It Certainly Is Better With... Franz Ferdinand! - Its Singled Out!

Readers you may groan at the obviousness of this weeks choice of Franz Ferdinand as Single of the Week, but you can’t argue with the tongue in cheek, catchy as hell precision that is ‘Do You Want To’. From the buzzing baselines to achingly danceable guitar hooks the Glaswegian art-rockers certainly return in fine style with Alex Kapranos strutting like an pop peacock all the way through. Expect sexual propositions a plenty on the indie dance floor in the coming weeks. Well, do you wanna?!

Creating intergalactic electronic landscapes bigger than the Milky Way Mew’s ‘Special’ is three minutes of glacial, dreamy pop. Nestling somewhere between the likes of Sigur Ros and an otherworldly Radiohead, which is admittedly a dream mix, it sweeps us into the dark yet wonderful world of creative influence Jonas Bjerre. Apparently his ideas come from nightmares he has night after night but how could you call them nightmares when the images metamorphosis into something quite as stunningly beautiful as this?!

Bringing us back down to earth with the usual asymmetric angles a plenty Ladytron take us on a late night Autobahn drive and a tour of a Kraftwerkian sounds with ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’. Pulsating through three minutes of attitude-laden synth-pop without an emotion in sight, it barely breaks a sweat but draws you in with an irresistible, incessant chorus. Perfect to stand and look cool to in dark corners but remember not to smile.

Hard-Fi are like the Carling of bands, a slightly watered down version of everything else around but still loved by the people, especially chavs. New single ‘Living For The Weekend’ is a case in point, no doubt the superlatives will fly at it from all and sundry, but really its just The Ordinary Boys without the bad reggae interludes. And anyway, who actually lives for the weekend anymore, us Gigwise hacks like to go out on Wednesdays and Thursdays too now and again. Like the above mentioned pint Hard-Fi will soon go flat, don’t believe the hype.

Ballsy, melodic and restrained yet perfectly formed in every way, no not Leila Moss (Although she is rather fetching), its The Duke Spirit’s ‘Cuts Across The Land’. From the thumping beat of the intro it rides along on a base of the pounding rhythm section through earthy, mesmeric guitars and Moss’ heartfelt yet cool as **** delivery. Don’t be fooled by its resistance to break out completely this is definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing with a razor sharp pop edge to boot.

The CD for Institute’s first single ‘Bullet Proof Skin’ actually says on it ‘Featuring Gavin Rossdale Formerly Of Bush’, not exactly the best of accolades is it? Maybe they were trying to blind fans with that bombshell while providing them with four minutes of staid, pedestrian 'Raaaaaawwwccckk' for their money. It sounds like the rancid cast offs from the last Staind or Nickleback album. Gavin, a bit of advice - your wife’s a multi-million dollar cash machine, there’s no need for you to be producing this kind of rubbish. Just sit back, relax and bleed her dry.

Sssh, keep it quiet and don’t tell the taste police but Stereophonics' latest single ‘Devil’ isn’t actually that bad - granted it isn’t amazing but compared to the drivel we’ve been dished up by the Welsh midget and company in the last few years it's on a different planet. Starting off in dark and brooding mode it soon breaks out into a full on rock stomp and back again coupled with Jones’ effects laden vocals and interspersed background conversations. This Gigwise hack can’t believe what he’s saying. Oh the shame!

Lets get this out of the way first of all ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo’ spells out the word ****, huh huh, Bloodhound Gang you’re so funny, not. If the funniest lines you can come up with are "Put the you know what, in the you know where" it's probably time to give up and get a job cleaning toilets at your local burger joint. If you buy this you are a moron, you probably laughed at the words penis and sperm during your sex ed classes in high school and you‘ve never had a girlfriend. **** Off!

Re-releases normally rankle and smell a bit of money grabbing labels trying to bleed the public dry but who cares when they’re as good as Editors' ‘Bullets’. From the rousing opening burst of screeching lightening bolt guitars that surge through the whole song to the morose, deadpan delivery of front man Smith the whole thing simply crackles with emotion and energy. If anyone can show us a song from 2005 that packs more style and substance then Gigwise will eat its original release copy which is currently going on Ebay for £25.

‘Waiting For Sirens’ Call’ is a song by middle aged men for middle aged men and you know what - it’s great. It might not quite be pipe and slippers for Hooky and co quite yet but they certainly know how to grow old gracefully. Full of New Order’s bittersweet charm, an ethereal melody that floats over an endless baseline and a restrained vocal from Bernard Sumner, it may not exactly get the heart pumping but it serves up four minutes of poised pop perfection.

On film, Juliette Lewis is mysterious, quirky and always slightly edgy; unfortunately she doesn’t transfer these traits into her musical career. Juliette Lewis and her Licks latest offering ‘Got Love To Kill’ is  unashamedly straight forward power pop punk accompanied by a cheese fest of a skittish late 70s, early 80s disco beat but with none of the aforementioned nuances apparent. Half way through our Juliette moans and groans for an answer from the object of her affection, which should definitely prompt the answer - Not tonight love.

Turkey of the Week: One day in a record label executive’s office not too far from here a dream was born of a band that would make an album that featured all the same tracks and that it would sell prestigious amounts of units and still the public wouldn’t notice that all the singles sounded the same. That band are Bodyrockers. ‘Round And Round’ is exactly the same as the uber annoying ‘I Like The Way’ but this time they’ve had the gaul to nick the riff from ‘Poison’ by Alice Cooper. Expect to hear it being played at your local meat market by the shit DJ from your local radio station with tango tan girls dancing along to it.

Best Of The Rest

Boy Kill Boy – 'Civil Sin'
You may have heard this all before but probably not quite this good. Driving, jerky guitars that just keep getting faster and faster till the whole thing comes off the rails. Like Editors but with a huge shot of adrenalin.

Johnny Panic – 'Automatic Healer'
Breaks out like a buzz saw ripping through your cerebral cortex before settling into a master class of power punk pop. A song about ladies of the night that’ll leave you wanting more form the South London four-piece.

Million Dead – 'To Whom It May Concern'
A euphoric opening of the heart about the prospects of having no future with a scorching chorus full of uplifting guitars and shouty vocals. A band that’ll be sadly missed but will go out on top with this raw hardcore anthem.