Singles Club

Muse- United States Of Urasia
Hmm, first they steal the idea of seperating song parts and allowing fans to find them across the world from Nine Inch Nails (the below is 4/6th's of the song until the last 2 parts are found) and then when you hear the song it sounds like Freddie Mercury rising from the dead and promptly dying again. Have Muse jumped the shark? The two and a half minutes reveleaed so far are possibly the worst thing heard in 2009 after The Enemy and I never thought I'd say that about Muse. *EDIT- the full version is now online (9:10pm 20/07/09)



Jamie T- Chaka Demus
"Two world wars and one world cup, everyone drinks in the corner." Jamie T is in patriotic form landing somewhere between deprication and pride whilst AK-47'ing lyrics unrivalled by his peers. This is going to be the album of the year isn't it? 3 stunning tracks down and the full LP still to come, Jamie T owns 2009.



Friendly Fires- Kiss Of Life
Klaxons go samba? This new FF track is in aid of the 'repackaged' debut album (ie, all you slow pokes are finally catching up and the label want to flog you a more expensive version of what's been out for nearly a year). Nevermind though as Friendly Fires are going from strength to strength and whilst this offers nothing especially new it is still a fantastic, toe-tapping Summer anthem that should secure the St. Albans trio that next rung on the ladder.



The Cribs- Cheat On Me
After the pretty brilliant free download 'We Were Aborted' this feels like a bit of a let down, or a B-Side at most. It's good enough but nothing special and you can't help feeling The Cribs can do better than this. Johnny Marr's echoing guitars ring out nicely but Gary Jarman's strained vocals sound painful and there is a distinct whiff of 'Will this do?' about the song. Probably a minor blip but worrying that this has been selected as 'Ignore The Ignorant's lead single.



Mariachi El Bronx- Cell Mates
Note to Jack White: This is how you do side projects. Taking time out from shredding faces as The Bronx the So-Cal band have reinvented themselves as a Mariachi band. The results are somewhere between an advert for fajitas and a really beautiful little song. Plus going back to The Bronx makes them sound so much more ferocious. A wonderful surprise.

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10 Wishes for 2009

• Great new albums from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, Maccabees, Gallows, Arctic Monkeys, Metric, Patrick Wolf, Morrissey, Maximo Park, Klaxons, Bat For Lashes and if we're lucky Muse, The Strokes and Arcade Fire.
  
• The Blur reunion is good- not just some bloated middle aged money grabbers playing to a field of idiots yapping on about how good the 90's were and saying "Haha, it's so funny because now I actually do live in a great big house in the country."
• The British underground to keep producing amazing bands. With albums due from Dananaaykroyd and Sky Larkin as well as the emergence of Pulled Apart By Horses and Favours For Sailors things look bright.
• Touting gig tickets at extortionate mark ups to be abolished. In times of financial difficulty audience numbers are bound to drop, the last thing we need is another obstacle in the way.
• Some good festival headliners. Early reports suggest Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and AC/DC will be the marquee names this Summer. What year is it again? 1984? I will go anywhere in the world if Daft Punk, David Bowie and Radiohead are the weekends main event.
  
• A music based TV show that is not mind numbingly stupid, self conciously 'cool' and musically uninformed.
• Brooklyn and L.A to gift us another set of weird and amazing bands.
• Popular music to be rid of sub-Winehouse copy cats. Sadly as Duffy sold 1.5 million albums in 2008 this looks unlikely.
• Pulp, The Smiths and Pavement to reform. Yeah right.....
• Soulless career bands like Courteeners and Scouting For Girls to fuck of forever please.
  

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