Gender Confusion And Six, Six, Six - It's Singled Out!

Without need for an introduction, the now omnipresent 'Somebody Told Me' is the killer new single from The Killers. A burning chorus with front man Brandon Flowers telling an amusing story of gender confusion is just one of the peaks in this mountainous track. Just one of the many highlights of ‘Hot Fuss’, with this single the Las Vegas foursome serve up an irresistible slab of unadulterated rock n’roll that’s both euphoric and rousing and will truly kick start 2005. If that’s not got you moist with excitement, Scottish dance don Mylo spins a thumping re-mix on the b-side that perfectly compliments the original. Brilliant.

Rooster’s debut single ‘Come Get Some’ was quite a quirky piece of indie-pop that was innocuous enough for those of a particularly docile temperament. Nothing, however, prepared gigwise for the abominable, stomach churning, vacuous entity that is ‘Staring at the Sun’. The lads are clearly attempting to be heartfelt, but fail spectacularly in rousing any emotion. At best this sounds like a shite Aerosmith b-side covered by Embrace, and that’s being kind on them. At worst… well that would be too cruel. Having said all this, McFly and Busted fans will love it. 

Howling, hollering falsettos, soaring guitars, stomping beats… ah it can only be The Music. With ‘Breakin’ the four Leeds lads may be treading on well trampled ground, but it’s great stuff nonetheless. While it lacks the immediacy of previous singles like ‘Freedom Fighters’, ‘Breakin’ will hardly compel you to rush to the local record store shop to buy their album, but it’s a slow burner that guarantees to get your feet tapping. How Robert Harvey reaches some notes we’ll never know, the boy must have vocal chords made of steel.

Now in their 25th year, rock dinosaurs Iron Maiden are re-releasing the seminal track ‘The Number of the Beast’. Originally released back in 1982 ‘Beast’ has become an all time Maiden classic for its ostentatious brilliance. Opening with a haunting spoken word chorus before Bruce Dickinson violently screams, the track progresses into an almost comical chaos of spitting vocals and stupendously over-the-top eighties sounding guitar riffs. How can you knock a track with a chorus that goes: “Six, six, six, the number of the beast, sacrifice is going on tonight”? More likely to make you laugh than leaving you quaking in your boots, ‘The Number of the Beast’ is terrific fun. 

Texas-via-New-York trio The Secret Machines have been compared by eager journalists to every slightly prog or ambient band that have graced this planet – Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Spiritualised to name but a few. ‘Sad and Lonely’ is a driving, atmospheric and mesmerising number, but from its brief three minutes it’s difficult to corroborate the band with their comparisons. Still it’s pretty damn good. Sadly the b-side, a six minute cover version of Van Morrison’s ‘Astral weeks’, is missing off the promo copy - this promises to be very interesting indeed.  

An emphatic success story of this year and deservedly so, Kasabian start 2005 where they left off with the release of the anthemic ‘Cutt Off’. Coming in a slightly honed version, Leicester’s finest are at their swaggering and effortless best with this track. From the opening when Tom Meighan spouts the great line ‘John was a scientist, he was hooked on LSD’, to the ‘Naaa na na naa na na naa’ of the chorus the track is infectious and simply top. Hopefully soon the boys will escape the shackles of being labelled the ‘new Primal Scream’ and will be heralded as a defining band in their own right.       

‘Show Me What Love Is’ is the new single from Brighton-based indie-rock lightweights Puscha. Fortunately, the track is one of the better moments from their mediocre debut album ‘Steal Your Life Back’. Front man Simon Rawlinson’s vocals are gritty and honest, yet musically they sound derivative and too much like every other slightly edgy band doing the toilet circuit at the moment. Puscha will probably appeal to anyone sad enough to be still hung up about Symposium’s demise all those years ago.

Sweden’s The Radio Dept. clearly have a fondness for Americana music. ‘Ewan’ is a breezy and introverted gem with lead singer Johan Duncasson sounding like a blissed out Jason Lytle from Granddaddy. Clocking in at just over two minutes the track pleasantly floats by and leaves you positively glowing inside. Instrumental b-side ‘Slottet’ harks of Sigur Ros at their most barren yet unfortunately fails to amount to much, while the delicate last track ‘The Things That Went Wrong’ is plaintively beautiful. Nice.