Madonna
Whether it’s the biggest pop star of the last 40 years or some Slovakian mood-rock, there’s something for you here in this edition of Singles Club, Getintothis’ Steven Doherty listens carefully.
Single Of The Week
52 Hertz Whale – Fish In The Dead Sea
Last seen playing one of the sets of the weekend at this year’s Sound City, Bratislava doom merchants 52 Hertz Whale release the first fruits of their labour since 2017’s debut EP I’ve Met A Lot Of People.
And what a tasty fruit it is.
One of the highlights of their special moment laden live set, with it’s harsh melodic riffs and crashing drums, it’s mood and vocal rage is infectious, whilst still retaining all sorts of melody.
There seems to be something coming in from the East, and if it’s all as good as this, then it will be a most welcome storm.
Captivating.
Joan As Police Woman – Kiss
Yes, it’s that Kiss.
Taken from her triple CD, career-spanning retrospective Joanthology, which covers her 15 musical years to date, it’s a strange choice, removing any Prince-isms, stripping it back to it’s very core.
Playing it with a sparse, stark bat suits the song and the singer, sailing as it does on the right side of becoming one of those John Lewis Xmas acoustic numbers.
It’s an arrangement that would work better live than on record, one would suggest.
Mush – Operation Vaken
Funkier than it’s subject matter (the song was written about the then Home Secretary Theresa May’s creation of a ‘hostile environment‘ for those living illegally in the country back in 2013).
Taken from the band’s debut EP Induction Party, it’s an art-rock yelp of a tune, wonky instrumentation, somewhat indistinguishable vocals. Sound like a mess, but in a good way.
The catchy chorus holds to track together as it seem to be losing it’s thread midway through.
A solid debut.
Madonna – Crave
Not much by way of an introduction needed for this one.
She’s back.
It’s the third single of the five she’s due to release before her new album Madame X is out on June 14, and it’s the best one yet.
It’s an infectious chorus built around a dual vocal between the Queen of Pop and Swae Lee, and it really works. She’s sounding mellow and mature these days and it suits, sparse pop at it’s finest.
The Shrine – Cruel World
This ain’t no sparse pop.
An absolute monster of a tune with equally bizarre accompanying video, this takes no prisoners.
Over the top, old school riffs coupled with pompous, ludicrous vocals, it’s of course no great surprise that they are from Venice in California, references to highways to hell and the land of the free are somewhat expected if not compulsory..
If you like anything remotely long-haired metal, you’ll love this.
Major Lazer – Can’t Take It From Me
Unusually short for a straightforward pop song these days, at just shy of three minutes, this is a built for commercial radio corker.
Catchier than the flu, this is taken from Major Lazer’s forthcoming fourth album, and with some of their previous singles weighing in with over a billion streams on Spotify, then they really are a unstoppable behemoth.
This tracks features Skip Marley on vocals and it will be the sound of the summer for the Capital Radio listeners amongst us.
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FUR – Love Song For No One
And from one extreme to another.
This is a sorrowful, bleak ditty about a suicidal bride. So far, so Nick Cave.
It is easy to imagine this as an acoustic set closer on a big outdoor stage, simple yet crowd-pleasing, a theory we will be able to put to the test as FUR have announced a full headline UK tour in the Autumn, with a local date at Sound.
This is from their debut, self-titled EP and promises many great things to follow.
Iris Gold – Wow
Another single made for radio play, this has got a really likeable, Mark Ronson meets Beck-when-he’s-being-funky feel to it.
She has been releasing solo stuff since 2015, after serving a spell in a failed girl-band formed by Alex James (nope, we don’t remember that either), but it’s only now that her debut album is ready and imminent.
She’s also supported good folk such as Blur and Taylor Swift, so her live credentials are also present and correct.
If the album turns out to be as half as good as this, then she could be massive.
Crocodiles – Nuclear Love
San Diego’s Crocodiles have just released their 7th album Love Is Here, and this here is the opening track.
If Ash and The Strokes ever made a single together, it would sound exactly like this, and that is some compliment.
It thrashes about in tremendous snarly fashion, before some lovely choir-esque backing vocals threaten to come in and take over.
A gloriously choppy chorus makes this a worthy Single Of The Week clear runner-up, a Liverpool to 52 Hertz Whale‘s Manchester City, if you will.
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