New Releases - 12th January

New Releases - 12th January

07 January, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the week*
The Hundred In The Hands – Dressed in Dresden/Undressed In Dresden 
Pure Groove Records
With a name like this you almost know it's going to be a good tune. Hundred in Hands have released two versions of the same song 'Dressed' and 'Undressed in Dresden'. One dance, one chill-out.

As tub-thumping as its wilder sibling is, I prefer the stripped-down version. It's slower, dubbier and the vocals are more ghostly but the handclaps and brass fanfares keep it peppy enough to have a sexy groove to, in an end-of-the-night, make-up all down your face, kind of mashed, way. EM

Ratatat – Shempi
XL
After enduring a year of italo-influenced neon fluff, I've been starting to think electronica has been missing an air of mystery recently. So it bodes well for 2009 if we're kicking off with enigmatic pieces of sound-architecture like this.

For despite sounding a little like a Madonna backing track, 'Shempi' is a bit of a rabbit hole of a song. Starting out innocuously enough, this song suddenly rises up and drags you into a weird, twisted fairground inhabited by mutated carnies throwing knives at each other. DH

Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind
Fascination Records
Anybody who thinks Girls Aloud are dense should think again. What words do they use in this new single to rhyme with kind? Well, mind, obviously, and find and behind, but also – get this – disinclined. Pretty darned smart huh?

Not that any of this really matters, because The Loving Kind is totally brilliant. It combines shifting dance beats with vocals of icy melancholy: not dissimilar then to Saint Etienne, or the Pet Shop Boys (hardly surprising, as it's co-written by Neil Tennant). TJ

Kid Cudi vs Crookers – Day 'N' Nite
DATA
The interesting thing about this track is the leaked video. Kid Cudi features as a goofy MC working the night shift in a 24hour garage who receives an awful lot of young women customers - all of whom seem intent on getting their kit off and giving it some to fidget house of the Crookers.

Cudi is incensed about the illegal release of this video – which he deems unfinished. 'I'd b wrong to start punchin' muthafuckas in the jawbone – but dats how I feel rite now' says Cudi. Check it out. It rocks. LC

White Lies – To Lose My Life
Polydor
A  good band, even better live, White Lies sound a bit Killers thanks to Harry McVeigh's voice. This track also highlights their love of Joy Division's driving rhythms and haunted tone. Anthemic passages draw inevitable, accurate comparisons with A Ha and Duran Duran.

So, they sound like a collage of great bands. Much better than being lame, and originality comes through in melodic glimmers, drum tricks and lyrics. White Lies remind us of everything great and should be huge in '09.  JH

Lady GaGa – Just Dance
Interscope Records
Tipped by numerous publications as 'one to watch for 2009' and set to unseat that fucking 'Hallelujah' piece of crap from no.1 in the singles charts, it is with great sadness I have to inform you that Lady GaGa is in fact rooooowbish. 

This music blends straight into the background of the shit sandwich of hip hop, electro and pop dirge that is currently holding our radiowaves captive. Akon, Rihanna and Kevin Rudolph you know who you are. Hip-hop+electro=bad sounds. EM


The Game feat. Ne-Yo – Camera Phone
Geffen
A sort-of self-parodying song which pokes fun at the public personas of The Game and Ne-Yo in a clever way, this essentially reduces 'thug culture' to women and money. Some people might construe a chorus built on the idea of taking a phone picture as kind of a cheap dig, but, y'know, whatever.

Musically this song strikes a balance between chilled and charged. The skittering beat and heavy bass will rock car stereos and dancefloors alike, and the distorted choral sample links Ne-Yo's soft vocal arches to The Game's slick Compton drawl nicely. LS

Public Domain – Operation Blade 2009
Xtrahard
Remember Public Domain? This formulaic trance remix will be applauded by time-warpers still living on drugs and throwback club anthems. However there are redeeming features.

'Operation Blade' features white person call and response: hilarity ensues as the crowd weakly show appreciation with half-hearted, wholly addled moans. Also the video is an inspired portrayal of a 2ci club experience: 'I'm smiling and dancing but only because I'm trapped, tripping and freaking out, and this music is at least loud'. JH

Noisia – Stigma
Vision Recordings.
More growling techy madness from the noisiest trio in DnB. Stigma has a minute and a half build up before it breaks into such siren mayhem you could be under Bow flyover on a particularly fruitful Saturday night.

The build-up is apocalyptic but slightly unfounded. The break is even more furious and insane than usual, but really, it ain't nothing new. Like with most of their tunes, you have to dance to the half-beat unless you're on speed. Where you going from here Noisia? LC

I Heart Hiroshima - Punks
Valve Records/MGM 
Listening to bands without a bass player is like eating a vegetarian meal; it might be tasty but you're going to miss the meat at some point. Similarly won't an indie band without a bass player be lacking that certain something? Not so with 'I Heart Hiroshima' and their single 'Punks'.

The song stomps along nicely with the lyrics, which are half sung/half shouted by the Aussie trio, working well against the intertwining guitar riffs. Take a listen now and lets all heart Hiroshima. GS


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Music Team