New Releases (or, How we learned to stop worrying and love the Ting Tings)

New Releases (or, How we learned to stop worrying and love the Ting Tings)

17 December, 2008
by: Music Team

We're nothing if not self-congratulatory here at Spoonfed. So when we realised that there was virtually no new music being released this week, we thought we would prepare a little treat for you, our lucky readers. Below then are the best singles reviews of the year, as written by us, as voted for by us. Some are funny, some are touching, and some are just a bit rude. But they're all bloody super, as we're sure you'll agree.

The Ting Tings – Shut Up And Let Me Go
Columbia

I was browsing in a rural Catalonian supermarket recently when a dreary sound came spewing forth from the tinny Franco-era speakers. Though the dirge was barely audible among the angry Latinos shouting at their fat children, the sound was unmistakeable – The Ting Tings had gone international.

You'll know this song already from the iTunes ad. The guitar hook – mercilessly pilfered from Chic – is the only good bit and Katie White's vocals (lustful indie boys beware – she's nearly 40) make me want to stuff my ears with Blu-Tac. If you buy this, you are part of the problem. MF 4th Aug


Kelli Ali – What To Do/One Day At A Time
One Little Indian

What a pleasant surprise – a lovely double A side from the Brummie lass out of the Sneaker Pimps. There are trip hop influences in the complex soundscaping – but the medium is dreamy guitar folk. And it's not shit – it's bloody good.

Mark Richter's subtle pipe-sprinkled production complements guitar melodies and a sustained, captivating voice. This is like a haunting, modern version of the lullaby sung by naked Britt Eckland as she thumps on the virgin's wall in The Wicker Man. Horny! JH 10th Nov

The Dodos – Fools
Wichita

When I was a kid I once ate so much cucumber that I was violently ill, and I can't eat cucumbers anymore. I only say this because I'm starting to feel the same way about the whole twee indie-folk thing.

The Dodos latest single 'Fools' sounds like pretty much every other indie-folk record released since 2003, in that is has some cutesy lyrics and Adam and the Ants-style drumming. Pass the bucket dude; I can feel that Peter Bjorn and John record coming up… DH 15th Sept

Flo-Rida & Will.I.Am – In The Ayer
Atlantic

Why can't Will.I.Am and Flo Rida just use proper words? If you can't find something to rhyme with CD player don't just change the spelling of air so it fits in. Ayer is not even a real word, unless you're Spanish.

They could have used naysayer. Or purveyor. Or ozone layer. All perfectly cool hip hop stuff. But you can't blame them entirely. Their parents obviously wouldn't win any spelling bees – they can't even name their own children properly. EM 8th Sept

Mariah Carey – You Take Me Higher
Island

Mariah Carey can pantingly ride as many octaves as she likes, but anyone who saw her on MTV Cribs will appreciate the central flaw in this ode to everyone's dearly departed – namely the bogus idea that she'd care more about losing a relative than misplacing her 37th-favourite pair of shoes.

The version featuring Lil' Wayne is the one you want, whereby the best and weirdest rapper in the world recommends you get high and imagine heaven as a gated community with code-entry. RH 23rd June

Dido – Don't Believe in Love
Sony BMG

I always imagine Dido spends her life in a big white bedroom, with white cotton bed sheets, and white linen curtains fluttering gently in an autumn breeze. Occasionally she gets up, walks across the pale strip-wood flooring to a small chrome sink, and calmly washes her hands with Fairy Liquid.

This song does nothing to dispel that dream: listening to it is like being wrapped in a colossal wet-wipe and gently rubbed by matron: comforting in a way, but also rather nauseating. TJ 27th Oct

Sigur Ros – Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur
EMI

Sigur Ros are one of those bands who have a talent for writing songs that have a mote of the familiar about them. That's one element which makes their music so beautiful – it sounds like it is grasping at the traces of some sweet memory.

Their latest track – which can be roughly translated as 'Inside me sings a lunatic' – is happier than is typical of the Icelandic post-rock legends. A wave breaking, tropical rain pouring over a couple embroiled in a passionate kiss, building, rising, expanding, falling over the edge. LC 8th Sept

Ladyhawke – Paris Is Burning
Modular/Island

Keeping up with the cool kids can be tricky business these days; as a general rule, if you've heard of a band, they're already out of date. So considering Ladyhawke was being interviewed by that doe-eyed, slack-jawed Northern goon Nick Grimshaw on the BBC last weekend, it's probably time to move on.

On the other hand, if you ever thought that the world needed an electro version of Bananarama's 'Robert De Niro's Waiting', then we're happy to say your prayers have not been in vain. MF 30th June

The Music – The Spike
Polydor

Like Kasabian, The Music make songs that you can swagger around reasonably priced pubs to pretending to be an extra in Snatch, saying things like 'mine's a pint you slaaag' and 'stand your ground, you daft twat'.

This song is typical Music territory and if it had come out 16 years ago, people would have been going 'wow, this is like the Stone Roses mixed with Oasis'. Nowadays it sounds old and dated. People who read Nuts on a weekly basis will love it, but the rest of us will just shrug and move on. DH 11th Aug

Does it Offend You, Yeah? – Dawn of the Dead
Virgin

Crawling forlornly along Old Street, an ambulance is called into action and the siren goes up. It's another overdose and the driver's in no rush. 'What's the point?'

Looking left through his window he sees a gaggle of miserable-looking stick-men hunched around, sipping beer, eyeing each other's shoes. 'Shoreditch is so over' one of them offers. It looks like it's Kele from Bloc Party. Inside, the record changes. 'One More Time.' Again. TJ 25th Aug


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Music Team