New music releases

This week's already missing a day. We're wondering if, perhaps, a better system would be to just put the calendar back a day. That way, you still get a Bank Holiday Monday off, but you also get a normal Monday straight after it. We'll vote for anyone who promises to implement this (and isn't an idiot - sad face X 1000000)

We're gonna start with our 4music Single Of The Week and it's probably going to come as quite a shock to you. It's certainly come as quite a shock to us. Believe it or not, it's Pigeon Detectives 'This Is An Emergency' (Dance To the Radio). Seriously! We admit to not having paid much attention to them before, apart from to remark that the singer looks like Dean Gaffney doing Johnny Borrell on Stars In Their Eyes and one of the guitarists looks like he's won a competition to be there. But 'This Is Emergency' is bloody great. It's their 'I Predict A Riot' and will, no doubt, be used to soundtrack montages in TV festival coverage. We've played it 15 times now and it's still exciting. All other bands beginning with 'The' can f*ck off (for a bit).

Getting all the good ones out of the way at once, Santogold 'L.E.S Artistes' (Atlantic) is also likely to soundtrack large parts of the summer - the darker, trendier parts. This pal of Mark Ronson has been a 'one to watch' for a while, on account of her being pretty clever and good at pop. We like this though, mainly because it sounds almost exactly like Tegan And Sara. The rest of her stuff sounds nothing like them, which is probably for the best. Otherwise it'd just be weird.

If Britain had an answer to Santogold, it might very well be Micachu (bless you!). The so-lo-fi-you'll-wonder-if-you've-accidentally-bought-a-cd-of-her-pissing-about-with-an-old-tape-recorder-and-a-broken-casio single 'Lone Ranger' (Brik A Brak) isn't the best introduction we could think of from 21 year old, composer and oddball, Mica, but it's the one she wants you to have and we're not going to argue. The best is yet to come, trust us. The wonky pop crown belongs to Micachu (bless you!*)

The two things we previously knew about Death Cab For Cutie were that one of them was Smoosh's drum tutor (the drummer probably) and that the singer made the lovely (and sorely in need of a follow-up) Postal Service album. What we now also know is that, on the strength of 'I Will Possess Your Heart' (Atlantic), Death Cab For Cutie sound, to us, like the bloke from Postal Service has replaced Michael Stipe in R.E.M, but they're still not as good as they used to be. But what do we know?

Wiley 'Wearing My Rolex' (Asylum) you'll all be aware of. Having fought in the grime wars, it's rather sad that the Roll Deep producer only manages a proper hit with this novelty rubbish. It's got a dance attached. Consider yourself an idiot if you've even thought about doing it.

Melody Gardot 'Goodnite' (Universal) avoids the clamour to be the next Winehouse by reviving the forgotten art of trying to be the new Madeleine Peyroux. That's probably unfair but if her jazz scatting, one minute in, doesn't make you want to vomit into your own lap then we question your humanity.

Noah And The Whale is a band name that sticks in our memory because it's a bloody terrible band name. We're sure there's some fascinating story behind why they're not called Jonah And The Whale, and we can only hope our lives are so short we never live to hear it, or any more of the bedwettingly weedy, wobbly voiced, indie schmindie they exhibit on 'Shape Of My Heart' (Vertigo). We made the mistake of reading the press release that accompanies similarly wet (but with ambitions to be on the soundtrack to a US indie movie) singer songwriter Padma's single 'Spacefood & Balloons' (Just Music). In that press release we learn he grew up in Sheffield, is a practising Buddhist and lives in a yurt in the Spanish Pyrennes. To quote 'Withnail & I': "You want working on boy".
Operahouse 'Diane' (Marrakesh) is, to these wizened ears, Maximo Park-lite. Why bother? These New Puritans 'Swords Of Truth' (Angular) is the musical equivalent of being accosted by roughians who insult your trousers then nick your phone (only to smash it on the ground in front of you because it's a four year old Nokia with sellotape keeping the battery cover in place). And finally, White Denim are a band we've heard friends of ours going on about but we're not, on the evidence of the untutored 70s pub rock of 'Let's Talk About It' (Full Time Hobby), entirely sure why. Perhaps the singer is really good looking. Checks the internet. The singer is not really good looking.



*Will repeat this joke long after it's got annoying



» Reviewed by: Tim
» Talk on the boards