomes more of a canter than a plod. 6/10.
Kitchens of Distinction - Japan To Jupiter
Along with Blue Aeroplanes and The Chameleons, K.O.D. must go down as one of the biggest near-misses our music-scene has spawned in the last thirty years. Musically similar, lyrically deeper and not averse to chiming guitars and bullish live-shows, the Kitchens put the kitsch into indie-pop some twenty-odd years ago with a succession of decent EPs and beautifully-dressed albums for young upstart label One Little Indian. Seventeen years after their last release, a low-key 1996 single on Fierce Panda, Japan To Jupiter is a melodious anthem we all thought had become obsolute, save for Editors and White Lies' varying attempts. Who cares what it's all about, JTJ conjures up a myriad of memories reminding us that, once upon a time, singles were worth caring about. Lovely. 8/10. Single of the Week.
Recorded well over a year ago but creeping back onto Soundcloud playlists of late is this pleasing mid-year jaunt through paradise-beaches, long-tall drinks and longer, taller, leaner twenty-somethings lobbing beach-balls and smiling like smug estate-agents. Yep, it's an advert on a plate, this one. Treading a similar path to Theme Park or Two Door Cinema Club, if they recorded a song exclusively for car insurance or a weedy lager-style drink, Summer Dreaming starts promisingly with spangly guitars and the merest hint of Miami keyboards, it all culminates with a hazy indie-disco soundtrack that might make perfect bedfellows with an island holiday in the sun. It's more Merseyside than Stateside but nonetheless pleasant, if a little samey after five long minutes. 6/10.
Morning Smoke - DYWD/ In Euphoria
A somewhat brash exercise in DIY indie-rock, Morning Smoke's EP is divided between the bullish (DYWD) and the sorrowful-then-euphoric (In Euphoria) so something for everyone then. Vocalist Milo McNulty sings like he's trapped in a lift while the rest of his band grind out a lively racket from the confines of a cave. The title-track is far more enticing and appears to be three different songs stapled together, unified by a fabric made of animated joy and direct simplicity. There's no room for poncey keyboard solos here, it's all about smashing those cymbals, jangling those guitars and bellowing mournfully as though life (and death) depends on it. The mix is horrid but the ideas are there. 6/10.
Nightmares on Wax - Now Is The Time
Warp Records take a break from pummelling our delicate eardrums with glitchtronica and befuddling indie-funk to bring you the good times courtesy of one George Evelyn, aka N.O.W.. As with Mr Scruff, Evelyn's ouevre hovers between the soulful and the repetitive, littered with a hook-line big enough to sink a continent and with enough credibility to cast aside snobbish shrugs from suspicious onlookers. You've got a piano bassline, kooky synth-bubbles and a tuff dancehall skank that should fill a few dancefloors before the summer's out. 8/10.
Prince - Groovy Potential
Unveiled in edited form on the net recently, Groovy Potential carries on from where the purple prince left off with the freebie-album "20Ten". A fairly flimsy flirtation with funk, Groovy Potential is hardly the go-getting Prince we've come to know and love in the dim and distant past. In short, it's a damp squib, though not a disaster because the song gathers momentum after the first minute or so with brass and guitar filling in the gaps. Maybe there's a classic album waiting to burst out of Prince's head once again. I'm not convinced by this sample. 5/10.