Hot Chip, The Duke Spirit, Operahouse and more

Label:

various indie zwimdies

Release date:

Mon, 2008/01/28

Rory Carroll returns to bring us this countdown of the week’s singles, which include cackling Hyenas, ghostly “ooohs” and the demonic revenge of heavy metal. Will he survive? Will you survive? There’s only one way to find out…

this is, quite frankly, a fucking awful song...

SINGLE OF THE WEEK: HOT CHIP / READY FOR THE FLOOR (EMI)

If you can forget the fact that this quintet look like nerdy Microsoft employees who are capable of actual world domination, you might just be able to get on board with Hot Chip. ‘Ready For The Floor’ is about as camp as they come and sounds pleasingly like the analogue backing music from 1980s Amiga games. Possibly the best thing the band has released thus far.

THE DUKE SPIRIT / STEP AND THE WALK (LOOG)

There’s something haunting about this track that extends beyond the ghostly “ooooh’s” that pepper the background. ‘Step and the Walk’ has a definite 60s feel too it, though it’s muddled beneath an incredibly dark melody and almost angelic vocal. A curious beast to be sure, but one that you’d quite happily invite home for a cuppa.

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.

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JOHNNY FLYNN Reviews

Singles for the week beginning January 28!