hot chip, THE duke spirit, operahouse and more - singles for THE week beginning january 28!

OPERAHOUSE / BORN A BOY (MARRAKESH) There’s a certain quirky charm to Operahouse. This debut single plays like a more filled-out Libertines song, only without the lingering fear that it’s the product of a vicious crack addiction. It’s guitar riffs are so jagged you could cut yourself on them, and they blend with a vocal yelp unheard of since the Hyenas last escaped London Zoo. Expect to hear a lot more of them over the coming year. ONE NIGHT ONLY / JUST FOR TONIGHT (VERTIGO) An alarming trend is developing whereby people think it’s a great idea to mimic Scouting for Girls. I’m going to personally start beating these people over the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, like the naughty dogs they are. ‘Just For Tonight’ attempts to fool the listener with a Joy Division-esque keyboard opening, but the flimsy verse and even flimsier chorus quickly highlight the fact that this is, quite frankly, a fucking awful song. BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE / SCREAM, AIM, FIRE (VISIBLE NOISE) Ok, so there’s an absence of heavy metal bands these days, but has anyone thought of telling Bullet For My Valentine that there might just be a reason for this? To their credit they’re probably one of the better Metal bands at the moment, but there’s still something about ‘Scream, Aim, Fire’ that makes it sound like a sub-standard Metallica cover from their Ride The Lightning era. LAURA MARLING / GHOSTS (VIRGIN) Laura Marling looks set to join Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit at the forefront of the brit-folk revival. There’s an incredibly sweet and endearing quality about ‘Ghosts,’ with Marling’s innocent vocal disguising the slightly depressing subject matter. The middle 8 seems a little off-canter, though it eventually feeds into an up-tempo final chorus which rounds it all off nicely.