Reviews – Singles
July 2007
SINGLE OF THE MONTH
Fireworks Night
When We Fell Through The Ice (Kartel/Organ Grinder)
Beatmag reviewed this very positively last year but surely it deserves its own Single Of The Month. The Devonshire band have now been signed to Kartel and even those who hate folk music’s recent return would be wise to listen. ‘When We Fell Through The Ice’ is a classic, a Leonard Cohen-style duet run smack into waltzing Wicker Man/Meat Puppets sinisterness. What’s it about? The video, which is on the CD, is a lovely animated shadowplay that hints at witchcraft and persecution. Whatever the narrative is hinting at, it’s a poetic and powerful song. Domino band Psapp remix it into a dark tango and there are also two decent songs you won’t find on the Fireworks Night album ‘As Fools We Are’. Keep an eye on this lot. Maybe they can stop nu-folk becoming a gigantic sea of singer-songwriter tossers brandishing acoustic guitars and bedroom mopes.
www.myspace.com/fireworksnight
Freefall Collective
100% People (Resin)
The breaks scene is not the hippest place at the moment, unless you happen to reside in Australia where it appears to be ceaselessly in vogue. Just because something’s out of fashion doesn’t mean the music has suddenly, universally become rubbish though. Just ask all those minimalist DJs who couldn’t get a sniff of action three years ago with the same sound that’s now bought them two houses and a Jag. ‘100% People’ rocks. Riding a liquid sex-throb of a bass, MC Manic spiels some easy-going ragga, the drums chop and drop whilst submarine plinks echo about. The result? Total dancefloor dynamite. Fuck fashion.
http://freefallcollective.com/
Shy Child
Noise Won’t Stop (Wall Of Sound)
There are a lot of groups about, in the UK at least, who are combining techno-electro with indie-rock. This is a great thing, an invigorating leap forward from the tired retro guitar earnestness of the post-Libertines scene. Unfortunately, as with any boom, most of it is throwaway dross. Pete Cafarella and Nate Smith from New York, use the same formula but deliver a jolt of ragged shout-along power. Call it nu rave, call it what you want, but it’s a raw jump-around energizer. The other track, ‘Cause And Effect’, hints that Shy Child could turn into The Bravery but, as they recently toured with The Klaxons, let’s hope they stay on the path of righteousness.
www.shychild.com
The Chemical Brothers
Do It Again (Freestyle Dust/Virgin)
The great survivors of the ‘90s dance boom shoot down expectations and fire out a tasty surprise. ‘Do It Again’ is a stripped back slice of electro-funk with vocals by Ali Love and it slinks rather than stomps. It’s a tune that’s sassily feminine rather than appeasing the boys-own techno-rocker crew who comprise the Chemicals’ primary audience. There’s a touch of Prince about it even, but with added steroid oomph. At the time of writing, Beatmag only has an original mix but the single will eventually come with an Oliver Huntemann remix and a couple of new tracks.
www.thechemicalbrothers.com
Mendetz
Future Sex EP (Naked Man)
We’re way behind with this. It came out a while back but we don’t hear anyone trumpeting its merits from the rooftops so it’s surely worth a mention. Mendetz are a four-piece from Barcelona who seem to have based their entire oeuvre on Blur’s ‘Boys And Girls’ put in the blender with the Scissor Sisters and Franz Ferdinand. ‘Futuresex’ is as catchy as Chlamydia but also sounds, from the very first listen, as if you’ve heard it many times before. Not entirely sure this is a good thing but they’re well worth checking.
www.mendetz.com
Plastic Little
Crambodia (Make Mine)
Twitched out New York hip hop with a rocking rhythm, a snappy sample and tight-spat lyrics. Not much info but the crew appears to consist of Packofrats, SQUID, Nobody’s Child, Jon Thousand and DJ Si Young, so who’s the lady rapper giving it rip? There’s a Pink Skull remix that tweaks it into that twilight zone where the likes of Diplo reside but not so far it all becomes an avant-electronic mess. Whoever they are, Plastic Little get the Beatmag vote. More please.
www.plasticlittleraps.com
Jacob Fletcher
Don’t Go Down/Burn (Fitzrovian Phonographic)
Fitzrovian Phonographic Records pride themselves on being heirs to London’s pre-war dandies, tragically decadent but urbanely hip. The music of Jacob Fletcher bears some slight resemblance to this ethos. ‘Don’t Go Down’ gloomily builds from a moody strum-along to a brass-laden march that sounds as if it may be about resisting drugs but probably isn’t. He has an album due featuring members of The Earlies and Ladytron which, given the dynamic of these two songs, bodes well.
www.myspace.com/fitzrovianphonographic
Bjork
Earth Intruders (One Little Indian)
Mental tribal synth-pop that rides in on mad jungle drums of the kind one imagines accompany hallucinogenic rituals deep in the South American rain forest. Bjork does her deranged vocal thing whilst bleeps and choral interludes fight it out to be heard in the ensuing melee. A dense noisy song that, assisted by Timbaland production, shows the Icelandic empress leaving her ‘Medulla’ vocal experiments behind in favour of pop that’s belligently off kilter yet filled with contagious dancefloor verve.
http://bjork.com/
Def Tex
Thanks But No Thanks EP (Son)
Billed as an album sampler, this vinyl four-tracker sees Son Records maintain their record for tasty UK hip hop. Lead track, ‘Run’, a tawdry saga of violence amongst council estate deprivation, sounds as if it’s backed by a proper band and consequently rocks menacingly, ‘Time Lord’ (featuring DJ Tags and the Fully Grown Men) is a lively instrumental cut’n’scratch piece with electro smarts, the title track is straightforward UK hip hip over squidgy minimal backing, and finally the verbal sparring and noise of ‘Bomber’ is nastily raucous. A solid package.
www.deftex.com
Operator Please
Just A Song About Ping Pong (Brille)
Boasting the same sort of gonzo garage spirit as The 5678’s ‘Woo Hoo’, ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’ is goofy good fun riding a drum beat nicked straight off The Sweet’s ‘Ballroom Blitz’. The rest of the EP cannot match its very basic charms but, especially on the punk-with-a-string-section ‘Got What You Want’, these three girls and two androgynous boys from Australia showcase a chirpy power-pop potency which should see them staying around for a moment or two.
www.operatorpleaseband.com
Eskimo Disco
What Is Woman? (Stiff)
This is exactly the sort of opportunist cheesy electro-pop-rock referred to in the Shy Child review above. It has a Stephen Hawking vocal, a gauche silly lyric about aliens asking the question of the title and a keyboard riff worthy of Ryan Paris. It’s almost a novelty record (something Stiff were good at in their original incarnation) and it’s definitely a Human league pastiche. And yet, and yet, and yet… Avoid the Barry Clor disco mix but the original and Fred Falke’s trance-ravey take are trifling amusements to keep the wolf from the door when the radio’s inundated with dreadful indie shite and whingeing singer-songerwriter sorts.
www.myspace.com/eskimodisco
Singles for review should be sent to…
Thomas H Green, PO Box 4653 Worthing, BN11 9FG, UK
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