We’d really like you ro read Mike Torpey‘s Singles Club column but suspect you’ll just be dumb-founded as Nick Cave dons leopard-print undies, a naked woman is molested in the bathtub by a wolfman and Warren Ellis fires the apocalypse out of his arse. BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR ALERT.
Grinderman: Heathen Child.
If you have to download just one song this month, make it Heathen Child.
Nick Cave and his mesmerising cronies, have summoned the manic alchemy to produce five minutes of raw, intimidating and ultimately glorious hard rock mayhem.
‘She’s got a little poison, got a little gun, sitting in the bathtub waiting for the wolfman to come‘, snarls Cave, as the wind tunnel guitar crackles and the bass throbs.
Frenzied, distorted, mischievous and Cave’s finest offering since Abattoir Blues.
Biffy Clyro: God & Satan.
No doubt Biffy frontman Simon Neil‘s a talented lad – anyone who can keep a football up for 1,500 kicks while listening to Radiohead‘s Street Spirit can’t be a complete plank (I can think of better things to do – Singles Ed).
As its name suggests, God & Satan is a mixture of good and bad as Reid muses on what awaits us once the reaper has sharpened his scythe.
Catchy tune that builds to a nice crescendo but it’s a scratch your head song – you know you’ve heard the tune a hundred times before but can’t quite put your finger on where. There’s much better, and heavier, stuff on the Only Revolutions album.
The Jim Jones Revue: High Horse.
If Little Richard was the architect of rock ‘n roll in the 50s then Jim Jones could well be the Georgia boy’s spiritual successor – he’s that good.
This is savage, high octane, stripped to the bone fare from a London five-piece that can name Jack White, Mick Jones and Nick Cave among their disciples.
High Horse, first single off new album Burning Your House Down, is brilliant – Elemental and Rock ‘n Roll Psychosis are better.
Orphan Boy: Popsong.
Not much of note seems to go on in Cleethorpes unless you count Grimsby Town’s (yes, that’s where their Blundell Park home lies) relegation to the Conference as a happening.
Orphan Boy, a pop/rock trio who have since re-located to Manchester, are hoping to put the forgotten Lincolnshire backwater on the map. I suspect they’re going to fail.
If you want to hear someone sound like Morrissey then listen to some old Smiths stuff.
Popsong has been plucked from the album Passion, Pain & Loyalty which the press release describes as being “written for all the people who listen to records alone in their bedrooms and stare out of the windows late into the night“.
Just need to make sure they’re ground floor windows.
David E Sugar: Party Killer
Boy does heavily-affected Cockney Kate Nashisms over insanely catchy electro-Chic riff which is destined to be played in your local H&M while you rifle through the cheap underwear section.
LCD Soundsystem: I Can Change.
‘Dance with me ’til I feel alright‘, implores James Murphy in this mid-tempo, almost smoochy, dance floor delight with typically pulsating beat.
Another class offering with pin-sharp production – the man can do no wrong.
The Trestles: Sing On.
To suggest Sing On has the best riff to come out of Liverpool since The La’s There She Goes is pushing it a bit.
It’s an infectious tune though, nicely arranged and beautifully delivered by Al O’Hare.
When your eight-year-old daughter starts chanting it instead of Empire State of Mind, you know the lads have hit on something.
More of the same will see them reach a bigger audience. No more Springsteen covers though – track two I’m On Fire lacks all of the original’s haunting quality.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly: Collapsing Cities.
Fantastic name that’s even been borrowed for an episode of One Tree Hill. Not a bad band either with an offbeat take on human dilemmas.
Sam Duckworth, in collaboration with Shy FX, gets all philosophical on Collapsing Cities – about two visions of what people think poverty is. Catch him at Liverpool Academy 2 on September 22.
Sky Larkin: Still Windmills.
Leeds-based three-piece Sky Larkin are probably a lot better live than on disc, which says a lot because their recorded material is quality.
Guitar player Katie Harkin‘s voice has sounded better than on Still Windmills – first single to be taken from new album Kaleide – but it’s a solid piece of Indie rock from a proper power trio.
This Morning Call: Clockworks.
Electro pop producer Ben Heyworth fuses classical instruments and electronic soundbites to great effect in what’s a well crafted down-tempo ballad.
Gets better with every listen – the way decent music should.
Mitchell Museum: Warning Bells.
Dizzy sunshine pop West Coast-style but with a Scottish twist.
Taken from debut album The Peters Port Memorial Service it’s bright, feelgood and frenzied, though the vocals get lost somewhere in the mix of this first single release.
Magnetic Man: I Need Air.
Standard, staccato dancefloor electronic delivered via Apple Macbook Pro laptops from DJs Skream, Benga and Artwork.
Well received by heavyweights like NME and the Beeb but lacking any original sound.
