Okay, so it’s time for the first monthly singles round-up on our new site and what a bumper month November turned out to be! No less than ten artists were muddying our designer doormat for a bit of SUPERSWEET love and of course, that all-important pre-Christmas shopping money. So, without further ado, here’s what all you SUPERSWEETIES should be downloading and digesting this month:
Elbowing their way to the front of the queue were Sub Pop’s lo-fi noise-makers No Age with the raucous, head-banging riot that is ‘Fever Dreaming’ from recent album Everything In Between. Not for the mild-mannered…
Next up, Crocodiles are sounding more like Raveonettes every release, which can’t be a bad thing, can it? ‘Hearts Of Love’ is a glorious, sparkling anthem that sounds like Big Pink carjacking The Beach Boys, while its grungier b-side ‘Jet Boy, Jet Girl’ appears to document some rather deviant sexual activity. Sexual!
SUPERSWEET favourites and the first UK act on our list, Prinzhorn Dance School present another batch of punky, stripped-down tracks called ‘Seed, Crop, Harvest’ and ‘Off The Radar, Off The System’. A sparse beat and repetitive bass line form the back-bone while the boy/girl half-sung vocals add to a feeling of disconnection. This could well be the sound of the recession.
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for musical veteran Tricky on the second single from his Mixed Race album, again with a little help from vocalist (and co-writer) Franky Riley. On ‘Ghetto Stars’ she sings and he growls menacingly over a Bond theme style, orchestral backdrop of brass and strings.
The first thing we noticed about Porcelain Raft’s ‘Tip Of Your Tongue’ was the quaint way the Italian-living-in-London sings the title – “teep of your tongue” - it made us giggle, anyway. The second thing we noticed was the fact that it’s another beautiful slice of ‘Chillwave’ and well-worth a listen.
Surely the youngest band of our round-up, nimble newcomers Pull In Emergency’s ages range from 15-17 and their sound is as fresh as their faces; Noisettes jamming with Bombay Bicycle Club anyone?
Also young and also sounding vaguely like Bombay Bicycle Club (this time with a whiff of Big Pink), Hot Horizons release the beautifully restrained ‘October’. It may be a month too late but it still sounds fantastic, as does Beirut-style b-side, ‘Spoken’.
In contrast, Yuck sound like they’ve been swallowed by their own disgruntled amplifiers on new single ‘Rubber’. This lackadaisical, late-night stumble of a pre-Grunge track sounds like it feels when you’re so tired you can barely function. Sounds boring? Definitely not!
Narrowly missing out on single of the month was Swedish-export Lykke Li, who seems to have done a Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera et al, dropping the innocent young girl shtick (see 2008’s Youth Novels) and coming on all sexy for brilliant new single ‘Get Some’ - apparently, she’s “a prostitute” and we’re all going to “get some”. If it’s as good as this sounds, bring it on!
However, single of the month had to go to Crystal Castles…featuring Robert Smith?! SUPERSWEET nearly passed out when we first read about this. A cover of a song by 80s band Platinum Blonde, the track originally featured Alice’s vocals but they’ve re-released it with the King of Goth on vocal duties. It’s both darker and harder than the original Castles version and explodes into the kind of ecstatic dance floor-friendly beauty you can really lose your mind to. Download it now!
Words: Isaac Howlett