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15 May 2006
Eyeballkid's Single of the Week
Camera Obscura - Lloyd,
I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (Elefant)
 The
title references the Lloyd Cole & the
Commotions song Are You Ready To Be
Heartbroken?; the music takes in anything from doo-wop to
shang-a-lang and onto Bacharach pop filled with lush strings and
curt horns. It's a fitting release on the week of the Eurovision,
if only to show how much fun it could be if they actually had great
pop music like this in it.
Hot Chip - Boy From School
(EMI)
If you want to get ahead in the music business don't just be part
of a scene, be the scene. Hot Chip have learned the lesson well
and invented Slapcore - a kind of uptempo downtempo that mixes squelching
disco beats with haunting Beloved-esque
vocals. Boy From School dreamily evokes school days stifled by rules,
whilst striding free with a relentless, driving beat. It could and
probably should be a lot cheesier than it actually is.
Buck 65 - Devil's Eyes (Warner)
Time was Buck 65 was a shabby storyteller, making a kind of vagrant
hip-hop that lived in trailer park and hung around gas stations.
It was a languid and free-spirited music that contrasted with almost
all other forms of hip-hop, with his Tom Waits
approach to words and a melancholy, rural music style. But as free
spirits are wont to do, he moved on, first to a hard rock sound
and now, almost inconceivably, electro pop. Devil's Eyes features
a distorted vocal, sharp stabbing beats and lush strings. Dark and
manic, it's like looking inside the mind of a violin-obsessed sociopath
with a vocodar.
Orson - Bright Idea (Mercury)
Much is being made of Orson's humble origins, such as how they self-financed
their debut album to the tune of five grand. Or how they paid to
fly themselves from their home in LA to Manchester for the
In The City industry showcase, and how all of a sudden they
were featuring on the cover of The Sunday
Times' Culture section, appearing on Top
of the Pops, getting themselves play-listed by the major
national stations and subsequently having a number one with their
previous single No Tomorrow. Call me
cynical, but what a crock of shit. A band this blandly polished,
this brilliantly promoted and this utterly rubbish could only be
the product of industry conniving. Of course I've no actual evidence
for this and if I'm wrong I apologise to the band. Except for the
rubbish bit, which is clearly evident by this song.
Temposhark - Joy (Paper
& Glue)
You can only hope Temposhark aren't a manufactured band as it would
be a terrible indictment of the country's music moguls if this is
the best they can come up with. Joy is the electro equivalent of
cock rock, being both astonishingly dumb and wearily banal. It's
like a ring tone that has come to life and is now rampaging through
your house like some kind of terrifying Crazy
Frog / Godzilla hybrid monster. Intensely irritating.
words: Colm Larkin
09 May 2006
Eyeballkid's Single of the Week
The Aliens - Alienoid Starmonica
EP (Pet Rock)
 Rising
from the ashes of The Beta Band appears
The Aliens, though it's more a case of pigeon than phoenix. Lone
Pigeon Gordon Anderson reunites with his former Beta Band
mates Robin Jones and John
Maclean and suddenly the sparkle that deserted them after
the awesome Three EPs has returned.
This EP is full of wonderfully strange and madcap moments. Opener
Hey Leanne is basically the sounds
of an alien abduction punctuated by a sweet country song lamenting
the space-bound departure of the eponymous girl, while Robot
Man is determinedly repetitive and dementedly funky. Even
the relatively normal and totally rocking Only
Waiting freaks out for the last minute. All this plus closing
track Iona's eight lush minutes and
suddenly all seems right with the universe. (CL)
Architecture In Helsinki
- Wishbone (Moshi Moshi)
The name alone suggests that this Australian eight-piece are a somewhat
extravagant, ironic prospect. Their latest single backs this up,
though it is difficult to tell whether it is outlandish, experimental
pop dressed up like a musical number or the other way around. Neither
option is really that acceptable but fortunately Wishbone has such
a fine pop sensibility running through it that you can't fail to
like it. (CL)
The Raconteurs - Steady
As She Goes (XL)
Is this a bass line I hear before me? Why it seems Jack
White has forsaken the strict asceticism of The
White Stripes and opted for a little rock'n'roll fun with
his mates Brendan Benson and the rhythm
section of Ohio band The Greenhornes.
Yet his general outlook on life hasn't changed and the first single
from their forthcoming album Broken Boy Soldiers
encourages the listener to settle down with a good girl in
a quiet town. Be solid, dependable, a good neighbour - just like
The Raconteurs, though next door might object to that constant loud
rock'n'roll. Still it least it's good wholesome music and not some
bass-less blues with an irrhythmic pixie on drums eh! (CL)
Boy Kill Boy - Suzie (Vertigo)
On a recent radio interview Boy Kill Boy admitted that their band's
name was rubbish. Such disarming honesty from a rock band ought
to be encouraged though on listening to this The
Bravery with guitars bore-fest, its conceivable they were
simply trying to distract attention from their rubbish music. (CL)
Kill the Young - The Addiction
(Discograph)
Kill The Young are three brothers from Manchester, Tom,
Dylan and Olly Gorman, discovered
at an In The City gig and now signed
to French label Discograph. What do we make of a band that name-check
Muse and Idlewild
but actually sound like a poor man's attempt at Girls
Aloud's Sounds of the Underground? Frankly not a lot. When
it's not screaming Girls Aloud, it's also reminiscent of Ricky
Martin's Living La Vida Loca. Oh dear. (NM)
02 May 2006
Eyeballkid's Single of the Week
Giant Drag - This Isn't
It (Kickball/Interscope)
 What
better than a tale of bitter break-up? A tale of bitter break-up
delivered in the drawly, couldn't give a shit voice of Annie
Hardy - one half of LA duo Giant Drag. "Love, love,
love / this isn't it" she drones over a grinding riff and shuddering
bass line, like a forlorn and stoned love giving the perfect pop
brush off to a sweet and simple-minded pursuer. Give it up, her
voice says, it's over but her disinterest is betrayed by a 10-second
guitar solo that wails with the intensity of a mourning widow. Lovely.
(CL)
Adam Green - Nat King Cole
(Rough Trade)
Former Mouldy Peaches frontman Adam
Green is more raunchy karaoke king than melancholy lounge crooner
on his latest single. His deep Elvis
warble struts across the bracing blues that sound like Patti
Smith's Gloria but run like Horses.
A slow growl from the off, quickening to open ground rock, then
racing towards the finish with some stirring disco strings. Nat
King Cole may not be the winner, but Green is always a good even
money bet. (CL)
iForward, Russia! - Nine
(Dance to the Radio)
Having obviously spent so much time thinking about alternative punctuation
for their band name, iForward, Russia! seem to have run out of appellation
inspiration for their songs which are all named after numbers (rather
than the places Frank Black sang about).
Given this particular number it seems appropriate to compare it
with fellow Nine artists, The Beatles' Revolution
No. 9 and Nena's 99 Luftballone.
Thankfully it scores higher thanks to a passionate vocal from Tom
Woodhead that's like David Bowie
having an anxiety attack, and music as choppy as a boat full of
axes sinking in rough seas. (CL)
Foreign Beggars - Slow Broiled
Ilk feat Oh No & Dubbledge (Dented)
Less hip-hop than ASBOp, this is music to rob grannys to. Expect
to hear lots of it blaring from the souped up Corsas complete with
racing stripes (seriously! it's a Corsa!) that circle town centres
on weeknights - perfect to joyride to. Up to now
Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy had the "urban hell"
soundtrack all wrapped up. Well move over Daddy, there's a new kid
in town, and it's been conceived to the cacophony of this piece
of aural assault. (NM)
Red Hot Chili Peppers -
Dani California (WEA)
Having given up writing about anything other than California years
ago, the LA stalwarts have finally decided new riffs are no longer
required either. This is Sweet Home Alabama
redone with booty bass and funk rock guitars. They acknowledge as
much in the line "in Alabama she was swinging hammer / crazy
price you gotta pay when you pick the panorama" - a lyric of
utter banality dressed up as beat poetry that pretty much sums up
RHCP. (CL)
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