I’m a little bit late to the party on this one, so I won’t dwell. But this is pretty great – a clear step forward from her previous scrappy recordings, Florence is now producing a kind of weird-pop that’s not exactly new (it draws on the obvious and ever-present influence of Kate Bush and comes out sounding a little like a livelier Bat For Lashes) but is nonetheless quite spectacular. It keeps growing, both in the course of the track, and with repeated listens. Excellent stuff.
Now this is a funny one. I quite liked the first teaser track – Come Monday Night – from Stuart Murdoch’s side-project. But this is just… a bit bad. A remake of the highlight of Belle & Sebastian’s decent-enough Life Pursuit album (Original video here), it saps almost all of the tumbling joie de vivre from the original, replacing it with something akin to a meandering late-period Beautiful South b-side. Perplexing. Perhaps it makes more sense in the context of the album?
There’s a bit of a whiff of Novelty Record about this, especially given the video’s more expensive take on the YouTube fanvid tradition of over-literal video readings.
It’s pretty good fun, with a vocal from Yeasayer’s Chris Keating sounding nicely at home in SMD’s happy-electro-pop hands. It never quite… goes anywhere… though. Needs a more brutal remix. Anyone care to point me in the direction of one?
I wouldn’t have bothered with this one, after hearing the highly underwhelming Talk to Me, but, fortuitously, I had a rare listen to that archaic beast we once knew as “radio”, and heard something rather special. Then remixes started cropping up left right and centre, and eventually I realised that it was this.
A deliciously minimal beat, vocals that are a kind of shrill, desperate whimper, and bubbling bleeps combine to make this Peaches’ most affecting and immediate single in years. The video is a bizarre, claustrophobic art-house experience, bookended by Peaches in her dressing gown making an uncomfortable declaration of love, but drifting off into a bit of dingy bedroom glamour. All in all, top marks.
Well, this is a funny one. It first showed up on the Frankisum EP early last year, and sounded (if weaker than the other tracks – like 3 Little Words) pretty good. Like this, no less.
Now it’s been slowed down, polished, and pretty much neutered. To add to the sense of bafflement and, basicaly, flimsiness, enter Holly Valance. A guest turn maybe? Nah, just wandering around in the video, slapping Mr. Frank and then kissing him. Fair enough.
Anyway, it’s neither as exciting as In Step nor as enjoyably pop as Better Off As Two. Mildly disappointing.
