The latest installment of Singles Club sees Getintothis’ Chris Burgess bemoan cheap celebrity rip-off names, twin Oklahoma and Yorkshire while trying to instigate a Wurzels revival.
Colourmusic: Dreamgirl ’82 – Single of the Week
Colourmusic are an Oklahoma/Yorkshire collective, and this new track is…wait…what? Let me read that again. Oklahoma and Yorkshire?!
What kind of combination is that? Cowboy hats and flat caps? Whippets and wagons? Oklahoma, where t’wind come sweppin dahn t’plain!?
On paper it seems very odd. On record it comes together perfectly – a mix of hallucinatory rhythms, droning basslines and choppy guitar licks, backed with a fantastic beat and fever-dream vocals.
If this was food it’d be vegan. Not to everyone’s tastes but healthy, packed full of life and immensely good for you.
Chad VanGaalen: Where Are You?
Newly released on Sub Pop, VanGaalen certainly has produced the video of the week – despite some strong contenders.
I love music videos that are absolutely mental, and this animated masterpiece is certainly that. You’ll never want to brush your teeth again.
The Canadian musician, illustrator and mountain man seems to occupy his own world, inviting you in to try and make sense of things. It’s a wonderful little universe, a mixture of lo-fi drums and swirling noise, reminding you of early, more experimental Beck.
Com Truise: Wave 1
Com Truise is the alter-ego of New Jersey producer Seth Haley, Where Chad VanGaalen might invite you to enter his world, Haley is happier taking you on an adventure to outer space.
His Wave 1 EP is chocked full of sci-fi synths and interstellar melodies. If R2D2 hosted his own disco night, this is what it would sound like.
As good as it is though, I’m not completely happy. It’s just a small gripe, but I hate this trend of bastardising celebrity names.
We’ve had Dot Rotten, Dananananaykroyd, The Dandy Warhols and the sublime rapper/appallingly named Hoodie Allen all do the same thing over the years.
The joke is wearing mighty thin. Bring back proper band names, like The Wurzels, or Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
The Family Rain: Feel Better (FRANK)
Screeching and squealing guitars and a big catchy chorus – the Walter Brothers from Bath combine to create a bluesy rock and roll stomper of a song.
They sound like Supergrass were smashed into Biffy Clyro at an atomic level in the Large Hadron Collider.
Also, the video contains some of the best moments of the inimitable James Hunt, beginning with a candid moment of him talking about the size of his massive, massive balls.
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL: PRETZELBODYLOGIC
With stories of The Purple One’s recent London shows and unfounded rumours of a surprise Cavern gig, it’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the huge amounts of hype that still surround Prince, forgetting that he’s still pushing the boundaries and has perfectly produced songs like this in his locker.
3RDEYEGIRL are his all-female backing band, all cheekbones, haircuts and ZZ Top guitar licks.
There’s a definite old-school rock vibe to PRETZELBODYLOGIC, but it certainly doesn’t sound stale.
Mark E: Bog Dance
Producer Mark E is a West Midlands lad, and pays his own kind of homage to the place with his upcoming album Product of Industry – a nod to the manufacturing past of his home town.
There’s something oddly mechanical about this track too, relentlessly chugging along, grinding away with hypnotic synths and understated beats. There’s a certain warmth and heart to this song though, with a distinct influence from the Chicago house scene.
Radkey: Feed My Brain
Missouri rockers Radkey have released their heaviest track yet, crashing and stomping into your brain.
Loud, spooky and atmospheric, this is nothing short of exceptional. Singer Isaiah Radke channels his inner Danzig while the rest of the band clatter and shake around him.
Feed My Brain was mixed by Ross Orton, whose previous credits include Drenge and the latest Arctic Monkeys album. Elements of both bands shine through here.
George Ezra: Cassy O’
This is a bit special, this one. Cassy O’ sounds like a proper old-school country song. The Bristol based singer fair belts out this ode to…er…digital watches? Not sure.
It doesn’t matter what it’s about, this will have you nodding your head and stamping your feet along to its infectious backbeat, tambourine and jangling guitar.
Ezra plays Leaf in Liverpool on Friday February 28. I want to go to there.
Sky Larkin: Newsworthy
Another Liverpool gig heads up right here, as the joyous and sparkly Leeds trio Sky Larkin are playing the Kazimier on Monday April 28.
Their new single Newsworthy is just charming, with singer Katie Harkin’s marvellous vocals shown off to great effect by the underlying chiming guitar.
The video was filmed in the Echo offices last week, I heard.
I Am In Love: Proposal
Bringing possibly the cheapest-looking video ever made to the table, Londoners I Am In Love release their debut single on Fierce Panda.
This is a big heap of synths and 80s sensibilities, with bored looking musicians who look as though they’re too cool to crack a smile.
The singer rather creepily and repeatedly threatens marriage. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to buy me dinner first, at the very least.
This is a smart and gleefully euphoric song though, despite all of that, building to a big final crescendo of harmonies and driving guitar lines.
I want to tell them to have fun, but I guess that’s just not cool these days. You know who did have fun? The Wurzels, that’s who.
