Songs to rock, shock and take Nurofen to
Subtle - Unlikely Rock Shock (Lex)
Discovering that your office has been replaced by a sculpture of Robert Plant, made entirely out of Heinz spaghetti hoop cans. Watching a reality TV show about your Grandma going through surgery to look more like Gene Simmons from Kiss. Enjoying a Raconteurs gig. All prime examples of unlikely rock shocks in our world. Compared with such things, this track is low down on the rock-shock richter-scale but high up on our list of the week's decent singles. Out on Lex, home to hip-hop and electronica of a brainiac bent, this starts out like Blur's Song 2, adds some wobble-board, throws in some gloomy synth purrs and finishes it off with rapping by the guy who did the spooky voice in Thriller. It's definitely him. Ok, it's possibly him.
Listen to Unlikely Rock Shock here
White Denim - All You Really Have to Do
Forty or so years ago, MC5 caused a ruckus with their manifesto of "rock'n'roll, dope and fucking in the street". It's good to know that manifestos are still hip with the rock'n'roll set in 2008, although we're not sure if "sounding exactly like the MC5's first album, as if hardcore, hip-hop and techno never happened" has quite the same ring to it. Especially when the Texan hipsters make blues rock so anaemic you expect them to add to their ethos: "... and without the dope either, because new strains of skunk can damage your brain and, oh, if you insist on doing that in the streets then please remember to use a condom."
Listen to All You Really Have To Do here
MGMT - Electric Feel
A friend recently told me that MGMT were "about as psychedelic as Nurofen". Which was funny. What he didn't know, though, was that the staff at Guardian/Music regularly get blasted on mild pain relief tablets and end up babbling on about purple cattle being herded through our inner psyche. We're lightweights, I guess. Besides, it's missing the point, which is that MGMT make rather fabulous pop music, regardless of their freaky credentials. This one sounds like Beck when he was trying to be Prince, all funky bass, falsetto and far-out synth noises. Plus, they have an interactive video so trippy it makes Nurofen seem like, oooh, Beechams Flu Plus.
Watch Electric Feel here
Jamie Lidell - Another Day (Warp)
We last saw Jamie Lidell crawling into a sleeping bag and pretending to fall asleep on Nokia Green Room because he was, like, mad eccentric and way too cool to speak to people like Alphabeat and the Subways (although not, sadly, too cool to appear on a mobile-phone-endorsed music show). It's amazing what being signed to Warp lets you get away with. Because while the music press salivates over this guy like he's some kind of forward-thinking electro-soul genre hopper, this pastiche pop is about as avant garde as Motown Gold: Songs Everyone Already Owns And Only Gets Out When Asked To DJ At Weddings Volume 1. It's fine, but more credible than Duffy, Adele and the like? Consider this a warning, Lidell: you're only a bad hat away from becoming Jay Kay.
Watch Another Day here
The Rascals - Freakbeat Phantom (Deltasonic)
That Alex Turner's must think he's the luckiest guy in pop right now: cadging cred of the Rascals' Miles Kane and using it to fuel his own band's success. How else would you explain the public's bizarre acceptance of tracks like Fluorescent Adolescent? Oh, hand on a sec...
Watch Freakbeat Phantom here
MySpace of the week - Ponytail
Everything's good in Baltimore right now. It's got the best TV shows (The Wire), the best music scene (Wham City), the best rappers (Rye Rye) and now, thanks to Ponytail, the best Day-Glo avant-punk band. Ponytail remind me of Deerhoof and make use of African vocal techniques, filthy guitar riffs and high-pitched shrieking. They are further proof that Baltimore is the place to move to right now. What's that you say? It's got a higher death rate than Iraq? You're just being picky.
Visit Ponytail's MySpace here
See Also
posted by adamargitwagner @ 20:04
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