Singles
Screaming Lights have the single of the week
Also In The News
|
An 18-year-old man convicted of the murder of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones will serve a minimum of 22 years in jail. |  |
Wednesday, 17, Dec 2008 12:34
Season's greetings, music lovers! Christmas is but a few days away and the battle for the festive number one involves X Factor inanity versus embarrassing X Factor spoof.
However, we're here to provide you with some real music to take your mind off re-heated Leonard Cohen numbers, awful office parties and unwanted Christmassy jumpers in the form of brand new singles releases from Screaming Lights, Ra Ra Riot and Nitin Sawhney among others.
And lastly but definitely not leastly we hope you all have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
Single Of The Week
Screaming Lights: GMN/Glow
Anti; out December 22nd
Screaming Lights specialise in expansive soundscapes that combine rock to blissed-out dance music without compromising on the haunting vocals front.
In fact, Screaming Lights are everything Pendulum would like to be - catchy, emotive, powerful and accessible.
This top-notch double-A CD single opens with the rollicking GMN before diving into the crunchy, early 90s indie-dance vibe of Glow.
Glow has been championed by Zane Lowe and both tracks mark this four-piece for big things in 2009.
Check out an acoustic version of Glow below:
Nitin Sawhney featuring Natty: Days Of Fire
Cooking Vinyl; out December 22nd
This acoustic-led rap track has haunted my days recently as it's been receiving considerable airplay.
At first Days Of Fire is grating although it does eventually grow on you. Once it does, it's rather rewarding and hits both your heart and your head.
Days Of Fire is from Sawhney's eighth album London Undersound.
The album, which was released in October, features a stellar cast of contributors including Paul McCartney, Imogen Heap and Natty.
The album relates how London has altered in the last few years.
Said Sawhney: "London Undersound is about how London's changed since 9/11 and how I and other people perceive that change.
"I don't recognise London as the same place it was ten years ago. The change has been quite subliminal and insidious. But it is massively different.
"London has become polarised in a way that I find uncomfortable and threatening, especially as an Asian person.
"I wanted to explore, through my music, the dynamic of a city going through a major transition."
Nitin Sawhney and a live band featuring vocalists Tina Grace and Luci Jules, drummer Martyn Kaine and Ian Burdge on cello will play a one-off gig at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on February 26th.
Ra Ra Riot: Can You Tell
V2 Records International; out December 22nd
Jaunty, jangly guitar pop lifted from Ra Ra Riot's acclaimed debut LP The Rhumb Line.
After supporting Vampire Weekend on their UK tour, Ra Ra Riot are currently touring the States.
Timmy Vegas and Bad Lay-Dee: Another Dimension
Eye Industries; out January 5th
Sampling the Beastie Boys and early 90s warbler Crystal Waters, Another Dimension is a dreadful trance/rave collaboration between Birmingham-based production supremo Timmy Vegas and fashionista Bad Lay-Dee.
I wish I could throw this aural atrocity into another dimension!
Fight Like Apes: Tie Me Up With Jackets
Model Citizen Records; out January 5th
Fight Like Apes will be welcoming 2009 in with new single Tie Me Up With Jackets, a brilliant blast of anger and icy disdain as the prelude to their forthcoming album Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion.
The single also boasts the awesomely trippy, 60s-edged epic Telephone The Real Ham Jackson.
Simply put, imagine if Tame Impala and the Black Keys' demented younger siblings had sneaked into a recording studio one afternoon with a load of Sunny Delight and this would've been the deliciously bonkers result.
Track three is the live favourite Canhead which offers prog rock pomposity and the rebel yell of punk by way of playground silliness.
Join the party when Fight Like Apes play Club NME at Koko in London's Camden Town on January 23rd.
The Days: No Ties
Atlantic Records; out January 26th
To hell with the credit crunch because it's time to dance the night way with the rollicking Nu-Britpop majesty of the Days.
No Ties is a sizzling distillation of Squeeze, Supergrass and hints of the Darkness from this up-and-coming four-piece outfit hailing from Devon.
Days frontman Luke Simpkins said of No Ties: "I wanted to get that sense of escapism you have on a Friday - forget the day job, here's the weekend!"
The single kicks off with the stomping radio edit of No Ties that screams out for lashings of airplay and wraps with the bluesy punch of the Guitar Down edit.
Say hello to the Days and let the good times roll.
One EskimO: Kandi
Little Polar Records; out February 23rd
Beautiful soul-tinged acoustic yumminess from newcomers One EskimO.
Kandi is lifted from the band's forthcoming album All Balloons out in March.
Lee Davis