frank musik, pigeon detectives, sfa & more! - singles for week beginning august 13th

GHOST FREQUENCY / NIGHTMARE (BUDDHIST PUNK) Crikey! We’ve all been there. You lurch out of bed in the dead of night, sweat dripping off your forehead as you confront the faceless horror you thought you saw. See, your mum was right - you shouldn’t eat cheese before bed time. Fortunately, you could consume all the Brie in France and this track’s saucy electro swagger wouldn’t give you nightmares. And if that wasn’t enough, Doran’s vocals are scarily close to a certain Mr Robert Smith. THE PIGEON DETECTIVES / TAKE HER BACK (DANCE TO THE RADIO) Quel surprise. Another northern band, another song about going home with the wrong girl and throwing up the chips, cheese and gravy that seemed like such a good idea the night before. Problem is that despite their best efforts ‘Take Her Back’ ends up sounding like the product of a wet dream about the Arctic Monkeys. Oh, and there’s a guitar solo that sounds mysteriously like the one in ‘Last Night’ by The Strokes, just for good measure. SUPER FURRY ANIMALS / SHOW YOUR HAND (ROUGH TRADE) SFA front man Gruff Rhys has clearly found the warm fuzzy centre of the universe and is more than content to remain there (I thought I had found it once, but it turned out to be a squirrel… anyway). Following on from where Rhys’ solo effort ‘Candylion’ left off, ‘Show Your Hand’ is a perfectly crafted acoustic pop masterpiece that’s sure to be accompanied by an equally cutesy video. In some ways it’s the Super Furries by numbers – but hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE / PEACEBONE (FATCAT) I don’t know what a ‘peacebone’ is, but it sounds a bit sexy. Maybe Lennon was right. Maybe we can solve all the world’s ills by simply hopping into bed with one another. Promiscuity! Hurrah! That said, this group have found a peacebone in a dinosaur and I’m not into dinosaur-lovin’ – I hear they bite. ‘Peacebone’ is a quirky, synth-laced jaunt through some fascinating and entirely confusing territory. If you can imagine the Polyphonic Spree on acid you’re probably somewhere close to what Animal Collective sound like.