The Rakes, Nine Black Alps and Bob Marley - It's Singled Out!

“22 grand job/In the city’s awoight” spouts the ever eccentric Alan Donohue – a line that’s guaranteed to be spinning round your head for days after listening to '22 Grand Job'. One of the highlights from their fan-fookin-tastic ‘Capture/Release’ album, this is a whirlwind of a song buoyed by almost schizo-paced guitars and those madcap cockney-twanged vocals. Vibrant, simple and catchy as hell, The Rakes have truly got the two and a half minute pop song nailed to perfection. Anyone who still lazily compares them to Hard-Fi should be hung and quartered for these boys shit on the Staines chancers from a great height.

Their fan base may have an average age of 13 and a half, but don’t let that put you off Nine Black Alps. Once again with ‘Just Friends’ the Mancunians serve up a highly Americanised, Seattle-tinged pop-rock gem. Some may say these boys are derivative – while that’s true to an extent, they tread the right side of the fine line and with tunes like this in their arsenal hit home like a sledgehammer. A searing, mini grunge anthem of the finest quality then.

Ever thought recently that the wave of post-Radiohead warblers was finally ebbing? Well think again, here comes west country trio Blackbud with their ‘Heartbeat EP’. The title track is fairly rousing with its flailing, tortured vocals, discordant guitar noises and driving choruses– it’s just that it’s pretty hard to escape those inevitable comparisons. Elsewhere, ‘Steal Away’ is a slightly melancholy, uplifting, yet uninspiring while ‘Corner Of The World’ is an introspective brooding offering. Alright then, but a bit of originality wouldn’t go a miss.

Sprightly, slightly wonky indie-pop is the order of the day on The Feeling’s ‘Fill My Little World’. Generous piano plonks, impossibly feel-good vocals, dreamy segues and a generally buoyant vibe make this quite an endearing little number. While from listening to this, it’s pretty damn clear that the London based fivesome aren’t crack toting hellraisers that some of may well crave, if it’s unadulterated candy-floss guitar pop you’re after then The Feeling may well be your thing.

Ominous guitar plucks make way for lovely electronic keys, sky-bound guitars and obligatory post-millennial, slightly pained yelping on Broken Dolls’ damn impressive ‘Any Other Day’. While the over chanting of “Little by little, by little, by, little…” may be on the wrong side of irksome at times we can forgive them of such insignificant quips because this is thoroughly ace stuff. The downbeat, slightly poignant ‘What The Hell’ is slightly less impressive sounding like a watered down version of 13-era Blur. Currently locked in the studio recording their debut album with Jim Abbiss – a nice prospect indeed.

Acoustica. Ah, boring Nick Drake infatuations, introspective musings, smelly tea cosy hats we hear you cry! Alas, fear not, because on Lupen Crook’s ‘Halloween’ (impeccable timing) the twisted voiced maverick takes us down all kinds of weird tangents – urgent verses, weird “aye aye aye aye” chants, spooky orchestrals make this a veritable aural treat. What ever the **** this man is on, we definitely want some. A perfect antidote to the acoustic driven tosh currently bombarding the charts – a la James Blunt, Daniel Powter, KT Tunstall etc.

The irrepressible Death From Above 1979 go under the knife in this tidy download only release. Lead track ‘Romantic Rights’ gets an electro teeth-clenching makeover courtesy of shit-hot Swedish tech-house producer Jesper Dahlback, while Mr Trash himself Erol Alkan’s version stick more to the essence of the original with climatic, crunching breaks thrown in. However, it’s the damn eerie, stripped-down Josh Homme mix of ‘Black History Month’ that most impresses with sparse atmospherics and haunting, ghostly vocals before fat guitars and rhythmic drums interrupt proceedings. Weird but good.

Ah here come The Kills with the spooky and thoroughly brilliant 'No Wow'. Proving the theory that less is definitely more, there’s a chilling tension to the foreboding beats and guitar strums with ?’s typically hypnotic vocals increasing the contorted atmosphere. Somewhat of a relief when it’s over – but only due to the fact that it’s one hell of a dirty slag of a tune. Wow, indeed. The duo book themselves in at the surgeons for an impressive makeover on the flip side with Tiga’s up tempo, clubby take on ‘The Good Ones’ hitting home the most.

‘Ugly Girl’ is a fookin’ ace slab of indie-art-rock-Brit-punk kind of thing from Seeing Scarlet. Plenty of high-pitched “Ooh-oooooh’s” from frontman Charlie Beall litter the catchy tune which tells the tale of apparently pulling a reet minger – “Because I saw you in my dream last night/ You moved me into your line of sight… hold me in your arms.” Well, Charlie, as David Blunkett knows too well, love is blind. Very promising stuff then… that is until the almost comical ‘Never Good Enough’ comes along which despite the humorous delivery is a tad lame and not a patch on the opener. 

Hotly-tipped all female foursome The Ivories prove they are a very enticing prospect with ‘Reduce The Temperature’. Frontwoman Helena Gee is both abrasive and hypnotic bouncing off the sighing backing vocals as she delivers this brooding tune in slow and meditated fashion. Angular, intense and shockingly effective, as Gee purrs, “we are burning, burning, so put the fire out” it really is chillingly good stuff.  On the b-side ‘Disappointment’ is spiky and upbeat and shows another side of the band. Reduce the temperature? No they raised ours.

Turkey of the Week: Now for something very weird and nasty indeed. Space Cowboy’s ‘Across The Sky’ sounds like Daft Punk covering a naff eighties TV show – but without the coolness or any hint of being chic. You may laugh at the novelty value of the horribly over vocodered vocals and cheesy dance beats at first listen, but give it more than one spin and you’ll realise it truly is evil. Horrible, ghastly (… shift 7, ah the trusty thesaurus) hideous, horrendous, turgid… we could go on. Really, this is the kind of shite that people who hate dance music and know **** all about it will use against you to illustrate their point. File next to the Crazy Frog.

Best of the Rest:

Bob Marley – ‘No Woman No Cry’ (Live)
The first of six limited edition CDs, recorded back in 1973 this release perfectly embodies the passion and verve of one of the greatest artists the last century produced. Heart and soul personified. 

The Fallout Trust – ‘Before The Light Goes’
We’re on well-trodden turf with The Fallout Trust’s melancholy latest, yet there’s something quite ethereal about this softly sung, violin laden gem that’s actually very pleasant. Lovely.

The Beauty Shop – ‘A Desperate Cry For Help’
Part Willy Mason / part Crash Test Dummies with a country twist, this is a jangly sprightly offering that couldn’t sound more American if it tried. A bit one-dimensional after a while though. 

Jamie Lidell – ‘Multiply’
The genre-bending ****-soul-brother is not quite his flamboyant self on this, which is more of a grooved out mofo. Effortlessly cool and nice thumping Hot Chip mix on the other side that’s well worth checking out.

Princess Superstar – ‘My Machine’
Complete with a squelchy acid-electro vibe, the hip-hip diva is in fine unhinged form on this gloriously eccentric peach. Brucey bonus points for the zany rhymes too.

The Suffrajets – ‘Everything You Do’
That bird out The Libertines comes up alright in a sassy, ballsy rock-tinged number. The word out on the street is the rest of her stuff is very, very hit and miss, but this is decent enough.

The Five O’Clock Heroes – ‘White Girls’
Strangely out-of-tune, very quirky and with plenty of nerdy-indie charm, this is a little belter in an unsuspecting way.