SINGLES ROUND-UP starring Turin Brakes, The Hard Way, Paolo Morena, Arctic Monkeys, The Traps, Life and more
Turin Brakes - Guess You Heard - Out Now - ★★★½☆
In which the pair sound like a sextet and fill the airwaves with something of a Brakes stomper, rather than the easy-breezy ambience we've come to expect from them. Taken from last year's We Were Here album, Guess You Heard is of course hardly a rampant middle-finger swagger, it's Turin Brakes, all grown-up acoustica or pleasant adult pop, depending which TB tin you open on the day. This is the latter and it's rather agreeable and comes primed with a memorable chorus and the usual Brakey bumflufferies to boot. Good.
The Hard Way - Total F*cking Nihilism - Out March 17 - ★☆☆☆☆
In total contrast to not only Turin Brakes but the entire human race, The Hard Way have decided to deliver a brutal ear-bleeding exercise in stun-gunning one's eardrums to death, before firing a round of wasps into their eyeballs and subsequently screaming seven shades of shit off the pavement with one long endless blood-curdling blather about, well, nihilistic practices. The accompanying 'controversial' video features drug references, leather-clad 'hedonists' and neo-hipsters wearing caps that say 'Coke' and shirts that probably say 'Cuntspanner' or 'Hamstervadge' if I could be bothered to watch and listen to it more than the three times I have already. It's as controversial as an Aldi advert, though less entertaining. Grim.
Paolo Morena - Electric - Out Soon - ★★★☆☆
Deemed as a major new artist for 2014 by his PR peers, I can certainly see some promise in this songwriter whose USP appears to be live looping and playing all the instruments himself. But it's all about the songs and my immediate comparison, musically in this case, is Pet Shop Boys. However, Morena's vocal style seems to encompass many other genres than merely trilling over a tight little synth-pop beat - this chap can sing. Properly. Electric bubbles up nicely enough although isn't the vocal showcase I'd hoped for. Instead it demonstrates Morena's deft ability to weave a tune, build up a song and handle a mixing desk. Promising.
The Traps - My Grip - Out March 17 - ★★★★☆
Ah yes, Birmingham's answer to the Teardrop Explodes and Scott Walker are offering up the double A-side to the recently-reviewed The Imposter single. It's an odd assemblage of unsettling psychedelia and stadium-pop that works rather well, even better than The Imposter (which I liked). The whole song moves up a notch sometime after the second verse and the strings resound, xylophones tinkle and weird echoey effects convince me The Traps are contenders for the duration. Resplendent.
Life - Money - Out March 17 - ★★★☆☆
You can see the tagline on their bio, can't you - 'Hull band. Post-hardpop-punkcore-riff-masters. Love Life.' Well if it doesn't, maybe it should. Energetic, spiky and pulling no punches, Money has plenty of shrill guitars sanding away at the surface of a generally-enjoyable pop stomper that has an element of Strokes-circa-The Modern Age about it. I'll forgive them for the epileptic promo-video that goes with it, I'll applaud them for doing a false fade towards the end and I'll play the bloody thing again. Excitable.
Paolo Nutini - Scream (Funk My Life Up) - Out Now (on You Tube) - ★★☆☆☆
Throw Jack Johnson, Maroon 5, Prince, Lenny Kravitz and Seal into a blender and you get this cod-soul gospeldelia stomper from Nutini, a man whose appearance belies his Mustang Sally-style tonsils to the point where he ought to be called Lil' Paolo Dude Gravelgargler III or something. Actually, Scream is OK - it won't change the world but it'll prop up a few tired and jaded festival goers during the summer months when it gets belted out on stage somewhere around the world by the Scot who keeps on selling. Passable.
Arctic Monkeys - Arabella - Out Now - ★★½☆☆
One cannot deny Alex Turner's ascendency into stardom - from the beer-stained dance-floors of old to the bourbon-soaked bar-rooms of today, Arctic Monkeys have shifted from Sheffield steel to New York pastrami in a few short years and earned themselves big bucks, not by compromise, more by hard work and by having a charismatic frontman (of sorts). Quiffs aside, Arabella is rather ordinary. The opening riff reminds me of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and the whole thing judders and shudders along with a suggestive promo video filmed in monochrome that itself feels like a throwback. Perhaps that's the point. I bet they still look good on the dance-floor though.
Pixie Lott - Nasty - Out Now - ☆☆☆☆☆
It is Nasty, believe me.
James Arthur - Get Down - Out Now - ★★☆☆☆
Mouthy ex-X-Factor bloke mouths off about how shit X-Factor is (allegedly, if you believe the press) and makes a surprisingly tolerable '90s-influenced Massive Attack copy. It's about as meaningful as plasterboard but might just nudge him into the same arena as Professor Green, Plan B and Maverick Sabre. If you like that sort of thing.
St Vincent - Digital Witness - Out Now - ★★★½☆
Suddenly the subject of much critical plaudits from the broadsheets and high-end music-critics, one Annie Clark's brassy, quirky bonkers pop isn't showing any signs of following a 'career path' anytime soon. Following on from her unlikely fusion with David Byrne a couple of years ago, Clark delivered a decent album in 2013 from where this has been extracted from, a barbed candy-coated vignette loaded with sideswipes at consumerist attitudes and the fact everyone has a voice on the web these days. Including me. I like Annie Clark.
Chloe Howl - Rumour - ★☆☆☆☆
This sounds like Jessie J, Ellie Goulding etc so one can assume Howl is destined for bigger things at some point. Big wavering diva voice, fidgety electro-pop backdrop and a standard song that sounds like so much these days. If Howl farted halfway through the chorus, I'd award it five stars, honestly it needs something to differentiate it from others around at the moment. Ho. Hum.
In which the pair sound like a sextet and fill the airwaves with something of a Brakes stomper, rather than the easy-breezy ambience we've come to expect from them. Taken from last year's We Were Here album, Guess You Heard is of course hardly a rampant middle-finger swagger, it's Turin Brakes, all grown-up acoustica or pleasant adult pop, depending which TB tin you open on the day. This is the latter and it's rather agreeable and comes primed with a memorable chorus and the usual Brakey bumflufferies to boot. Good.
The Hard Way - Total F*cking Nihilism - Out March 17 - ★☆☆☆☆
In total contrast to not only Turin Brakes but the entire human race, The Hard Way have decided to deliver a brutal ear-bleeding exercise in stun-gunning one's eardrums to death, before firing a round of wasps into their eyeballs and subsequently screaming seven shades of shit off the pavement with one long endless blood-curdling blather about, well, nihilistic practices. The accompanying 'controversial' video features drug references, leather-clad 'hedonists' and neo-hipsters wearing caps that say 'Coke' and shirts that probably say 'Cuntspanner' or 'Hamstervadge' if I could be bothered to watch and listen to it more than the three times I have already. It's as controversial as an Aldi advert, though less entertaining. Grim.
Paolo Morena - Electric - Out Soon - ★★★☆☆
Deemed as a major new artist for 2014 by his PR peers, I can certainly see some promise in this songwriter whose USP appears to be live looping and playing all the instruments himself. But it's all about the songs and my immediate comparison, musically in this case, is Pet Shop Boys. However, Morena's vocal style seems to encompass many other genres than merely trilling over a tight little synth-pop beat - this chap can sing. Properly. Electric bubbles up nicely enough although isn't the vocal showcase I'd hoped for. Instead it demonstrates Morena's deft ability to weave a tune, build up a song and handle a mixing desk. Promising.
The Traps - My Grip - Out March 17 - ★★★★☆
Ah yes, Birmingham's answer to the Teardrop Explodes and Scott Walker are offering up the double A-side to the recently-reviewed The Imposter single. It's an odd assemblage of unsettling psychedelia and stadium-pop that works rather well, even better than The Imposter (which I liked). The whole song moves up a notch sometime after the second verse and the strings resound, xylophones tinkle and weird echoey effects convince me The Traps are contenders for the duration. Resplendent.
Life - Money - Out March 17 - ★★★☆☆
You can see the tagline on their bio, can't you - 'Hull band. Post-hardpop-punkcore-riff-masters. Love Life.' Well if it doesn't, maybe it should. Energetic, spiky and pulling no punches, Money has plenty of shrill guitars sanding away at the surface of a generally-enjoyable pop stomper that has an element of Strokes-circa-The Modern Age about it. I'll forgive them for the epileptic promo-video that goes with it, I'll applaud them for doing a false fade towards the end and I'll play the bloody thing again. Excitable.
Paolo Nutini - Scream (Funk My Life Up) - Out Now (on You Tube) - ★★☆☆☆
Throw Jack Johnson, Maroon 5, Prince, Lenny Kravitz and Seal into a blender and you get this cod-soul gospeldelia stomper from Nutini, a man whose appearance belies his Mustang Sally-style tonsils to the point where he ought to be called Lil' Paolo Dude Gravelgargler III or something. Actually, Scream is OK - it won't change the world but it'll prop up a few tired and jaded festival goers during the summer months when it gets belted out on stage somewhere around the world by the Scot who keeps on selling. Passable.
Arctic Monkeys - Arabella - Out Now - ★★½☆☆
One cannot deny Alex Turner's ascendency into stardom - from the beer-stained dance-floors of old to the bourbon-soaked bar-rooms of today, Arctic Monkeys have shifted from Sheffield steel to New York pastrami in a few short years and earned themselves big bucks, not by compromise, more by hard work and by having a charismatic frontman (of sorts). Quiffs aside, Arabella is rather ordinary. The opening riff reminds me of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and the whole thing judders and shudders along with a suggestive promo video filmed in monochrome that itself feels like a throwback. Perhaps that's the point. I bet they still look good on the dance-floor though.
Pixie Lott - Nasty - Out Now - ☆☆☆☆☆
It is Nasty, believe me.
James Arthur - Get Down - Out Now - ★★☆☆☆
Mouthy ex-X-Factor bloke mouths off about how shit X-Factor is (allegedly, if you believe the press) and makes a surprisingly tolerable '90s-influenced Massive Attack copy. It's about as meaningful as plasterboard but might just nudge him into the same arena as Professor Green, Plan B and Maverick Sabre. If you like that sort of thing.
St Vincent - Digital Witness - Out Now - ★★★½☆
Suddenly the subject of much critical plaudits from the broadsheets and high-end music-critics, one Annie Clark's brassy, quirky bonkers pop isn't showing any signs of following a 'career path' anytime soon. Following on from her unlikely fusion with David Byrne a couple of years ago, Clark delivered a decent album in 2013 from where this has been extracted from, a barbed candy-coated vignette loaded with sideswipes at consumerist attitudes and the fact everyone has a voice on the web these days. Including me. I like Annie Clark.
Chloe Howl - Rumour - ★☆☆☆☆
This sounds like Jessie J, Ellie Goulding etc so one can assume Howl is destined for bigger things at some point. Big wavering diva voice, fidgety electro-pop backdrop and a standard song that sounds like so much these days. If Howl farted halfway through the chorus, I'd award it five stars, honestly it needs something to differentiate it from others around at the moment. Ho. Hum.