The Hives, Duels, Kaiser Chiefs, Fight! - It's Singled Out!

Forget that The Hot Puppies are named after a Dorothy Parker poem (The Tears are named after a poem, and they hardly exude intelligence do they?) as this fact only gets in the way of the sheer magnificent seduction powers of the five-some that are natives from the non to glamorous, but beauteous all the same, mid-Wales town of Aberystwyth. Sharing the camp indie pop aesthetics of The Long Blondes, ‘Terry’ shall epically swoon this band out of the valleys and into the hearts of all listeners.

“One day after saving relentlessly from their middleman white collar working occupations for nigh upon a decade Tim and Sandy bought a glorious two bedroom apartment (‘lets have a spare room for when our respectable friends come round,’ said Sandy) in picturesque Hertfordshire, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Their life was just so…pleasant. Things looked so rosy that a shopping trip to Ikea came about. ‘Yes, we’ll have that coffee table there,’ said Tim, ‘it’ll be the perfect accompaniment for our new Corinne Bailey Rae cd, ‘Like A Star’.’ ‘Yes,’ said Sandy in fervent agreement, ‘her warm, sultry jazzy vocals with thoughtfully smooth production as recommended by middle of the road mistress, Jo Whiley, will be the consummate antidote to our comfortable suburban living.”

There’s something sinister in them their hills, and it’s not just the sight of Jack and Jill falling down them as they miserably fail at collecting some water, again (they really were accident prone weren’t they!?), no, it’s five-piece Parisman hailing from the barren lands between Leeds and Manchester. From a band that formed with previous musical competency equalling a great thwacking zero ‘A Place That Glows’ is no mean feat at all, in fact, it’s a joy. Like listening to Magic Numbers with an all-knowing underbelly of furtive portentous Mercury Rev atmospherics that serve as a great starter for the future of Parisman.

Now come on, who doesn’t love The Hives!? Time after time they deliver quality two and a half minute upbeat blasts of pure unadulterated fun despite current climates for post-punk pretentious angst ridden angularity , and ‘A Little More For Little You’ is no different except for an added 1950s rock’n’roll and Motown ethic that takes the listener’s imagination to the set of Happy Days – happy days indeed! At this rate The Hives may well become The Ramones of the 21st Century.

“This is how I’m supposed to be/in the land of make believe/that don’t believe in me” – is that right Billie Joe? So how do you explain your multi-million selling album in the homelands of the U.S? Yeah, no one believes in poor stinky Billy. Or is Mr Joe off again singing in the guise of his favourite subject, Mr Bush? Gigwise doesn’t know and we do not care – if the ‘American Idiot’ album was supposed to halt George Bush’s election progress, well, it failed, if it was meant to get the kids back into rock, well, it worked, and simultaneously created The Noise Next Door, kudos Green Day. ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ acts as the bookend of ‘American Idiot’ – a NINE MINUTE bookend. Redolent of those Abba medleys that appear in the charts every leap year, but replace disco beats and Lycra with Bryan Adams melodies, The Who’s grandiose rock operatics and mid-nineties Green Day album tracks.

First and foremost, you need to know that one of The Warlocks drummers’ is called Bob Mustachio – as if one drummer isn’t enough when you have that superbly named sticks-man in the band! ‘It’s Just Like Surgery’  and its glorious soundscape owes much to the Phil Spector-like wall of sound production courtesy of Tom Rothrock - with Beck, Elliot Smith, and Badly Drawn Boy as artists in his portfolio he certainly knows what talent is and this melancholic, yet joyful ode to love certainly displays their talent in abundance. If My Bloody Valentine ever created a commercial hit it wouldn’t be too far from sounding like this.

A few weeks ago it was announced that a university – one that The Times would undoubtedly brand “secondary” – was beginning a module that would focus on conspiracy theories. The course in question may well be orchestrated by Coldcut appointing Mike Ladd as head lecturer, as he spouts out his raps about “Illuminati partners, Tower topplers, Vatican tax and the Texas mafia” (just read Dan Brown eh, Ladd?) behind crunching breakbeat production. Add the irrepressible Jon Spencer vocal and geet to the fore and ‘Everything Is Under Control’ provides the speaker shaking sound for boy racers nationwide.

Coincidence that Duels release their single ‘Pressure On You’ in the same week as the band they constantly get compared to, Kaiser Chiefs, release their umpteenth single from their debut album? Probably, but at least this synchrony should at last disavow the tag of Kaiser rip-offs. ‘Pressure On You’ lures its audience into a villainous indie world of pensive proportions where Duels sound more akin to mid-nineties cult outlaws, Strangelove, and that my friends is a good thing.

Two years ago Four Day Hombre won Radio 1’s ‘One Music Unsigned’ competition and since then all attention has ceased, and record company interest has all but dried up, so the lads from Leeds did what all good Northerners do, they rolled their sleeves up and decided to set up their own record label with a bit of help from their fans (nb. Not all “good Northerners” set up their own record label). The result of Alamo Music is debut single ‘1000 Bulbs’ – the single really does illuminate the fact that Radio 1 listeners are in actual fact, DULLARDS. It’s as if Four Day Hombre picked up the cast-offs from Coldplay’s ‘Parachutes’ sessions to make this bland, bland, blaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd music. 

Turkey of the Week: Riding on the proverbial sleazy post-modern glam rock backs of Louis XIV come Gliss – armed with a pitiful name and pitiful sleazy post-modern glam rock back riding skills. Any hope of gaining success by desperately clawing onto the pinstriped suits of apparent influences Louis XIV is lost by the fact that ‘Blue Sky’ contains absolutely no charm, no hooks, no glamour, and a painfully forced vocal vociferance that was probably conceived whilst masturbating over, yes, you guessed it, Louis XIV.

Best of the Rest…

Ever thought who’d win in a fight, Daniel Powter or James Blunt? Gigwise has, and it’s Powter all the way, he wears hats and sings about bad days, not like beautiful Blunt! ‘Free Loop’ even has Powter singing about one night stands over a jolly organ fuelled pop ditty – the fella!

Going straight for the rock jugular are the ever effervescent trio Engerica with ‘Roadkill’ that shows all aspiring rock acts how to blast the audience away without sounding contrived like Lost Prophets or Nickelback.

Harsh eighties post-punk sounds with an undertow of The Stooges come on behalf of Humanzi’s ‘Fix The Cracks’ that’s spoilt with a needless one and a half minutes of self-indulgent musings.

Cracking hi-octane eighties synth inspired tune from Performance that has already gained praise from Peter ‘Hooky’ Hook, and soon you will also ‘Surrender’ to them. Like Hot Chip but with added eyeliner and sequins.

‘Modern Way’ was the first song ever written by the hobo Ricky Wilson and chums known as Kaiser Chiefs but it’s the last (it better be!!) song to be milked/released from ‘Employment’, and it’s quite a poignant epitaph on an otherwise cheery album, but ultimately it’s forgettable. Time for some new ‘uns boys!