Oh Yeah! It's A Great Week In Singled Out!

Single Of The Week! - ‘Oh Yeah’ is an irresistible mix of blues, rock and male-female juxtaposing vocals from the utterly fantastic The Subways. The Welwyn Garden City trio are clearly building on the blueprint that The White Stripes and The Kills mapped before them, but importantly, and as ‘Oh Yeah’ confirms, they have their own sassy edge that will surely earn them a niche in the market. Snapped up by Infectious and with a number of prestigious support slots under their belts, it looks like 2005 heralds great things for the youngsters. Already crowned the ‘best unsigned band’ at last years Glastonbury - in our opinion they’re now vying for the title of best new band. Brilliant stuff.

Kasabian continue in their quest of milking their brilliant debut album for all its worth by releasing yet another single – a re-release of ‘Cutt Off’. We can’t really blame Leicester’s finest though, the more people that hear their irresistible baggy, rock n’ roll imbued sound the better. Of course, most of you won’t need an introduction to ‘Cutt-Off’… but for the uninitiated it’s a snarling, petulant swagger of a tune that strengthens your faith in guitar-based music. For the diehards out there, the Jimmy Douglas remix is pretty forgettable and the Jagz Kooner interpretation is merely a clone of Xtrmntr-era Primal Scream. Handy tip for anyone after a killer remix - get yourselves on the blower to Erol Alkan, he’ll sort you out.

‘It Ended on An Oily Stage’ sees British Sea Power come back into the fray in fine, if slightly whimsical form. Breathy, pensive and quite stirring, Oily Stage is perhaps not as sprightly as some of their previous releases, but exudes enough lo-fi charm to carry it off brilliantly. Judging by this their forthcoming album ‘Open Season’ should be something very special indeed. Rumour has it that the album was recorded with Mads Bjerke who’s worked with the likes of Girls Aloud (yes, you read it right!), so it promises to be pretty colourful at least.  

Roots Manuva the undisputed don of UK hip-hop launches another mesmerising assault on the senses with ‘Too Cold’. A tale that wavers between self-deprecation and self-admiration “Sometimes I hate myself/Sometimes I Love Myself”, in delivering his dextrous rap Roots exudes so much slick charisma that you can’t fail but agreeing with the latter. And on top of this we have a naughty bass line that’s guaranteed to get even a malnourished indie kid’s head bobbing. Elsewhere, unfortunately the usually brilliant The Go! Team don’t quite pull off their remix – sounding as if Roots’ rap has lazily been pasted on top of one of their tracks.  

Despite the pretty damn unfortunate name clash with the dreadful Mike and the Mechanics hit from the nineties, I Am Kloot’s ‘Over My Shoulder’ is actually a joyous listening experience. Armed with a memorable hook and bittersweet vocals, this song is simply three minutes of pop perfection. Instilled with optimism and an undeniable bounce, it’s that rare type of song that, without trying to sound too cheesy, momentarily makes you forget about all those worries or woes and confirms that life is happy after all. Roll on the summer!

Master of DIY retro-electro-lo-fi-indie (kind of rolls off the tongue doesn’t it?!) Tom Vek returns with another top single ‘I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes’. Despite sounding as though Mr Vek is sometimes clonking kitchen utensils against each other, the boy wonder still manages to come up with the electrifying goods. Perhaps a bit more radio friendly and poppier than we’re used to from Vek, ‘… Goodbyes’ is a fine tune that is buoyed by a catchy chorus and has a vibe that owes a lot to the eighties electro movement. Amazing, considering it’s not even one of his best tunes.

Although ‘Don’t Much Like People’ is the kind of slogan a disaffected goth would have on their T-Shirt, with this single Londoners Delta Chi show a lot of promise. As the title suggests, it’s all very serious and emotionally driven stuff that’s heavily influenced by the millennial frustration exhibited by Radiohead. Immaculately produced with aching and stirring vocals the lead track is extremely affecting. Better is still to come though with the clamouring and claustrophobic ‘Dead Air’, and the sparse and haunting ‘Come Down’ which builds up to a crashing, almost post-rock finale. Definitely watch this space, then.   

Everyone’s favourite lyrical prankster Dizzee Rascal, serves up a typically scatty and jittery head **** of a tune with ‘Off 2 Work’. Surely the last song to come of his acclaimed ‘Showtime’ album, although it lacks the immediacy of some of his other tracks and is hardly likely to win him over new fans, but is still great fun nonetheless. As this track typifies, with his blend of playful raps and deft lyrics Mr Dylan Mills is a somewhat of a national treasure. The Cage remix on the flip side is pretty damn ace as well.

From the opening foreboding guitar feedback to the paranoid, claustrophobic cacophony of sound that closes it, The Boxer Rebellion’s ‘All You Do Is Talk’ is one hell of a rewarding listen. The enticing atmospherics nod towards influential eighties moodsters Echo and The Bunnymen and even The Cocteau Twins. All this is topped with the passionate chorus of “You don’t seem to listen” where they genuinely sound pissed off, which is nice. Just one handy tip for lads though – tone down that nasal whiiiiiiiiiine a bit - because it’s always best to avoid those conspicuous Liam Gallagher parallels.

Turkey Of The Week - Three Children of Fortune’s double A sided single ‘Scarlet Fever/Flesh and Bone’ is the kind of squeaky clean indie-rock that a parent of a troubled teenager would be quite happy their precious offspring is listening to. Lead track ‘Scarlet Fever’ is lifted by an infectious and almost epic riff, yet otherwise lacks an iota of character and is, well, just run-of-the-mill fodder and derivative. The sprightly ‘Flesh and Bone’ is marginally better, yet wavers too much towards sounding like the Rasmus for our liking - and one is bad enough thank you very much. Not bad, but definitely not good either.