Public Image Limited - The One - ★★★★★★★★★☆
Easily the most memorable and likeable song from recent album What The World Needs Now, The One is dedicated to John Lydon's devoted wife Nora and it shows. This is Johnny crooning sweetly and this is PiL delivering their best single since Rise - in fact, it's similar in a few ways, namely the stomping beat and deft drumming, not forgetting the inclusion of a ridiculously catchy guitar riff and delta-blues style harmonising. Hands down, it's a winner and deserving of it's vinyl format issue. There's also a etched 7" due out for another album-track, namely the perky Bettie Page. But The One is the one. SOTM.
The Prodigy vs Paula Temple - Roadblox - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
On which tech priestess Temple positively ravages the original with a brain-melting hands-to-the-lazers overhaul that has all the elements of becoming a classic. You know how R&S did it in the '90s with the likes of CJ Bolland, Joey Beltram and more recently with Blawan and Lakker? Here's more of the same in both vocal and instrumental variants. Germinated from a blizzard of Vulcan-bomber growls and jet-engine squeals, Roadblox has become even more relentless and incisive than its original incarnation on Prodigy's The Day Is My Enemy album and surely not just a one-off between these two.
Jori Hulkkonen - Something Left to Learn EP - ★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
Finnish tech-house producer represents the warmer side of Scandinavian dance-music with yet another fine EP of melting melodies and retro grooves. Taking Giorgio Moroder, Jan Hammer, Jean Michel Jarre and Shep Pettibone as reference points, Something Left to Learn is a hypnotic spacey and mainly instrumental workout that features '80s style drumclaps, looped guitar triggers, woozy synth hooks and funky clavinets a-go-go. The Wang and J.E.E.P. remix sports even more nostalgia while bonus track Distant Cities edges closer to R&S-era Juan Atkins and, perhaps for Hulkkonen fans, more familiar territory.
Cathy Claret - Solita por el Mundo - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
It's been a while since breathy chanteuse Cathy Claret graced our senses with her bright and breezy hybrid of traditional Spanish rhythms and Euro-pop, this Solita por el Mundo is a very welcome return. Previous single Chocolat was insanely catchy and Solita is more of the same, recalling early hits Porque Porque and Loli-Loita. Formerly part of the Les Disques du Crepuscule stable in the late '80s, early '90s, Claret's path has remained true to music though perhaps not with the same successes. However, Solita is terrific fun. A little bit Francoise Hardy, a wee bit St Etienne and a smidgeon of Nouvelle Vague thrown into the Spanish pot makes this a belated summer winner. An album is scheduled to follow.
Rustie - 160 Hospital Riddim - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
So what do you do when you're laid up in hospital with diabetes and bored out of your nut? You knock one out, of course. That is, you knock out a tune. And then you share it with everyone on Planet Earth for nowt. That's dedication people and Rustie returns to the greatness of his debut album on Warp for this two-minute tech-step jingle that does more in its short life than an entire Avicii box-set. Pump your fists and wish him well on his Soundcloud page here. After which you can then cop a free download of it.
Holly MacVe - The Corner of my Mind (Demo) - https://soundcloud.com/holly-macve - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Mark my words, Ms Macve is going to be in a few year-end lists by 2016 if this one lone song is anything to go by. Currently available as a teaser on her Soundcloud page, her recently-inked deal with Bella Union should ensure she garners the right attention at the right time. Her voice reminds me of Paula Frazer (of 4AD's one-offs Tarnation) and has a certain (sorry for this) Americana feel to it, the soundtrack to dusty lonesome towns in the mid-West etc etc.. Look, just give it a listen and remember where you read it second (after Bella Union).
Tale Of Us - North Star / Silent Space - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
A new signing to R&S Records, Berlin-based duo Tale Of Us take us on a minimal journey of motorik beats and sparse hooks that isn't without its likeable qualities, if a little underwhelming in the melody department. Of the two tracks, North Star is the obvious clubber's delight, a bright celestial chugger that recalls Mike Dred's Macrocosm 12" minus the acid tweaks, while the less powerful and rather more atonal Silent Space that follows a similar rhythmic path to North Star but features less in the way of subtle arpeggios and more in the way of stormtroopin' lazer blasts. Promising.
The Black Dog - Very Extended Play EP - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Five reworkings from the outfit's engaging Neither/Neither set issued earlier this year that finds them embracing the efforts of those they've admired recently. The 'like' button in my feet has been activated by GoldFFinch's fidgety and warped retake on Hollow Stories Hollow Head plus Black Dog's own Bitten Twice By version of the aforementioned album's title-track. On the latter, the trio emabark on a similar aural journey as that of Fuck Buttons and the like and is tense and fraught - and we like that in electronica, we like it a lot. Tidy remixes of B.O.O.K.S. (minimal, ambient, comedown) and Commodification (upfront, twisted) complete the EP.
Carmel - Sad Situation / Second Wife Blues - ★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
It's been way too long since one of the UK's most underrated vocalists graced us with her trademark tonsils of joy. Two new tracks, both different and each harking back to an era when music was music. Sad Situation is a mid-paced soul-pop number that has the usual Carmel vocal gymnastics, a smooth easy-going backdrop and a melancholic edge, while Second Wife Blues is perhaps the most vociferous and adventurous. It's a big-band romp with some hefty Hammond organ, soaring sax and vocal harmonies a-go-go. Not strictly a blues song per se (it's more of a soul number), Second Wife Blues is the equal of Bad Day and other classic singles. More, more, more, please.
Hurricane 1 - Think of the Sunshine - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
And it's back to the '90s with the forgotten sons of epic Britpop. Formerly one of Creation's main contenders and formed by Ride's former guitarist Andy Bell, before he left for Gay Dad and Oasis, Hurricane 1 were always on the cusp of greatness yet rarely fulfilled everyone's expectations. Oasis and Blur monopolised the Britpop scene for too long before Bell and co briefly wowed their peers with Step Into My World and the like. With the scene long gone, will the world be bothered about Hurricane 1 in 2015? Think of the Sunshine is certainly reminiscent of earlier material (as well as, dare I suggest, the Gallaghers circa Definitely Maybe) and is a jaunty fist-pumping anthem brimming with optimism. You'd have to have a heart of mud not to feel slightly brighter in the mind after hearing this.
Kodiak Deathbeds - Against The Wind - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Taken from their super self-titled debut-album, Against the Wind ISN'T a cover of a Bob Seger song. Instead it's a charming slice of Americana gone electric with pretty harmonies that recall Alela Diane, First Aid Kit and The Pierces, refreshingly minus any thumping drums. The song's simplicity ultimately becomes its complexity with light and dark nuances and the kind of melody you'd crave for on a chilly winter's evening. Have Kodiak Deathbeds sorted out a UK tour proper yet?
Zomby - Let's Jam 1 EP / Let's Jam 2 EP - ★★★★★★★★☆☆ / ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Two separate 12" issued on XL Recordings that serve to highlight why Zomby's presence in electronica is just as important as, say, Burial or Richard James. Most of Let's Jam 1 is all about Surf with three versions ranging from the insistent mid-paced tech-house Surf 1, the pounding portentous Surf 2 and the filthy tweakin' 'n' peakin' Acid Surf which sounds like A Guy Called Gerald orgying with Josh Wink in a fug-filled opium den. Well, it could happen...! Let's Jam 2 is perhaps a little more like the Zomby we've come to know - Neon is an absolute brain-splitter that sounds like an arcade game theme tune for some dystopian alien shoot-em-up, while Bloom and Peroxide recall his With Love period on 4AD, complete with cascading synth droplets and skittering beats. The prettiest piece here is Xeon (or Xenon, whichever) which continues in a similar vein to Glass Ocean and the like.
New Order - Restless - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Finally after a month's worth of airplay, the lead-off single from the highly-acclaimed Music Complete appears in physical formats. The CD single (with limited slipcase to store subsequent singles) features six mixes of Restless while the emerald green vinyl 12" houses just three. The Gareth Jones extended version (both formats) adds little in the way of a remix, more a restructure and additional instrumental passages that emulates the album version, while the Andrew Weatherall mix builds and builds without really doing much, other than pulsate ominously and produce a nagging groove that mirrors some of drummer Stephen Morris' own remix work from recent years - motorik and insistent, it's damned good. The other versions play to the strengths of technology with xxxy being the most adventurous in the beats department.
Ordinary Noise - You Are Here EP - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Essex outfit with a penchant for epic emotional indie-rock and folkish songwriting, Ordinary Noise are from just ordinary as lead-track ably demonstrates. Turning their collective senses towards the heavens above, Ordinary Noise's rousing rush of musical references extends towards Stornoway, Broken Records, Alt-j and The Waterboys without forgetting their indie roots. Rather more bluesy is Slaughterhouse Flies which certainly steers itself through Mike Scott's murkier waters, while closer All Alright features celestial guitar-work and an off-kilter rhythm that belies the band's age and experience. I suspect Ordinary Noise will already have a decent album stashed up their sleeves - it might be worth the wait.
Paperface - Alison - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
There are songs about unrequited love and there's Alison. NOT the Elvis Costello classic but an even bigger more beautiful string-soaked ballad to inspire lachrymosity. Five minutes later you'll be weeping into your beer, I promise. Like Stephen Duffy, Karl Wallinger and the like, the mysterious Paperface blends bold lyrical couplets with huge arrangements and fragile vocals that won't have you chucking your handbag/manbag into the centre of a dance-floor anytime soon. Instead, you're more likely to pour a tall one and curl up on a lonely sofa and Instagram your own sorrow. You saddo. The flipside to Alison is the rather less memorable Other People's Lives, a downbeat paean to 'neighbourly voyeurism'.
Retroyka - Super Maudlin EP - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Ever searching for a theme, Retroyka's latest foray into the recorded world is this EP, billed by the artist as 'uneasy listening'. More in name than nature, Super Maudlin has an element of eccentricity about it, the theatrical and the tempestuous, most obviously demonstrated on the title-track. "The show won't go on", he opines. Oh but it does. It goes on and on, particularly on Dark Entertainment which is 50% 'la la la la', making the whole song sound several minutes longer than it's 3:38. Some interesting ideas but little in the way of hooks although The Pictures is rather moreish in a Cardiacs kinda way.
SAAL - Signs - ★★★★★★½☆☆☆☆
Global songwriter SAAL slots nicely in with the Jane Weavers, Julia Holters and London Grammars of this world, if only for producing slightly trippy electronica and gracing it with her spacey vocals. What lets the whole thing down is the song itself. Signs sounds lovely enough but for one who craves a chorus rather than just a groove and a mood, there's little more than build-up and atmospherics. LTJ Bukem's old muckers Blu Mar Ten turn in a functional hard-hitting drum and bass remix, which keeps the '90s feel of the original alive and kicking, while Stenchman strips the whole thing back to produce a rather more minimal and simplistic bass-weight stomper. It's the best mix here and I reckon the talented Saal could do worse than wheel the Stench in for more production duties.
Calico - Euphorism - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From a similar school of thought as Stuart McCallum, Zero 7, Portico Quartet and Eat More Cake comes Brighton jazztronica quintet Calico whose new EP boasts some nifty brass and busy percussion without sounding completely hipster. For a debut, Euphorism is an assured work with the title-track in both its guises being the standout here. The second version features one Beth Cannon whose impassioned soulful holler gives the original further impetus. Fold a Winning Hand continues the McCallum theme with cyclical guitar picking and off-kilter beats, while Rogue 5 has an element of prog-rock/post-rock about it - it must be the crazed riffing towards the end that does it.
Public Service Broadcasting - Korolev - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
An exclusive non-album track from PSB is always welcome - this one will be appearing on the b-side of their soon-to-be-issued Sputnik 12" and continues the space theme successfully. Similar in brassy style to Gagarin, Korolev concerns the Russian designer of the same name and the usual requisite vocal samples arranged into a pleasing toe-tapper. It wouldn't have belonged on the album - probably too leftfield I guess - but it belongs in your collection.
The Vamps - Wake Up - ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This sounds like one of those TV footballing idents until our heroes deliver a synth-laden pop epic that sounds like every other boy band this side of the Thames. Bloody hell, we haven't moved on have we? Y'know, since the days of Bay City Rollers, Duran Duran and Take That. The Vamps are what your kids are drooling over at the moment until the next piss-poor excuse for a talent programme throws up the next identikit piddlepuff. And this isn't the worst either.
Sam Smith - Writing's on the Wall - ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
The strings swoon and sweep across a plaintive piano motif before Smith's plummy trilling begins to completely suffocate what little remains of the original song. Yes, it's well arranged, yes it's supposed to be dramatic - it's the new Bond theme after all - but that's it. It's just a theme song. Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, even Skyfall - these remain in the memory now and will continue to do so for years to come. I've heard this ten times and I'm as bored now as I was when I last watched varnish dry on a staircase.
Adele - Hello - ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Is it me you're looking for? A pity it isn't Lionel Richie's song otherwise I'd give it the nod. As it stands, this Hello is dreary even by ballad standards. Critics will point towards its poignant heartfelt lyrics but I'm more enamoured of Adele's powerful lungs when she's letting rip rather than letting go. Rolling in the Deep is top notch pop, Hello is , well, goodbye. It'll be number 1 for three weeks and the album 25 will furnish its creator with something to retire on.
Justin Bieber - Sorry - ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Bloody hell. I like to give any songwriter, singer, musician and producer a chance but when your choice of influence sounds like a Bruno Mars b-side (yep, that bad) or that irksome So Rude single married with cod-Caribbean rhythms programmed by an infant, you wonder why luck plays such a big part in the creation of a music career these days, rather than taste and intuition. Justin Bieber's time must surely be up by now.
ELO - When I Was a Boy - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
It's no secret that ELO's Jeff Lynne has held a torch to the talents of McCartney and Lennon so When I Was a Boy's similarity to most of The Beatles' most poignant moments (and some of McCartney's later solo choons, for that matter) should come as no surprise. What remains of ELO have basically knocked out the sister song to Real Love and their own Telephone Line - big sweeping strings, moist-eyed memory-jogging soft-rock and a spot of riffing to round it all off. Totally harmless and hardly a great leap forward, at least there's a song in there somewhere, fighting to grow into an epic. It doesn't quite manage it.
Louis Vega and Marc Anthony - Ride the Rhythm (Krystal Klear Edit) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Even attempting to pimp up an already classic house tune such as this takes balls and while there have been plenty of re-releases since its original release in 1991, this version is a cut above most of them. This version is predominantly instrumental and utilises the original backing vocals plus some seriously buffed up old-skool rhythms to propel the whole thing along like it was, well, 1995 or something. Remember just how sweet Show Me Love by Robin S was the first time you heard it? This is not far away...
Tom Figgins - Giants Played in Woods Like These - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
In a few short years, Figgins facial furniture has grown almost as quickly as his reputation as an earnest songwriter. Musically at the moment though, he's as far from tortured folkie as he could be with Giants sounding a little like Foals, even with the ooh-ooh-oohs that have spawned epics for the likes of Fleet Foxes, Vincent James McMorrow, Bon Iver etc.. Englishman Figgins has more of the blues about him but in this case, we're herded headlong into the pen labelled 'pop'. And it ain't a bad place to be. Perhaps he should stick with this instead as it's way more deserving than his previous work (most of which has been decent enough too).
Spiritwo - Mesumamim/Face to Face - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
A curious melange of East meets West with guitar riffs given a Middle Eastern twist and some vocals that recall early Muse if anything. Apparently hailed as some sort of Tel Aviv underground figure, singer Yael Claire Shahmoon has a powerful voice that sits perfectly within the so-called art-rock and theatre-pop scene the band occupy. Mesumamim is pleasing enough while flipside Face to Face sounds like the demanding soundtrack to a rowdy burlesque show.
Easily the most memorable and likeable song from recent album What The World Needs Now, The One is dedicated to John Lydon's devoted wife Nora and it shows. This is Johnny crooning sweetly and this is PiL delivering their best single since Rise - in fact, it's similar in a few ways, namely the stomping beat and deft drumming, not forgetting the inclusion of a ridiculously catchy guitar riff and delta-blues style harmonising. Hands down, it's a winner and deserving of it's vinyl format issue. There's also a etched 7" due out for another album-track, namely the perky Bettie Page. But The One is the one. SOTM.
The Prodigy vs Paula Temple - Roadblox - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
On which tech priestess Temple positively ravages the original with a brain-melting hands-to-the-lazers overhaul that has all the elements of becoming a classic. You know how R&S did it in the '90s with the likes of CJ Bolland, Joey Beltram and more recently with Blawan and Lakker? Here's more of the same in both vocal and instrumental variants. Germinated from a blizzard of Vulcan-bomber growls and jet-engine squeals, Roadblox has become even more relentless and incisive than its original incarnation on Prodigy's The Day Is My Enemy album and surely not just a one-off between these two.
Jori Hulkkonen - Something Left to Learn EP - ★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
Finnish tech-house producer represents the warmer side of Scandinavian dance-music with yet another fine EP of melting melodies and retro grooves. Taking Giorgio Moroder, Jan Hammer, Jean Michel Jarre and Shep Pettibone as reference points, Something Left to Learn is a hypnotic spacey and mainly instrumental workout that features '80s style drumclaps, looped guitar triggers, woozy synth hooks and funky clavinets a-go-go. The Wang and J.E.E.P. remix sports even more nostalgia while bonus track Distant Cities edges closer to R&S-era Juan Atkins and, perhaps for Hulkkonen fans, more familiar territory.
Cathy Claret - Solita por el Mundo - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
It's been a while since breathy chanteuse Cathy Claret graced our senses with her bright and breezy hybrid of traditional Spanish rhythms and Euro-pop, this Solita por el Mundo is a very welcome return. Previous single Chocolat was insanely catchy and Solita is more of the same, recalling early hits Porque Porque and Loli-Loita. Formerly part of the Les Disques du Crepuscule stable in the late '80s, early '90s, Claret's path has remained true to music though perhaps not with the same successes. However, Solita is terrific fun. A little bit Francoise Hardy, a wee bit St Etienne and a smidgeon of Nouvelle Vague thrown into the Spanish pot makes this a belated summer winner. An album is scheduled to follow.
Rustie - 160 Hospital Riddim - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
So what do you do when you're laid up in hospital with diabetes and bored out of your nut? You knock one out, of course. That is, you knock out a tune. And then you share it with everyone on Planet Earth for nowt. That's dedication people and Rustie returns to the greatness of his debut album on Warp for this two-minute tech-step jingle that does more in its short life than an entire Avicii box-set. Pump your fists and wish him well on his Soundcloud page here. After which you can then cop a free download of it.
Holly MacVe - The Corner of my Mind (Demo) - https://soundcloud.com/holly-macve - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Mark my words, Ms Macve is going to be in a few year-end lists by 2016 if this one lone song is anything to go by. Currently available as a teaser on her Soundcloud page, her recently-inked deal with Bella Union should ensure she garners the right attention at the right time. Her voice reminds me of Paula Frazer (of 4AD's one-offs Tarnation) and has a certain (sorry for this) Americana feel to it, the soundtrack to dusty lonesome towns in the mid-West etc etc.. Look, just give it a listen and remember where you read it second (after Bella Union).
Tale Of Us - North Star / Silent Space - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
A new signing to R&S Records, Berlin-based duo Tale Of Us take us on a minimal journey of motorik beats and sparse hooks that isn't without its likeable qualities, if a little underwhelming in the melody department. Of the two tracks, North Star is the obvious clubber's delight, a bright celestial chugger that recalls Mike Dred's Macrocosm 12" minus the acid tweaks, while the less powerful and rather more atonal Silent Space that follows a similar rhythmic path to North Star but features less in the way of subtle arpeggios and more in the way of stormtroopin' lazer blasts. Promising.
The Black Dog - Very Extended Play EP - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Five reworkings from the outfit's engaging Neither/Neither set issued earlier this year that finds them embracing the efforts of those they've admired recently. The 'like' button in my feet has been activated by GoldFFinch's fidgety and warped retake on Hollow Stories Hollow Head plus Black Dog's own Bitten Twice By version of the aforementioned album's title-track. On the latter, the trio emabark on a similar aural journey as that of Fuck Buttons and the like and is tense and fraught - and we like that in electronica, we like it a lot. Tidy remixes of B.O.O.K.S. (minimal, ambient, comedown) and Commodification (upfront, twisted) complete the EP.
Carmel - Sad Situation / Second Wife Blues - ★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
It's been way too long since one of the UK's most underrated vocalists graced us with her trademark tonsils of joy. Two new tracks, both different and each harking back to an era when music was music. Sad Situation is a mid-paced soul-pop number that has the usual Carmel vocal gymnastics, a smooth easy-going backdrop and a melancholic edge, while Second Wife Blues is perhaps the most vociferous and adventurous. It's a big-band romp with some hefty Hammond organ, soaring sax and vocal harmonies a-go-go. Not strictly a blues song per se (it's more of a soul number), Second Wife Blues is the equal of Bad Day and other classic singles. More, more, more, please.
Hurricane 1 - Think of the Sunshine - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
And it's back to the '90s with the forgotten sons of epic Britpop. Formerly one of Creation's main contenders and formed by Ride's former guitarist Andy Bell, before he left for Gay Dad and Oasis, Hurricane 1 were always on the cusp of greatness yet rarely fulfilled everyone's expectations. Oasis and Blur monopolised the Britpop scene for too long before Bell and co briefly wowed their peers with Step Into My World and the like. With the scene long gone, will the world be bothered about Hurricane 1 in 2015? Think of the Sunshine is certainly reminiscent of earlier material (as well as, dare I suggest, the Gallaghers circa Definitely Maybe) and is a jaunty fist-pumping anthem brimming with optimism. You'd have to have a heart of mud not to feel slightly brighter in the mind after hearing this.
Kodiak Deathbeds - Against The Wind - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Taken from their super self-titled debut-album, Against the Wind ISN'T a cover of a Bob Seger song. Instead it's a charming slice of Americana gone electric with pretty harmonies that recall Alela Diane, First Aid Kit and The Pierces, refreshingly minus any thumping drums. The song's simplicity ultimately becomes its complexity with light and dark nuances and the kind of melody you'd crave for on a chilly winter's evening. Have Kodiak Deathbeds sorted out a UK tour proper yet?
Zomby - Let's Jam 1 EP / Let's Jam 2 EP - ★★★★★★★★☆☆ / ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Two separate 12" issued on XL Recordings that serve to highlight why Zomby's presence in electronica is just as important as, say, Burial or Richard James. Most of Let's Jam 1 is all about Surf with three versions ranging from the insistent mid-paced tech-house Surf 1, the pounding portentous Surf 2 and the filthy tweakin' 'n' peakin' Acid Surf which sounds like A Guy Called Gerald orgying with Josh Wink in a fug-filled opium den. Well, it could happen...! Let's Jam 2 is perhaps a little more like the Zomby we've come to know - Neon is an absolute brain-splitter that sounds like an arcade game theme tune for some dystopian alien shoot-em-up, while Bloom and Peroxide recall his With Love period on 4AD, complete with cascading synth droplets and skittering beats. The prettiest piece here is Xeon (or Xenon, whichever) which continues in a similar vein to Glass Ocean and the like.
New Order - Restless - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Finally after a month's worth of airplay, the lead-off single from the highly-acclaimed Music Complete appears in physical formats. The CD single (with limited slipcase to store subsequent singles) features six mixes of Restless while the emerald green vinyl 12" houses just three. The Gareth Jones extended version (both formats) adds little in the way of a remix, more a restructure and additional instrumental passages that emulates the album version, while the Andrew Weatherall mix builds and builds without really doing much, other than pulsate ominously and produce a nagging groove that mirrors some of drummer Stephen Morris' own remix work from recent years - motorik and insistent, it's damned good. The other versions play to the strengths of technology with xxxy being the most adventurous in the beats department.
Ordinary Noise - You Are Here EP - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Essex outfit with a penchant for epic emotional indie-rock and folkish songwriting, Ordinary Noise are from just ordinary as lead-track ably demonstrates. Turning their collective senses towards the heavens above, Ordinary Noise's rousing rush of musical references extends towards Stornoway, Broken Records, Alt-j and The Waterboys without forgetting their indie roots. Rather more bluesy is Slaughterhouse Flies which certainly steers itself through Mike Scott's murkier waters, while closer All Alright features celestial guitar-work and an off-kilter rhythm that belies the band's age and experience. I suspect Ordinary Noise will already have a decent album stashed up their sleeves - it might be worth the wait.
Paperface - Alison - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
There are songs about unrequited love and there's Alison. NOT the Elvis Costello classic but an even bigger more beautiful string-soaked ballad to inspire lachrymosity. Five minutes later you'll be weeping into your beer, I promise. Like Stephen Duffy, Karl Wallinger and the like, the mysterious Paperface blends bold lyrical couplets with huge arrangements and fragile vocals that won't have you chucking your handbag/manbag into the centre of a dance-floor anytime soon. Instead, you're more likely to pour a tall one and curl up on a lonely sofa and Instagram your own sorrow. You saddo. The flipside to Alison is the rather less memorable Other People's Lives, a downbeat paean to 'neighbourly voyeurism'.
Retroyka - Super Maudlin EP - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Ever searching for a theme, Retroyka's latest foray into the recorded world is this EP, billed by the artist as 'uneasy listening'. More in name than nature, Super Maudlin has an element of eccentricity about it, the theatrical and the tempestuous, most obviously demonstrated on the title-track. "The show won't go on", he opines. Oh but it does. It goes on and on, particularly on Dark Entertainment which is 50% 'la la la la', making the whole song sound several minutes longer than it's 3:38. Some interesting ideas but little in the way of hooks although The Pictures is rather moreish in a Cardiacs kinda way.
SAAL - Signs - ★★★★★★½☆☆☆☆
Global songwriter SAAL slots nicely in with the Jane Weavers, Julia Holters and London Grammars of this world, if only for producing slightly trippy electronica and gracing it with her spacey vocals. What lets the whole thing down is the song itself. Signs sounds lovely enough but for one who craves a chorus rather than just a groove and a mood, there's little more than build-up and atmospherics. LTJ Bukem's old muckers Blu Mar Ten turn in a functional hard-hitting drum and bass remix, which keeps the '90s feel of the original alive and kicking, while Stenchman strips the whole thing back to produce a rather more minimal and simplistic bass-weight stomper. It's the best mix here and I reckon the talented Saal could do worse than wheel the Stench in for more production duties.
Calico - Euphorism - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From a similar school of thought as Stuart McCallum, Zero 7, Portico Quartet and Eat More Cake comes Brighton jazztronica quintet Calico whose new EP boasts some nifty brass and busy percussion without sounding completely hipster. For a debut, Euphorism is an assured work with the title-track in both its guises being the standout here. The second version features one Beth Cannon whose impassioned soulful holler gives the original further impetus. Fold a Winning Hand continues the McCallum theme with cyclical guitar picking and off-kilter beats, while Rogue 5 has an element of prog-rock/post-rock about it - it must be the crazed riffing towards the end that does it.
Public Service Broadcasting - Korolev - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
An exclusive non-album track from PSB is always welcome - this one will be appearing on the b-side of their soon-to-be-issued Sputnik 12" and continues the space theme successfully. Similar in brassy style to Gagarin, Korolev concerns the Russian designer of the same name and the usual requisite vocal samples arranged into a pleasing toe-tapper. It wouldn't have belonged on the album - probably too leftfield I guess - but it belongs in your collection.
The Vamps - Wake Up - ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This sounds like one of those TV footballing idents until our heroes deliver a synth-laden pop epic that sounds like every other boy band this side of the Thames. Bloody hell, we haven't moved on have we? Y'know, since the days of Bay City Rollers, Duran Duran and Take That. The Vamps are what your kids are drooling over at the moment until the next piss-poor excuse for a talent programme throws up the next identikit piddlepuff. And this isn't the worst either.
Sam Smith - Writing's on the Wall - ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
The strings swoon and sweep across a plaintive piano motif before Smith's plummy trilling begins to completely suffocate what little remains of the original song. Yes, it's well arranged, yes it's supposed to be dramatic - it's the new Bond theme after all - but that's it. It's just a theme song. Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, even Skyfall - these remain in the memory now and will continue to do so for years to come. I've heard this ten times and I'm as bored now as I was when I last watched varnish dry on a staircase.
Adele - Hello - ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Is it me you're looking for? A pity it isn't Lionel Richie's song otherwise I'd give it the nod. As it stands, this Hello is dreary even by ballad standards. Critics will point towards its poignant heartfelt lyrics but I'm more enamoured of Adele's powerful lungs when she's letting rip rather than letting go. Rolling in the Deep is top notch pop, Hello is , well, goodbye. It'll be number 1 for three weeks and the album 25 will furnish its creator with something to retire on.
Justin Bieber - Sorry - ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Bloody hell. I like to give any songwriter, singer, musician and producer a chance but when your choice of influence sounds like a Bruno Mars b-side (yep, that bad) or that irksome So Rude single married with cod-Caribbean rhythms programmed by an infant, you wonder why luck plays such a big part in the creation of a music career these days, rather than taste and intuition. Justin Bieber's time must surely be up by now.
ELO - When I Was a Boy - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
It's no secret that ELO's Jeff Lynne has held a torch to the talents of McCartney and Lennon so When I Was a Boy's similarity to most of The Beatles' most poignant moments (and some of McCartney's later solo choons, for that matter) should come as no surprise. What remains of ELO have basically knocked out the sister song to Real Love and their own Telephone Line - big sweeping strings, moist-eyed memory-jogging soft-rock and a spot of riffing to round it all off. Totally harmless and hardly a great leap forward, at least there's a song in there somewhere, fighting to grow into an epic. It doesn't quite manage it.
Louis Vega and Marc Anthony - Ride the Rhythm (Krystal Klear Edit) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Even attempting to pimp up an already classic house tune such as this takes balls and while there have been plenty of re-releases since its original release in 1991, this version is a cut above most of them. This version is predominantly instrumental and utilises the original backing vocals plus some seriously buffed up old-skool rhythms to propel the whole thing along like it was, well, 1995 or something. Remember just how sweet Show Me Love by Robin S was the first time you heard it? This is not far away...
Tom Figgins - Giants Played in Woods Like These - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
In a few short years, Figgins facial furniture has grown almost as quickly as his reputation as an earnest songwriter. Musically at the moment though, he's as far from tortured folkie as he could be with Giants sounding a little like Foals, even with the ooh-ooh-oohs that have spawned epics for the likes of Fleet Foxes, Vincent James McMorrow, Bon Iver etc.. Englishman Figgins has more of the blues about him but in this case, we're herded headlong into the pen labelled 'pop'. And it ain't a bad place to be. Perhaps he should stick with this instead as it's way more deserving than his previous work (most of which has been decent enough too).
Spiritwo - Mesumamim/Face to Face - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
A curious melange of East meets West with guitar riffs given a Middle Eastern twist and some vocals that recall early Muse if anything. Apparently hailed as some sort of Tel Aviv underground figure, singer Yael Claire Shahmoon has a powerful voice that sits perfectly within the so-called art-rock and theatre-pop scene the band occupy. Mesumamim is pleasing enough while flipside Face to Face sounds like the demanding soundtrack to a rowdy burlesque show.