Dreams Can Come True In Singled Out!

Back in 1976 The Damned became the first, of a whole host of vagabonds, to release a punk rock record on a major label. Six years later, The Damned’s Captain Sensible releases the sickly, sickly pop novelty hit ‘Happy Talk’; Captain Sensible’s royalties-fast hit surely diminished any punk credibility he ever had. So 22 years later, Dizzee Rascal, London hip-hop revolutionaire, follows his no nonsense Mercury Award winning debut album with ‘Dreams’, a single sampled around… ‘Happy Talk’. Is this a case of second album syndrome - get lazy, get commercial, get money – or simply an act of genius? Well, in all honesty it is lazy. The rhymes are predictable, the tale told a familiar one – he had it tough, boo-hoo! The track begins with Dizzee asking, “how am I gonna pull this off man, without sounding daft?” Answer- you won't.
NB: Rumours of Dizzee Rascal covering Black Lace’s ‘Agadoo’ are, as yet, unfounded.

So on to another tale of overcoming all those obstacles that may lie in your way, no it’s not 50 Cent covering Jimmy Cliff’s ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, but Yorkshire fivesome, that allude to being a sixsome, The Scaramanga Six, with ‘We Rode The Storm’. Like the Six of Electric, The Scaramanga Six obviously believe in the BIG chorus, as all their stadium rock chord knowledge eventually finds their way to it. The sound is nothing new, infectious fun nevertheless, comparable to Gigwise’s current faves, Do Me Bad Things, but without the vocal endeavour. 

And then there was one, as Crystal Maze’s Richard O’Brien helpfully sums up, the one is ex-Screaming Trees vocalist, part-time QOTSA member Mark Lanegan, the song is, well, er, boring, and it’s called ‘Hit The City’. Anyone familiar with Lanegan’s solo material will know by now that he likes to stray away from the sound that his bands partake in, so unfortunately what we’ve got here is baroque blues drawl complete with PJ Harvey doing what she does best…singing over baroque blues drawl. The b-track, Mud Pink Skag, easily outshines the single. Lanegan’s Johnny Cash-esque weathered vocal perfectly compliments the wall of guitar drowsiness and tom thumping sound in a manner  similar to Ten Benson.

The ever solo Ed Harcourt shows Lanegan how this singer-songwriter malarky’s done- i.e. don’t get guests on your records just because they’re your mates. Harcourt is seemingly quite content in dwelling in the quirky nature of being English, and writes eccentric piano-guitar driven ditties around this disposition. ‘Born In The 70s’ is a luscious offering that will brighten up your dreary November day, and will hopefully propel Ed’s tinkling into the spotlight he deserves, unfortunately for him it seems the modern day Supertramp, Keane, are hogging it from him for the time being. 

It’s debatable as to whether you could call a solo artist who releases a single named ‘Mickey Mouse Mother ****ers’ quirky, maybe you should just call him Mocky. Mocky comes from the same stable of friends as Peaches and Chilly Gonzales, so is it any wonder that in his new single, ‘Catch A Moment In Time’, he raps about putting “ya anal sphincter in pleats”!? You’d suspect these rhymes would be accompanied by some pounding beats, but no, we get phased, chilled keys that blend into the background. That, in answer to his press release, is why Mocky is the only one from the Peaches/Gonzales family not to have received widespread acclaim.

To an EP that gives no false pretensions to its sound is Prosaics ‘Aghast Agape’. With song titles like ‘Failure’, and ‘Now The Shadow Of The Column’ you know this debut EP from this American trio was hardly going to be a laugh minute Dizzee Rascal affair. What we get is resonance of a modern day American Joy Division – the Killers intonation, the gloom of Interpol. Vigour is lacking however, the Morrissey like vocal is pleasant, but any charisma from the band is submerged by the constant angular guitar disparity.

Following on with the Morrissey like vocal is The Dears who try their utmost not to sound Canadian - heavens knows why, what’s Brian Adams ever done to you…ok, fair point. ‘Lost In The Plot’, dare I say, is a grower (I did indeed dare), the soundscape is delicious. The atmospherics and the vocal are redolent of a darker Blur in their 13/Blur album days when they weren’t poncing around pretending to be influenced by Moroccan music. Likewise, ‘Heartless Romantic’ is a great b-side, embracing distorted drums, fairground synths, and exquisite harmonies, with a hint of Stephen Malkmus. Keep an eye out for this solemn six piece.

Do you remember a few months back when that malevolent DFA record label halted the plans of Death From Above to actually have a semi-feasible band name? Well the “lynchpin” behind that was James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. So why should the Death From Above 1979 loving public forgive him for such a feat? Because LCD Soundsystem’s new single ‘Movement’ is actually pretty good! It’s a short burst of distorted electro loopage, with supplementary New York attitude and guitars. If Soulwax are dance meets QOTSA, then LCD Soundsystem are electro conversing with Interpol concluding with a disarray of electronic noise. I forgive you, Murphy

Steriogram – you might not know the name, but you should certainly recognise the single, ‘Walkie Talkie Man’, it’s been featured on advert, it’s been played to death on the music channels, and the Michael Gondry directed video is just incredible. So really there should be every reason for you to despise this song, especially when I utter the words, “pop punk”. But you can’t despise it, it’s one of the songs of the year. Busted producers would have loved to have got their dirty, money grabbing hands on this one, but as such it’s the New Zealand five who have got this marvellous Sum 41 like choon. It’ll keep the CD:UK audiences a-bouncin’ for a couple of mintues alright. You’ll be glad to hear this song in a couple of weeks time when the airwaves will be deluged with infernal Christmas orientated crap – I’m looking at you Midge Ure!