Music
Singles Club: The xx, Hot Chip, JLS…
Singles Club reviews the latest singles out on the blogosphere and the airwaves. In this issue, Katie Forster checks out The xx, JLS, Crystal Fighters, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Hot Chip.
The xx – VCR
VCR is the latest single from the XX, the most hyped new band of last year. It is minimal, melancholy yet melodic, effortlessly cool but not pretentious – just like the excellent album from which it is lifted, which came top of the Guardian’s list of the best albums of 2009. The dreamy female and male vocals float over sparse, simple electric guitar and xylophone lines, proving that for this band less is most definitely more. Check out their new video and the Matthew Dear remix.
mp3: The xx – VCR (Matthew Dear remix)
Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix)
Funky drums and exotic sounding instruments are mixed with electro beats in this dancey remix by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, which is possibly the best name in prehistory. The catchy hook sung with a sexy Spanish accent sounds like something you’d hear in Ibiza, until the dubstep bass kicks in and it sounds more like something you’d hear in a dingy East London basement with a totally enormous PA system, full of beautiful young Spanish musicians. Oh, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
mp3: Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix)
JLS – One Shot
The new single from the boyband of the moment may not be original, independent or interesting, but it’s fun to dance to at Cindies, and isn’t that the whole point of JLS? It’s not clear whether “you’ve only got one shot” is directed at future X Factor contestants, 3rd year students worried about exams or boys trying to get with girls on the dancefloor, but it doesn’t matter – when it comes on you’ll be drunk, singing along with one finger in the air and dancing like JB himself (or so you’d like to think).
Hot Chip - I Feel Better
Hot Chip have discovered the voice autotune button on their keyboards, and the result is a T-Pain like sheen to their new material. They haven’t changed that much, though, with synth strings adding to their trademark fidgety dark pop. Tight mixing by the group and Alexis Taylor’s falsetto singing (thankfully not always auto-tuned) just increases anticipation for their new album in February.
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Heaven Can Wait
Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new album is produced by Beck, and here he joins her in singing duties. A strumming guitar and tambourine are quite enjoyable, in a kind of late-Oasis-‘at least they’re trying’ way. Her last album reached number one in France but only number 78 in the UK, and it is possible that IRM, her new album, could go the same way. (Ed – check out our review of the album here.) The Grizzly Bear remix offers a more chilled version that ditches the plodding guitar for a dark church organ, giving much more emphasis to the vocals. Included above is the delightfully bizarre video for the original.
mp3: Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck – Heaven Can Wait (Grizzly Bear remix)
Topics: Music, Reviews, Singles Club
