New Releases - 5 October

New Releases - 5 October

30 September, 2009
by: Music Team

*Single of the Week*
Alice Russell – I Got Hunger (DJ Vadim remix)
Six Degrees

I could listen to Alice Russell sing all day. She is one of the great contemporary soul singers – conjuring the sass and depth of Etta and Aretha and fusing it perfectly with nu jazz and alt hip hop, as displayed here in her latest collaboration with Ninja Tune’s DJ Vadim.

Vadim's seductive bass beefs things up nicely and makes this soul tune even more seductively groovable. It recalls Jill Scott too. Love it. 4/5
LC

The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing
Moshi Moshi

With a title like 'Let's Go Surfing', it would be difficult for The Drums not to rely heavily on Beach Boys-esque reminiscing about catching the best waves or wishing they were old enough to score girls. Yet they balance out this American diner nostalgia with a few Joy Division bass lines and Animal Collective echoing vocals, merging together influences from all over the shop.

With harmless lyrics, jaunty pop hooks and a bit of charm, this really is quite a catchy little number. 4/5
GM


Gracious K – Migraine Skank
RCA

Does it really matter what I say about this addictive grime track? It's going to be huge anyway. Not only does it comes with its own Simian-style dance moves, but I've already heard its bass line booming out of souped-up Nissan Micras in the armpits of South London - which surely means it's bound for radio overkill.

Never mind that it has the lyrical sophistication of a Dan Brown novel, I'm sure the only words Gracious K's hearing in his head are 'ka-ching!' A guilty pleasure indeed. 4/5
SL


Chrome Spiders – Black Butterfly
Cargo Records

Guitar riffs distort over a hi-hat and a few bars later the drums kick in. It's an intro that instantly categorises the Chrome Spiders under 'unpolished garage rock that probably sounds crap live but makes for a riotous spectacle'.

Naturally, the Michigan group's frontman has the whole raspy I've-spent-the-night-boozing-in-the-tour-bus thing going on, with requisite yelps and screams. 'Let's go and tear the town up', he proposes - a rather inviting cliché. 3.5/5
NH


Whitney Houston – Million Dollar Bill
RCA Records

When so much mainstream music is tinny and sycophantic to the latest fad, it's refreshing to hear an uncompromising pop song.

'Million Dollar Bill' has an old school RnB quality, sampling the progressive 'Pusherman'-like bass line from Loleatta Holloway's 'We're Getting Stronger', whilst retaining the Disney ballad, fairy-dusted production of Whitney's 90s hits.

Her honey-dipped American soul sound is both classic and refreshing in radio playlists dominated by electro-pop. 3.5/5
RC


Elliot Minor – Electric High
Repossession Records

'Electric High' is inoffensive and catchy. I like it. But it reminds me of a little known band called Halo who made one album and then disappeared off of the face of the earth.

I imagine Elliot Minor will soon follow in their footsteps and won't be remembered until someone's asked to review a catchy but uninspired song by some other band in several years time and thinks, 'Now, this sounds familiar…' 3/5
SL


Lemon D – Dead By Dawn
Valve Records

A painfully grimy little number from the guys who deliberately invented Valve Sound System to accommodate tunes as downright dirty as this.

With dark alien distortion, it’s the sort of tune that doesn’t just get you raving, but makes you stumble about, bumping into people in a drink and drug fuelled stupor. As all decorum and grace vanishes, you thrash about like an epileptic who shouldn’t really have been let into the club. You probably will be dead by dawn. 2/5
SG


Chipmunk – Oopsy Daisy
Columbia Records

The title of this track seems very unlikely for a grime artist. I can't really imagine the Chipster using the phrase: 'Yeah alwight blood? Tourin' and studyin's hard ye get meh? I just got me A-level results and I got free dees. I fought to meself 'Oopsy Daisy!'

Anyhoo, this tune sees Chippy straying from his underground grime roots and heading towards bland, chart-friendly RnB. He might lose a few fans in the process, but hey, those Swarovski sunglasses don’t pay for themselves. 1.5/5
EM


The Saturdays – Forever is Over
Polydor

If, as somebody once said, the eyes are the window to the soul, then pity the poor Saturdays, whose chances of any kind of afterlife are slimmer than their shiningly prominent pins. Maybe that explains the title of this track – the lasses and their management have suddenly realised that immortality is simply never going to happen.

The annoying thing is I normally love this kind of stuff – pretty girls singing glossy pop pap. Oh well, at least Girls Aloud are still utterly marvellous. 1/5
TJ


Robbie Williams – Bodies
Virgin

Confession: I've not been keeping up-to-date on Robbie Williams' endeavours. 'Bodies' leaves me feeling not so guilty about this, given its holy rock-and-roll guitar introduction, or its God-awful lyrical content.

Robbie's attempt at singing is weak, lacking any whiff of a climactic moment, but then this is entirely understandable when singing the atrociously penned lyrics 'All we’ve ever wanted / Is to look good naked'. My thoughts? Get back with Take That and mutually drown each other out. It's your best option, Robbie. 0/5
DR


Poor Tom, that can't have been easy! Slating The Saturdays must've been like kicking his granny in the dentures. Perhaps he's just a little bitter about being back in the office after sunning himself in Oz for the last three weeks...

If you are one of the many people that will undoubtedly go and buy the single despite it being a load of tosh, let Tom have it by leaving a comment below or on our Facebook Group.

Music Team