Spoonfed's resident musos get pernickety over the decimal point with this week's Singles of the Week
Gil Scott-Heron – Me and the Devil
XL
Remember when you heard Johnny Cash cover 'Hurt'? How it felt like an epitaph. Well this has that same vibe. Gone is the smooth soul voice of 'The Bottle' fame; here instead is a true blues voice, cracked and stained by a lifetime of hard living.
Having admitted to being HIV positive, and looking increasingly wan these days, this, and the album it comes off – 'I'm New Here' – could well be a swansong from one of the world's most important artists. Essential listening. 5/5
TO
Washed Out/Small Black – Split
Love Pump Records
This split release sees two acts – at the forefront of the post-No Age psychedelic, atmospheric explosion – strut their proverbial stuff by remixing each other’s songs. This is a kind of hors d’oeuvre for a summer of dreamy sounding indie – set to crash over these shores like a tsunami.
Whilst Brooklyn’s Small Black give a good take of 'You’ll See It', it is Washed Out’s remix of ‘Despicable Dogs’ that steals the show. Sounding like an arpeggiated dance song and a strangely mournful drug-hazed vision of Venice Beach at the same time: it’s absolutely stunning. 4.8/5
DH
Phoenix – 1901
V2 Records
There's something of a deep sea vibe about '1901'. It's as if the whole thing was recorded underwater, the pinging sonar sounds a little akin to something out of Das Boot. It's somehow still joyful though: instead of yet another torpedo, the crew seem to have located Ringo Starr's little hideaway beneath the waves.
And, knowing Phoenix, I'm pretty certain that they too might “like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade”. I mean, who wouldn't? 4/5
TJ
Swanton Bombs – Viktoria
Quiff
Moody. Drawled, laboured vocals. Heavy riffs and ferocious drumming. I mean, what's not to like in this latest offering from indie/punk duo, Swanton Bombs? We forgive the rather brittle, at times crassly rhymed lyrics – "Oooh your name/ sounds like a hurricane" – because they're fun and undeniably catchy.
It’s semi-angsty goodness, with a nice dose of rowdy riffs and aggression channelled into toe-tappingly good, energetic indie-punk. And all of this combined with a faint hint of Britpop swagger. Love it. Bet they would be great live. 3.75/5
LR
Marina and the Diamonds – Hollywood
679
She is Marina; we are the diamonds. And from the beginning of 'Hollywood' – all the way through – you are enticed to listen on. As soon as it had finished I was a fan.
This is mainly because of the unique way her voice adapts to each part of the song so that it feels like you're listening to a story. Like the ones you heard in school, emphatically narrated by the over-zealous teacher...but in a good way. 3.5/5
AG
Miike Snow – Silva
Sony
A lot is expected of Miike Snow. In a previous guise, two members were responsible for one of the most perfect pop songs this century. Yes. Britney’s ‘Toxic’. As a three-piece they seem to forgo that out-and-out ecstatic-poptastic moment in favour of more melodious piano-driven pop.
It somehow manages to be at once unobtrusively nice and darkly anthemic; an extremely difficult balance to achieve successfully. 3/5
BG
Egyptian Hip Hop – Hazel Groove/Heavenly
Hit Club
Somewhat bafflingly, the leading cut from these much hyped Mancunian teenagers’ debut offering, ‘Hazel Groove’, seems to have vanished into some kind of journalist-baiting internet Bermuda Triangle. Not even the Hype Machine (guffaw) had it.
Attending double-A side ‘Heavenly’ was easier to track down, but regrettably turned out to be the sort of thing that the NME get terribly excited about but turns out not to be terribly exciting – driving plip-plop hip-hop beats and a weak approximation of Robert Smith’s vocals trailing an undulating keyboard line. So-so, so what? 2.45/5
JL
Field Music – Them That Do Nothing
Memphis Industries
The brothers Brewis always showed great promise on Field Music’s first two records. However it wasn’t until their solo sojourns – School of Language and The Week That Was- that they fully realised this potential.
‘Them That Do Nothing’ has all the zip and energy of early FM singles, yet despite the intervening experimental alter-egos, there is a real sense of regression here. If only they’d have stuck to being a MOR indie band, we wouldn’t have expected more from them. 2/5
MF
Nice Nice – See Waves
Warp Records
As evidenced by its nonsensical title, ‘See Waves’ features a four-minute episode of random experimentalism. Bursting with electronic, punk and rock influences, the US duo have created a unique, if slightly chaotic sound quality.
Opening on a dual assault of bouncy synths and tribal rhythms, this hallucinogenic head-trip unfolds alongside a Nintendo-esque whirlwind of electronica. However, the track's psychedelic novelty wears off after a minute or so, revealing a crude, repetitive structure which veers more toward sloppiness than groundbreaking originality. 2/5
FC
I Blame Coco – Caesar
Island Records
It sounds flippant to throw comparisons immediately, so my opening gambit is also just an aside, but Sting’s daughter – I Blame Coco (not christened) - sounds more like Sting than Sting does.
Caeser comes out with a 10 inch (pun slightly intended), so it’ll be through downloads and airplay that will presumably get this to its intended audience, and never out of your head. Just like that Robyn track (a label-mate who incidentally enough features on this release…you couldn’t make it up). 1.9/5
PW (Guest Ed.)
This week's Singles of the Week provided a great tussled debate in the Spoonfed office for the most deserving top spot occupier. It also gave our scoring system greater profundity through cynical decimal pointing. Continue the compellingly outdated interdominational argument on our Facebook Group. And look out next week as Dom promises to award his chosen single with a score of π/5, or 3.14159 for those of you who never studied maths.
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