Dancing, Shouting And Ricky Martin Impressions - It's Singled Out!

They’re a very strange breed these musicians. Our favourite jock, Mylo, had a whole bevy of gems to choose from for the new single from his outstanding debut album, yet releasing ‘Destroy Rock N’Roll’ he’s picked the weakest track – the only blip on an otherwise flawless work. Name checking an array of figures from rock and pop (including the self-professed Mylo super-fan Elton John), the tune is slightly irksome and lacks a coherent or catchy melody… thank **** for the remixes, then! Tom Neville’s thumping electro interpretation transforms the feeble original into an absolute killer, whereas Headman’s instrumental based mix splices the original into an atmospheric opus. Hail the DJs!

Undeniably, Hal sound like a bloody nice bunch of lads. With the syrupy titled ‘What a Lovely Dance’, the Irish quintet serve up a summery, pleasant breeze of a tune that would bring a smile to even the ardent pessimist's face. However, perverse as we are, Gigwise dearly hopes they’ve got a much more deviant side – if their forthcoming debut album overloads the senses with similar unnaturally buoyant tunes then they may end up being nauseating. Worse, they may become The Thrills Mark II, and one is bad enough thank you very much. A bit of advice: never trust people who are too happy.  

It wouldn’t be a normal week on Singled Out without a mandatory dose of ‘anthemic-indie-rock’, and doing the honours this week is Hard-Fi with ‘Cash Machine’. The lads clearly think that modern life is a bitch – let’s face it we’re slave to the wage, drudging away just to increase the digits we have in a poxy bank account, not to mention the anguish when a hole in a wall won’t let you have any money out – and luckily for us Hard-Fi have written a song about it, how considerate of them! As for the tune itself, it has an impossibly catchy, radio one friendly chorus, but the verse sounds a bit too much like Rooster for comfort. Definitely one for indie purists only. 

Oh dear, it’s Little Barrie. If we were being extremely humane, ‘Free Salute’ is a slightly quirky, slightly funky offering with bluesy riffs and jangly guitars. However, being brutally honest it’s complete and utter drivel. Put simply; shite band name, shite song. Front man Barrie Cadogan may be a skilled musician with his guitar work being undeniably nimble and funky, yet the tune he has concocted is dismally irritating. Apparently that ex-Orange Juicer Edwyn Collins, who produced the track, is a massive fan of the band. So what? The legendary Steve Albini produced Bush’s second album – doesn’t mean it’s any good.

Now for something very strange indeed. Breed 77, ah the name conjures up images of a morbid thrash metal band with deep-rooted issues. With ‘Shadows’, what we actually get is a Chad Kroger (you remember, from Nickleback fame) sound-alike doing a Ricky Martin impression. Hardly endearing, it’s obviously not very pleasant and it’s definitely not right. Things don’t get any better on the other A-side ‘Breaking the Silence’ – complete with flamenco guitars and latino vocals it’s equally as dire as the first track. Spare yourself inevitable misery and avoid this track.

At the start of every year, music hacks eagerly and often haphazardly construct lists of the most promising acts for the year ahead. This year Editors were on a number of those charts. With ‘Bullets’, the band emphatically prove they are worthy of any hype and more. Front man Tom Smith’s genuinely tortured vocals are utterly believable and poignant. Add to this, a spiralling and jagged guitar clamour together with brooding atmospherics and you’ve got the ingredients for a breathtaking debut single. Along the way, the foursome echo the spirit of Joy Division and Echo and The Bunnymen and more recently Elbow and Doves, to name a few. Tremendous.

Despite the name, Lemon Jelly’s ‘The Shouty Track’ doesn’t have any yelling on it, but, excuse the pun; it is definitely something to shout about. The fantastic single revolves around an unlikely distorted sample of ‘The Horrorshow’ by cult punksters The Scars with playful Lemon Jelly magic sprinkled on top. Funky as hell, but never quite amounting to anything much, ‘The Shouty Track’ is one of those rare songs that is effortlessly brilliant, but you can’t quite pin down why. The acoustic version of ‘Nice Weather for Ducks’ is pretty damn nice as well.

Melody Club, they’re Swedish you know. At various times ‘Electric’ sounds like Common People-era Pulp, an amalgam of eighties synth-pop bands and rather disturbingly The Lightning Seeds. As for the tune itself, it’s decent enough but naff in the kind of naff way that our European neighbours do best – affable, plastic, yet ultimately instantly forgettable. Despite their gold-selling triumphs in their home nation, they’re going to have to do a hell of lot better to make an impact on these fickle shores.