New Releases 12th May 2008

Single of the Week: The Outside Royalty – Falling
Controversial choice, this, for me, as it breaks most of the rules I seem to have been following this year for my favourite singles. No girl vocals, not a hint of a bleep or whoosh, and it even prominently features guitars. Shocker.

At first glance, I thought this lot were going to be another generic collection of post-Libertines oiks (see below for the inevitable dose of that for this week.) But nope, turns out we’ve got a lo-fi take on Arcade Fire, with a vocalist that alternately channels Bryan Ferry and Jarvis. They’re a Pennsylvania band who’ve relocated to London, and this is their debut single release. And it’s great. It’s even got a crescendo that could rival Pulp at their most Pop. Absolutely my most exciting discovery of the week, and, despite a few misfiring lyrics, it should be yours too. MySpace for more.

New Releases 5th May 2008

Single of the Week: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
Simply head-and-shoulders above everything else released this week. While it’s an entirely different prospect to previous low-key release Creator, it puts all those M.I.A. mk.II labels to the side, exposing Santi White as, if less interesting than her former tour-mate and collaborator, a little more diverse and potentially a lot more mainstream. Moves effortlessly from an almost restrained, cutesy verse into a skyscraping, overblown chorus. The video is also awesome. Whatever she does next, she’s already released one of the singles of the year. Ticks all the boxes, really. Let’s see…
Powerful, distinctive, female vocals? [TICK]
Vaguely alternative/quirky? [TICK]
MELODRAMA? [TICK]
Nice, modern production? [TICK]
Bland? [X]
Singer looking imposing on a horse? [TICK]
Single of the Week [TICK!]

New Releases 28th April 2008

Single of the Week: Kid Sister ft. Kanye West – Pro Nails
Ah, finally this gets a proper release! About time, too. This excellent electro/hip-hop crossover track has been flloating around since the back end of 2007. It’s spent so long waiting to be released that ace Chicago MC Kid Sister actually ended up making her UK debut on the Count & Sinden’s Beeper. This is in a different league though, and for once it’s not Kanye that steals the show. As I’ve mentioned before, Kid Sister is kind of like an updated version of Princess Superstar, only with better delivery, and on this evidence, much better singles. Of course the lyrical content’s total nonsense, but who honestly cares? This is great, fresh-sounding stuff, perfect for summer, full of life, bounce and energy. Comfortably one of the best pop singles of the year so far.

New Releases 21st April 2008

Single of the Week: Sia – The Girl You Lost to Cocaine
I sometimes wonder if my choices here are getting a bit too predictable - upbeat, girl-fronted, slightly alternative pop, anyone? Hey, it’s nice to have a niche. Or something.

The most enjoyable thing about Sia’s recent solo stuff is that it shrugs off the coffee-table medicrity of her Zero 7 collaborations in favour of a whole lot of fun. This slips in neatly alongside the rest of your 2008 white female soul explosion, but strides out ahead by virtue of having a wry smile on its face and a keen sense of the fact that music should be enjoyable, rather than just a quasi-painful attempt at recreating your influences. Just watch the joy-filled dress-up box video for confirmation. Excellent.

New Releases 14th April 2008

Single of the Week: Ladyhawke – Back Of The Van
This is not the most innovative single released this week, nor is it the most outright beautiful. It is, however, the one that made me sit up, almost spit out my coffee, and go ‘YES!’ It’s derivative in oh so many ways.. the video is all Pat Benetar, the vocals are Stevie Nicks all over, there’s modern touches borrowed from Feist… but it all gels into something that works perfectly. A refreshingly non-ironic take on the 80s, for once, and a deserved best of a good bunch this week. She’s signed to Modular and plays the Camden Crawl this weekend - catch her now, as she’s surely a star in the making.

Click below for the rest of the week’s UK single releases…

Time for some more upcoming and worth a look…

Since I’ve finally caught up with the weekly reviews, I thought I’d do a bit of a round-up of some interesting videos/tracks doing the rounds that are coming out over the next few months. A whole bunch of vids await if you click ‘read more’ below.

Featured tracks include a bit of looking ahead with new ones from Annie and Aly & AJ, the best Eurovision entry in recent memory from Sebastien Tellier, routinely great pop from Robyn, Kylie and, um, Ashlee Simpson, Jamie Lidell dancing with a unicorn, Princess Superstar getting saucy like it’s 2003, and some more dandy tracks from Santogold, Justice, Chromeo and Keren Ann.

Comments and thoughts welcome: loving any of these tracks? Hating them? What other upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

I’m, as always, reserving comment until the week of release… enjoy!

New Releases 7th April 2008

Single of the Week: Miracle Fortress – Maybe Lately
What I tend to look for on here is not necessarily the mainstream, crossover, popular potential in pop songs, although that can be a factor, but rather the indefinable something that makes great pop music. This slice of loveliness from Montreal is never going to top the charts, and could have been made at any time in the last few decades, but it has that spark. It has that shimmering, spine-shivering quality about it that wakes you up from the mundanity of whatever you’re doing and says ‘hey, listen to this, things aren’t that bad.’ On a more descriptive note, it mines the same lo-fi take on the Beach Boys (with a bit of Spectorism thrown in) that has characterised great indie-pop for twenty years. But it does it beautifully.

New Releases 31st March 2008

Single of the Week: Roisin Murphy – You Know Me Better
I knew it would happen eventually! This is a by default Single of the Week, as we’ve had yet another slow week for amazing singles. This is really, really good fresh-sounding modern pop from the ex-Moloko lady. Not much else to say about it, but no other tracks this week meet my criteria, and it couldn’t have gone to a nicer person. Well done Roisin!

New Releases 24th March 2008

Single of the Week: MIA – Paper Planes
This song actually feels like it’s been around forever now. Thankfully it’s finally seeing a physical single release, and so I can finally award it its thoroughly deserved Single of the Week. You’ve almost certainly heard it by now, and if you haven’t, well, click the link above because it’s pretty much unmissable. As a card-carrying Clash-obsessive, I was initially sceptical about any song sampling the sublime ‘Straight to Hell’. This one uses that classic as a basis, and transforms it into a new song that’s, improbably, equally great. The bullish use of cash registers and gunshots as rhythmic/lyric-replacing samples is initially distracting, but on repeated listens makes perfect sense. I’d imagine the repeated release date delays were in order to push this song closer to the summer, as that’s when it will really come into its own. Laid back, yet not lacking in energy, an instant classic on release, and easily one of the best singles of the year. 10/10.

New Releases 17th March 2008

Single of the Week: Sonny J – Enfant Terrible
I have to say this has been my least favourite week for singles so far in 2008. No discredit to Sonny J though, as this is one of the more interesting things I’ve heard all year. Not French, as the title might suggest, Sonnington James III is in fact a Scouse turntablist, seemingly with a penchant for throwing every sample in the box at a song. A sensible recent touchpoint is The Go! Team, and while this track isn’t quite the finished product, it has some gloriously deranged moments, and on occasion recalls some of the better moments of Stereo Total.