Chicken, Cheese and Chungking - Singled Out!

Seven years since Mansun released their first single ‘Take It Easy Chicken’ the band have decided to call it a day. The aptly named ‘Slipping Away’ will be their last single as the band split during the recording of their as yet unreleased 4th album. One for the die-hard fans, this is Mansun through and through, but a slightly pointless buy for anyone else.

Manchester’s Engineers release ‘Come In Out of the Rain’ from their forthcoming debut ‘Folly’. This track is a big fat lush indie tune. Think somewhere between Ride and The Warlocks and you’ll be on the right track.

The Concretes are one of those bands you’ll either love or hate. ‘Seems Fine’ is a slightly kitsch retroist brass infused pop song. Not sure we’ve got the weather to enjoy this one at the moment, though Victoria Bergsman’s Swedish take on Nico Velvet Underground’s vocal delivery is a joy to behold.

Indie darling PJ Harvey’s ‘You Come Through’ is the second single to be taken from her seventh album ‘Uh Huh Her’ and is a Björk-ian dark stroll through Glockenspiel World. Unlikely to do any damage to the singles chart this is nonetheless a brilliant piece of music, yet lacking any kind of hook it would probably be more suited to a film score.

Oh my god, The Glitterati are the shallowest lyricists on the planet, but as they’re speaking to me directly: ‘I want a film star, I want a guest list, I want a sex life, I want a death wish, I want it now’ - I can’t really complain. Elements of campness juxtapose the cheesiest of lyrics and clichéd singing, brilliant. This is what Robbie Williams in a band would sound like.

I imagine that the Ordinary Boys were trying to be ironic when they came up with their band name? ‘Seaside’ is an ordinary song by and ordinary band but has a brilliant chorus. Originally I thought these boys were a Jam tribute act but it seems their influences are somewhat more eclectic. How many more bands can sound like Shed Seven though?

Chungking, hmm, you get one every week dontcha? ‘Making Music’ is so far from the current zeitgeist that it’s bound to crop up on playlists at EMAP owned radio stations up and down the country. Jessie Banks’ soulful vocal caresses a big old string arrangement to good effect, just don’t expect any guitar solos in this one.

All hail the Monkey Man – Ian Brown returns with his fourth solo album proving that he was the talent in’t Roses. ‘Keep What You Got’ is a swaggering tale of generosity – “Keep what you got by giving it all away.” Noel Gallagher joins the living legend on backing vocals and guitar licks, an instant classic.

Beans, beans good for your heart, fortunately these beans won’t give you gas. Signed to Warp Records, Beans formerly of Anti-Pop Consortium is hip hop done the old skool style and single ‘Down By Law’s call to put your hands in the air should be answered with an “oh yeah”. Fresh.

What input Tiga has given ‘Heartbreak’ I don’t know, the fact that it took two whole people (Beyer and Lenk) to produce this blandest kind of dance music makes it almost unbelievable that they’d need an extra person to whisper the vocals and go ‘huh huh huh huh’ in the “chorus”. I suppose that after eight pills and a couple of Red Bulls this may have some appeal though.

‘Brown Paper Bag’ was a groundbreaking record released by drum and bass guru Roni Size, unfortunately it seems that Mr Size has struggled to progress this genre of music by any amount since. Though you certainly would be ‘Out of Breath’ if you trooped your way through this fast paced track, you would also notice that Ron lifts the heavy panting from Kraftwerk’s ‘Tour de France’.

Muse return to pillaging Radiohead’s back catalogue with ‘Butterflies And Hurricanes’, big lyrics, big chorus, big guitars, big vocal, but it’s Muse so what were you expecting? The message is ridiculously loaded, but may well be tongue in cheek with its ‘you can change the world/your time will come’ advice. The band make history with this single being released in the u-myx format which means you can mix it yourself if you don’t like it – great.

The Vacation, ooh they’re dirty and sleazy and they’re from LA. ‘Destitute Prostitute’ ain’t such a bad rock ‘n’ roll tune, it’s just that the lyrics are ****ing shite. The chorus goes: “We’re destitute, we’re prostitutes, we’re standing on the outside looking at the inside baby, we’re standing on the corner waiting to be born again” with the band calling the lines back at the lead singer. Now I used to live in Soho and I can tell you these guys aren’t hairy and ugly enough to be proper prostitutes, so cut the bullshit will you guys?