lightspeed champion, THE wombats and more - singles for THE week beginning jan 14!

EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS / SINGLE SEDATIVE (ISLAND) There are few reasons to buy singles these days, but Pennsylvania’s Eastern Conference Champions have given us a new one: this dual disc is vinyl on one side and CD on the other. Yes, it’s aesthetically pleasing - but the band prove that they’ve got the substance to match the style with quirky vocals and tasty indie-rock melodies. THE WOMBATS / MOVING TO NEW YORK (KIDS) The faintly irritating ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ may have brought them to the public’s attention, but this single will be the making of The Wombats. This time the band have crafted a solid song with anthemic qualities, and having now demonstrated their true potential, we should batten down the hatches and prepare ourselves for the year of the Wombat… SUPERGRASS / DIAMOND HOO HA MAN (PARLOPHONE) This Oxford trio have evidently fallen out of the funky tree and hit every branch on the way down. ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’ is reminiscent of the Supergrass of old, with dirty guitars and catchy melodies aplenty. It’s a welcome return to form following the somewhat subdued ‘Road to Rouen’ - and proves that there’s still life in the old dog yet. DAWN LANDES / BODYGUARD (OCEAN MUSIC) No! Wait! Come back! This may be titled ‘Bodyguard,’ but it’s no Whitney Huston-esque warble. Good thing too, as it would completely ruin this sexy, hip-swaying offering from New York’s Dawn Landes. Inevitable comparisons with Feist lurk just round the corner, but anyone who can make a banjo sound sexy deserves to be a star. HELLO WEMBLEY / UP GREAT BRITAIN (VELOCITY) Hello Wembley would be best described as a bargain basement version of the Sex Pistols. Frontman Alex Waring has perfected Johnny Rotten’s disinterested vocal sneer, but his attempts to bait modern society fall at the first hurdle. It’s the sort of song which screams ‘Look at me! I’m controversial!’ when the reality is that there’s nothing new or meaningful here. RADIOHEAD / JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE (XL RECORDINGS) Industry bods have long since run out of superlatives to describe Radiohead, and this is simply the latest gold block in the band’s already bulging vault. Whilst some of us miss the days of ‘My Iron Lung,’ there’s little doubt that ‘Jigsaw…’ has the makings of a modern Radiohead classic. CLIENT / LIGHTS GO OUT (TOAST HAWAII) Electro-pop has seen something of a revival recently. Client has very much been a part of this, combining their synthesizer charms with the like of Tim Burgess and Carl Barat along the way. ‘Lights Go Out’ is a reasonable effort and it shows promise – but it falls down by trying to imitate Goldfrapp without threatening to be quite as good. NOAH AND THE WHALE / 2 BODIES 1 HEART (YOUNG AND LOST CLUB RECORDS) Have you ever listened to a band and thought “I must be missing something”? This ambles along without doing anything spectacular, and while it may have the ‘aaah’ factor that’s sure to melt the heart of even the hardest individual, you have to wonder how long a band can rely on this before they start sending people to sleep.