New Releases - 3 Nov

New Releases - 3 Nov

30 October, 2008
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week*

The Decemberists – Days of Elaine
Capitol Records

You have to love The Decemberists, they are like a combination of a Wes Anderson and a social history lecture – all their songs have this amazing ability to float you off into worlds of Victorian gin palaces where people get swallowed by whales.

Days of Elaine is a pretty straight up indie rock song by their standards, combining a wistful story of alcoholism and wasted youth with a great ear for a pop hook.
DH


Shaggy ft Akon – What's Love
VP Records

I don't know why but anytime I hear a Shaggy track I immediately want to burst out laughing.  Sure enough the first few lines are enough to trigger a hearty chortle as Shaggy tells his soon to be ex-girlfriend: 'I can't take this/I want to be having models and fake boobs' . 

This is nowhere near as catchy as the equally amusing 'It Wasn't Me' and Akon chipping in with his Tina Turner impression doesn't improve things. Chasing skirt was clearly a distraction in the recording studio.
EM


Kanye West – Love Lockdown
Universal

You know they say absolute fame corrupts one's sanity absolutely, or something like that. Every great truly global artist follows a trajectory, however: early days of wholesome goodness; the brilliant, galactically big-budget concept phase; finally the descent into grandiose madness.

Kanye is currently having his 'Thriller' period and this track is an innovative, exciting piece of stripped-down pop song with a haunting, reverberating bass-line, tribal drums and Kanye singing instead of rapping – he carries it off just fine.
RH/JH


Leona Lewis – Forgive Me
Sony BMG

Christmas is round the corner, and as in time-honoured tradition all those people who're on the TV go around and make songs that form the soundtrack to frantically shopping for your dad's present in Woolworths.

As far as pop goes Leona Lewis's 'Forgive Me' isn't that bad per se, but it has nothing really that good about it either. The chorus is loud, the verse is forgettable – it's a little bit 80s mall pop and a little bit RnB. The whole thing makes me go 'Meh'.
DH


VV Brown – Crying Blood
Island Records

The jaunty VV Brown doesn't look or sound all that upset in the Crying Blood video. In fact, she looks positively jubilant. It's the debut single from new London pop mistress and has a bit of a '50s twang and some ridiculous dance routines that are so cheesy they end up being good.

Hearing a girl singing in her razor-edged voice 'I'm crying tears from my eyes that I can't deny' but sounding and looking like she's having the time of her life is pretty refreshing and probably, for the supposedly heart-broken song-writer, cathartic.
LC


Scooter  vs Status Quo – Jump That Rock
Sheffield Tunes

This brainless jumpstyle remix of The Quo's 'Whatever You Want' is the worst piece of music I've listened to all the way through. If you like it, why not set it as your mobile ringtone? Then throw yourself off a tall building.

I suppose it makes sense for Scooter (over 20 million records sold, God help us) and the Quo (over 60 chart hits) to team up, but the result transcends awfulness. Masochists, get clicking!
JH


Fightstar – The English Way
Search & Destroy

Well, this is quite a boring song. The lyrics are that classic combination of nonsense and sincerity that characterises this kind of mumbly emo-rock. No wonder they're so depressed all the time, if this is all they can listen too.

'This is the English way to make a soul fit back together' Charlie bawls. What is, Simpson jr? Whining about your troubles? How about a good game of rugger against the old foe, cold shower, then a little chapel sing-song? Did they teach you nothing at Uppingham?
TJ


Sneaky Sound System – UFO
14th Floor Records

Sneaky Sound System are another hit electro outfit from Oz (bass player Jonathan Sloan produced last week's stand-out track 'Walking on A Dream') and they seem to be using a winning formula. 

Having won 'Best Breakthrough Album' and 'Best Dance Release of The Year' in 2007, new track UFO is getting a lot of airplay over here already.  Fun, catchy and a little bit cheesy, you can imagine girls in Pacha grabbing their handbags and charging onto the dancefloor for this one.
EM


Stereophonics – You're My Star
V2 Records

Nothing new here people, an instantly forgettable song with a fittingly mundane video. And the more you listen to it, your initial indifference becomes irritation, followed quickly by full-blown detest.

The sentiment – an age old message telling a girl that she's the one – is belied by the dreary quality Kelly has managed to inject with his nasal whinging. They must be getting complacent. These guys used to be good.
LC


Miley Cyrus – 7 Things
Hollywood

Miley Cyrus has the kind of face that makes you want to smash it to tiny little pieces. And appropriately she has the voice and songs to match. '7 things' is kind of Avril-lite, if that's even possible. Relentlessly upbeat and packed full of faux-teen ''tude' this is so aggravating it makes me want to cry.

And the seven things I hate most about Miley Cyrus? Smugness, lack of talent, self-obsession... in fact I can't even think of seven, so three will have to do. If she was in the Burn Book, her entry would be 'grotsky little byotch'.
TJ

Music Team