Simian Mobile Disco do their damndest to offend PETA, Mr E takes a pop at London and girl-grunge is back (whether you like it or not).
Simian Mobile Disco - Sweetbread/Ortilan
Delicacies
SMD are in a dark place right now. Their latest album 'Delicacies' consists of tracks named after haute cuisine, most of which involve torture of animals. The first track "Sweetbread", consists of hardened beat structures and industrial elements to make good dark room techno. The track is suitable for vegetarians, the video however is not.
For the uncultured amongst you, Ortilan is a French delicacy, which involves sticking the songbird in a paper bag and drowning it in brandy, and is to be eaten whole. Ortilan the song is actually rather uplifting and melodic. To quote my colleague Tom sat next to me "tortured animals taste great". 4/5
C.W.
Phace & Noisia/Misanthrop - CCTV/Factory 5
Neosignal records
Crikey, that's a slap in the face on a Wednesday morning. I'm still a little bewildered by my first listen, let me try again... nope, I'm still left baffled. CCTV makes for uncomfortable listening, but in a good way. True to form from both these artists this is as glitchy and gritty as they come, but maintains the production values that are so often lost in this area of dnb.
For an even less subtle attack on your nerves, flip to the B-side. 3.5/5
L.G.
Eels - Baby Loves Me
E Works
Apparently the video, which features a tiny E in a toy town, is his way of saying "Thanks for making me feel bad by accusing me of being a terrorist in Hyde Park this June. I'll show you. I'll make your city look like a toy." Make of that what you will. And the music? Paranoid synths, rowdy guitars and a vocal that threatens to burst out and deck you one. Madness. “My baby loves me/Unlikely but true”. Need a hug? 3/5
L.M.
Pet Shop Boys - Together
Parlophone
I’ve never really understood the massive hype surrounding Pet Shop Boys. I’m sure the Brits Lifetime Achievement Award was deserved, and 'West End Girls' was a tune, but something about these pulsating New Romantics just doesn’t turn me on.
Almost overwhelming waves of synths here launch you into a thumping rhapsody of unity, that’s something like being sucked through one of those rubbery LED light cables. It’s perky. And probably very uplifting, if you’re an eastern-European rave-bunny. 3/5
A.H.
James Blake - Limit To Your Love
ATLAS 2010
James Blake is massively tipped to be massive by the media masses. I would suggest that this release is a good example of why they're wrong. Why cover a Feist song, she's better than you. This isn't bad, it's not bad at all, it's just not as clever as people are pretending it is. 3/5
T.O.
Alesha Dixon - Radio
Asylum Records
I like Alesha Dixon, because I love it when failed pop-stars make a comeback. For some reason I always get heavily invested in their struggle to survive in the fickle pop limelight. So I really want to like Alesha Dixon's music. And while her latest single is by no means horrendous, I've just listened to it twice there, and can't recall the melody. Mass-produced dance-floor filler, with some heartbreak lyrics and a sexy moody video to boot. Meh. 2/5
S.B.
Enter Shikari - Destabalise
Ambush Reality
About five seconds into the track there's some incomprehensible screaming, followed by some incomprehensible shouting, followed by endless repetition of the words "we don't belong here'. Too right you don't belong here! Get the hell away from my earphones! Unless you have some serious anger management issues and want some music to smash your furniture to, or you're out running and having someone shout at you motivates you, then there's really not much appeal in this song. 1.5/5
E.B.
Japanese Voyeurs – Milk Teeth
Polydor
So I don’t know if you’ve heard, but grunge is officially “back”. And as always, with the good comes the bad, and for me it doesn’t get much worse than Hole or L7.
Picking up where they left off are London-based four piece Japanese Voyeurs, with their new single ‘Milk Teeth’. Front woman Romily Alice takes the time-honoured angsty-little-girl-gone-bad thing to the extreme, and her sugary quiet bit vocals grate way before she gets a chance to let rip. Horrid. 1/5
S.J.
While you've got a minute, join the Facebook Group.
Add an event
Scoping Out London’s Coolest Historic Bingo Halls
London’s bingo halls were once a bustling part of many of the city’s communities, but as...