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 SINGLE OF THE WEEK
MADELEINE PAIGE – Angels In The Architecture EP
(Independent)
Is it just because I currently regard Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al as the most fun song ever conceived, or is it her beautifully comforting voice? Either way, the debut EP from Brisbane musician Madeleine Page, the name of which is a quote from Simon’s Graceland tune, offers far more sweet and intelligent listening endurance than many others who claim to combine the arts of singing and songwriting. To say Paige’s songs let us in to her own world is a bit of a cliché, but quietly impassioned tracks like Not New But True and Remember? will allow you to sink into a less world weary or cynical mindset. Other self-aware songwriting – Is it her body, or is it her hair? Or is it that she just doesn’t care? No, I think it’s her hair – also raises a silly giggle that Neil Finn at his adorable Woodface wackiest may envy. As far as simple yet dazzling acoustic pop songs go, Angels In The Architecture is the most unexpected collection in some time. I think it’s her voice.
 PENDULUM – Propane Nightmares
(Warner)
Cursory internet research clears up a point that has been bugging me since the emergence of this Western Australian drum & bass group. Pendulum only formed in the early part of this decade, with their debut album Hold Your Colour attracting reasonable attention upon release in 2005, especially in the UK. They have since released a few works of note, including a charting remix of The Prodigy’s Voodoo People, and are soon to release their second album In Silico. The drum & bass as featured on this track is indeed pretty darn bangin’, courtesy primarily of the relentlessly headfucking live drums, and perhaps expectedly, the bass, giving the entire production a feeling of a Shirley Bassey ‘70s vibe. But bangin’er. In fact, the kinetic energy captured in this track alone points towards Pendulum joining the never-been-higher ranks of Australian dance like The Presets, Cut Copy, Pnau and Midnight Juggernauts in making non-dance focused people pay attention. The group is not, and I repeat in capitals for additional emphasis, NOT, the same Melbourne ‘ambient-house’ group called Pendulum who had a hit with the creeping, lurching Coma in 1997 then disappeared. That’s been bugging me for some time. Thanks Wikipedia.
 THE SLOW BEINGS – I Waste The Sea
(Hidden Shoal Recordings)
With a debt to the softly intense sound of Nirvana’s Unplugged record – and who thought a forcefully creative band would ever owe anything to MTV – Perth’s The Slow Beings reveal to us their interesting debut single. I Waste The Sea is an uneasy collection of styles and moods: some straight dystopian rock, some joyous avant garde, and some arty for arts sake artrock, played just a little out of time to show how arty it is. Giving the impression of a more shambolic noise-pop project than it really is, as the first taste from forthcoming album We Know Why The Earth Moves, I Waste The Sea is a potentially effective taster, different enough to most everything else on the edgy side of radio, but without building to a true climax, possibly easy to overlook.
 THE E.L.F. – Stevie Nicks Hearts EP
(Oaks Records / MGM)
To say something sounds like Gerling is about as useful as calling an ice cream flavour Bubblegum. What flavour bubblegum, fool? So it is with this EP from The E.L.F., or to those of us who don’t use mystical electro names, Darren Cross, funnily enough from Gerling. Released earlier this year but still available, Stevie Nicks Hearts is a collection of five songs that could come from various points throughout Cross’s other band’s career, all electronic based and mostly suitable for repeated listens. The title track is a titter-worthy recount of feeling like a variety of battered ‘70s and ‘80s rock stars from the same sonic laboratory as the way-back Enter Space Capsule. Cockroaches is less specific in its sound origin but with guiltily fun dance beats, Spike Milligan-ish silly lyrics and Cross’s unmistakeable couldn’t-be-arsed-getting-off-the-couch vocals, its origins are well and truly betrayed. Through the female-voiced beats of Billie and Takemeback’s tripping over disco, the constant likenesses to Cross’s other group is not a blight on his talents – merely a sign that he’s found his true eclectic musical voice, and the name on the record sleeve isn’t going to make him change it. Well worth a listen.
 MADONNA feat. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & TIMBALAND – 4 Minutes
(Warner)
The lead single from a new Madonna album is always a worldwide event and global #1 hit, so given that this first taste of Hard Candy follows those rules, let’s not harp on that. Instead, let’s look at what sets this single apart from the rest of her work. Immediately what’s apparent is she’s sharing the credit with two of the biggest names in pop. When was the last time Madonna shared the billing on one of her own hits (therefore not counting her contribution to Britney’s album)? Never. Not even when Lenny Kravitz co-wrote and got all dirty in Justify My Love. So that’s something new there. The other thing she’s tried for the first time – and this will give you an idea of what 4 Minutes sounds like – is instead of using that eye for the best coattails to ride by spotting an upcoming musical trend or DJ to hang her work from, as she’s famous for, Madonna’s used, well, two of the biggest names in pop. In JT she’s done well. Guaranteed headlines, guaranteed ears from the younger set, and a bit of credibility. Plus, he sounds great. Timbaland’s where this great plan falls apart. Given that the roly poly producer has spent the last decade flooding the radio with not just his own brandname work, but production on acts like Nelly Furtado, Pussycat Dolls, Fatman Scoop and 50 Cent, using his skillz is entirely the opposite of what Madonna is known for. Ditched the proactive and gone the reactive. As a result, you may very well have already heard 4 Minutes (and I haven’t yet worked out exactly why they’ve only got 4 minutes to save the world) and ignored it with the rest of commercial radio’s repeat workday dross.
SIMON TOPPER
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