|
ALASDAIR DUNCAN likes it when other people do the hard work for him. This week, his buddy ROB NEWCOMBE – a Tom Waits fan and comic book nerd – has kindly agreed to help out in reviewing singles.
 WE THE KINGS – We’ll Be A Dream (feat. Demi Lovato)
(Liberator Music)
Alasdair: Let’s start off with something fun. This is We The Kings, who are a bit of a tween pop sensation. They’ve been on the Warped Tour, and this track is a collaboration with Demi Lovato, a person I’ve read about on the internet.
Rob: The whole thing’s just washing over me. I can’t hate it, because I imagine lots of innocent, nervous kids dancing to this at homecoming, and it’s ... kind of nice.
A: Tweens these days clearly enjoy gooey, overproduced pop-rock anthems. And Auto-Tune. Shitloads of Auto-Tune.
R: That’s par for the course though, isn’t it? As soon as you hear a pop song like this, you just expect it to sound weird and abstract, like Neil Young’s Trans.
A: It’s not bad, but it’s just of just getting the fuck kicked out of it by the law of diminishing returns. There have been so many songs like this over the last few years.
R: Look for some bespectacled indie girl covering this ‘ironically’ on YouTube sometime in the next few weeks.
 SINGLE OF THE WEEK
VAMPIRE WEEKEND – White Sky
(XL/Remote Control)
R: I still don’t have Contra, so I’m really interested to hear this track. I only know that I fucking hated Horchata, but Cousins is awesome.
A: I don’t know, I just can’t help but like Vampire Weekend. This has that same Afropop sound that the first album had, but they’ve moved on in interesting ways.
R: They’re doing it with synths instead of guitars, which is cool. This is still very close to the sound of the first album, it’s got those treble-y single-note guitar lines going on, but I like it. They’re incorporating the Afropop sound in a more organic way, instead of just ripping off Graceland.
A: Let’s try the Basement Jaxx Club Mix next. Oh, wow ... immediately, I like this way better than the last Basement Jaxx album. All they’ve really done is emphasise the synth-y bits of the track, but it’s really good fun.
R: That synth bassline has definitely got my foot tapping more than the original mix. This doesn’t really sound like a club track until about a third of the way in, but from there, it gets really good. It’s got that awesome build-up then breakdown then back into the kicking synth thing at the end.
 ESKMO – Cloudlight
(Ninja Tune/Inertia)
A: This is another electronic track, but it’s Ninja Tune, so you know it’s going to be very abstract and strange.
R: I wish I could put it in the context of past Ninja Tune releases, but my only knowledge of them comes from the posters on Tim’s wall in Spaced. You know, given a while to settle in, this track has that kind of loping beat that drags you along quite nicely.
A: It would sound good if you were really, really stoned. Like, catastrophically, Sunday night of Splendour stoned.
R: Ketamine stoned.
SIA – Bring Night
(Monkey Puzzle/Inertia)
R: I have to say, I’m pretty out of touch with the whole Sia phenomenon, but this track has handclaps on it, which always wins points with me right out of the gate.
A: This has way more of an electro pop sound than what she’s done in the past. It sounds almost like a Le Tigre remix. Her vocals sound a little out of step with the bright, poppy production.
R: It’s not necessarily my cup of tea ... it seems like the verses and the chorus are at odds with each other, like they’re trying to do different things. I probably wouldn’t download it for my guilty pleasure pop mix. It’s just sort of ... I don’t know. It’s trying a bit too hard to be catchy and quirky at the same time. All of this stuff [points to the sugary sprinkles dotting Sia’s lips in the promo photo] is largely unnecessary.
 RED JEZEBEL – Closer To You
(MGM)
A: Red Jezebel are an indie band from Perth.
R: I’m conflicted with this one. I really like the guitar part and the odd time signature, which makes it stand out from the pack, but the vocals are just a bit ... like, he has a bit of a throaty, ‘oh yeah baby’ thing going on. He sounds like Adam Levine. He’s kind of like a skinny, largely asexual white boy rubbing his sexuality in your face.
A: Adam Levine’s pretty sexy though.
R: He is, but his music’s awful. I guess this song sounds a bit like Maroon 5 if they were striving for a bit of indie cred? Oh, bless ‘em, they’ve started in on the heavy riffage now.
A: Did he just say ‘I’ll make you sing like a bird’? If I was the girl in the song, I’d be shitting myself right about now.
R: He’s gonna make her sing like a bird, but it doesn’t sound like he’s gonna sex her that well. It’s going to be awkward and elbow-y.
 USELESS CHILDREN – Skin / Nameless
(Independent)
R: From the cover art, this one looks like it’s going to be some kind of awful post-hardcore thing. I only have so much room for throaty screaming in my life.
A: Something loud and shouty might make you feel a bit butch after you just admitted you’d do Adam Levine?
R: Okay, fine. Hmm ... this sounds a bit like early Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but with some Jesus Lizard-y sludge and noise thrown in. It sounds like the kind of thing that Steve Albini would have gotten excited about in the early ‘90s. You know, I actually think I kinda like it.
A: Do you want the CD when we’re done?
R: Sure. I think this would really piss my girlfriend off.
KIDS AT RISK – Sugar (Danimals Remix)
(Positive Feedback)
A: The only information the press release gives about Danimals is that he’s Facebook friends with Mark Ronson.
R: Fuck me, I’m sure Mark Ronson is very discriminating about who he’s Facebook friends with.
A: The track itself is pleasant-enough glitch-hop.
R: They’ve got that weird distortion on the right channel so it doesn’t sound like something off chill-out compilation, but it’s still very low-key. It’s hard to know what Mark Ronson’s Facebook friend Danimals has done to it without hearing the original, though.
|
| Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged. |
|
Be first to comment on this article
