Reviews – Singles
February 2008
SINGLE OF THE ISSUE
The Deathset
MFDS (Counter)
Cheap-sounding sampling, a racing electronic kick-drum, a bloke shouting sneeringly, a blur of punk guitar, bargain bin synthesizers, songs that last between 38 seconds and two minutes. This lot come from Baltimore, USA, and have a reputation for destroying their equipment after performing fifteen minute sets – so far, so good. They also sound like 1977’s trashiest punk meeting Sigue Sigue Sputnik in the lowest fi home studio ever – even better. Can’t wait to hear more of them as this EP is a two-fingered salute to slick contemporary production values and muso bores everywhere. Bring it on.
www.myspace.com/thedeathset
My Toys Like Me
All Over My Face (Dumb Angel)
For the second issue running Beatmag must worship at the altar of My Toys Like Me. Their latest single is a ska-flavoured thing with disco stabs and the dreamy tones of Frances Noon firmly in place. The warm lilting J-Star mix is a move to the left and onwards from the more machine-led outing of the their previous material. The original and Host mixes meanwhile remind that, although Portishead have reappeared to reclaim their corown, there may be a worthy pretender in the wings.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=34757253
Kid Harpoon
The Second EP (Young Turks)
Took a while for us to make up our minds about Kid Harpoon. At his least appealing the raucous indie-folk he musters can be reminiscent of The Levellers’ drab oeuvre. Cherrypick, however, and one quickly finds irresistible tunes and lyrics that demand attention. The unambiguously titled ‘Second EP’ by Tom Hull (from Chatham, Kent, UK) and his band is more like a mini-album, six songs that range from the face-death-with-panache classic ‘Suicide Grandad?’ to the plaintive acoustic break-up song ‘Lay Of The Land’. Ignore the blandly rocking opener ‘Riverside’ and cut to the juicy stuff.
www.kidharpoon.net
The Opiates
Anatomy Of A Plastic Girl EP (Opiates)
A glacial quartet of mournful electro-ballads bathed in a sumptuous spaciousness. The low-slung Marlene Dietrich-pitched vocals are the icing on the cake but the stately bleepy electronics are equally important. It seems a shame to point out that the singer is none other than Billy Ray Martin, from ‘90s should-have-beens Electribe 101 and multiple other underground electronic projects, because this new venture, The Opiates, sounds so fresh, unforced and 2008-friendly. Nonetheless, it is her with pal Robert Solheim on the synthesizers. Check out the doomed lyricism of ‘Oprah’s Book Of The Month (Part 2)’ for impressively ambient bleakness.
www.myspace.com/opiatesmusic
Theoretical Girl
The Hypocrite/Never Good Enough (Salvia)
Theoretical Girl is dark-bobbed London girl Amy Turnnidge (and her feisty all girl band) but her rather 1960s appearance gives no hint at her sharply honed modern songwriting capabilities. This two-header contains ‘The Hypocrite’, a thumping though cleverly worded electro-tinted rocker based on a memorably quirky riff and a line every kid knows – “Do as I say, not as I do.” The second song, the one (young folk, pay attention) that we would once have called the b-side, is a lovely sliver of broken-heartedness where Amy intones that she’s never good enough for her loved one. An album of this calibre will be a wake-up call…
www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl
Munk
Remixed (Gomma)
More snappy dancefloor originality from Gomma Records. DJ-producers Munk receive the tear-apart-and-rebuild treatment from Gomma’s typically offbeat but club-friendly choice of remixers. ‘Disco Clown’ is turned into tough, convincing disco-rock by Digitalism, Italian electro king Marco Passarani mutates ‘Ce Kul’ into a cranky exercise in off-kilter drums that hit like metallic avalanches, and experimentalist Zongamin makes ‘Mein Schatzi’ a freight train of techno-hip hop chugging. For fans of innovative electronic production as much as DJs.
www.gomma.de
The Kills
Cheap And Cheerful (Domino)
Hipper than hip and battling it out with Crystal Castles as the hottest punk attitude girl-boy duo out there, Londoner Jamie Hince and Florida singer Alison Mosshart take pithy low-fi songs and add spiky electronic percussion. It’s simple and it works. ‘Cheap And Cheerful’ is an apparent ode to a truth about hedonism that contemporary rehab culture finds almost blasphemous- “I want you to be crazy ‘cos you’re boring, baby, when you’re straight,” runs the chorus. It’s catchy, immediate and, although not the pair’s best work, still ahead of the competition.
www.thekills.tv
Flairs
Better Than Prince (roXour)
This is fun. For starters he’s a mate of the Parisian dance elite (Etienne de Crecy, Benjamin Diamond, Alex Gopher, etc) who happens to come from Staines. That makes him a one-off in itself but his song is also the best sort of novelty record, a frothy confection where he tells us all the things he can do better than the mighty purple one. It’s a one trick pony but executed with supreme sass and confidence over a squelchy funk riff that the song’s subject would surely dig. The remixes by Alavi, 25 Hours A Day and Benjamin Theves are OK but it’s the jolly original with its curiously increasing drum pattern that’s the main attraction.
www.myspace.com/roXourmusic
My Federation
Don’t Wanna Die (Eye Industries)
Here’s the sound of the ‘08. Straightfoward indie rock with a few weird synth noises whacked in there for good measure. Brighton’s My Federation play gospel-tinged indie blues rock, the sort one might hear a thousand Stones/Primal Scream acolytes playing in bars round Britain and the US every Saturday night. What makes them different is that a huge synthesizer comes clanging in incongruously over the top. Worth a mention.
www.myfederation.co.uk
Singles for review should be sent to…
Thomas H Green, PO Box 4653 Worthing, BN11 9FG, UK
