Artrocker Magazine’s Single Reviews for the week commencing September 6th

Fierce Panda
Gruff Trade EP
(Fierce Panda)

Hatcham Social, Wild Palms and Fiction ALL on the same record? Surely it's a conspiracy. Hey boss. Pssst. Boss! We didn't eh... y'know, secretly manufacture this record ourselves did we? You know, on the sly? We didn't? So it's amazing on its own terms? Good Christ! Get me the most powerful aspirin known to man.
The truth behind this record is that, even though we don't always walk the same path as Fierce Panda, on this occasion they've forged a record in the molten lava of an Artrocker-shaped volcano, and the results have got our office very excited. Look, there goes Rory Carroll on a bouncy hopper! He hasn't been containable since he heard it!
Let's start at the start then, and Hatcham Social want us to "breath in / breath out" on the quite frankly astonishing 'New York Girl'. It's a charismatic chat up line of a song, drawing on a Donnie Darko style atmosphere: this may be the last night on earth, but we can "do whatever we want to do". Seductive, Hatcham, very seductive.
The song casts a long shadow of quality, and the other bands are going to have to be good to compete. They're going to have to be The A-Team of bands. And holy crap! They are - Wild Palms sound like Peter Pan's lost boys as they perform carefree indie acrobatics ('Deep Dive'), while La Shark sound like The Joker from Batman on a speed date ('Modern Man' – a demented chat up line of a pop song).
Thank god Fiction are here to offer some space to breath: 'To Stick To' is an intimate highlight of the record, as simple as The XX, as spacious as a quiet bench on the edge of a park. It's not a sad tune, but it's certainly as personal as a secret.
Following up, Not Cool restart the party with some artrock dizziness ('Mattress Head'), and Sex Beet lace the drinks of the prom night innocents with the acid rock of 'Stay'.
This leaves us in the place where most nights end: tripping gently at 4am, lit by the moon and alone with the truth. 'Endless Summer' by Still Corners is the perfect end to the perfect EP, a whispered female vocal easing us compassionately into our dreams.
Ric Rawlins


Ono Palindromes
The Kool Aid Acid Test EP
(Death Records)

The last EP from this band was called 'The Cum EP' and featured an accompanying photo of the band with the offending white sauce dribbling out of their filthy little mouths.
This was my first experience of the so-called Ono Palindromes, and my next was at the Great Escape, where they downed rum and cokes at 11am, played a lunchtime gig, then crashed their van into the seafront of Brighton while trying to escape. It was like a scene out of Jaws III, and the band only degraded themselves further when they abandoned their acid tripping drummer, who I had to accommodate on the floor of my youth hostel, much to the curiosity of my naively freckled Australian room-mates.
Readers! You get the idea; these men are dangerous, obscene and not to be trusted. Luckily these virtues also make for the only kind of rock 'n roll band worth hearing, and consequently this EP is excellent.
'James Dean' is like a death threat written in guitar notes, a hardcore attack but also an extreme acid trip, as if the band have become psychedelic priests with luminous teeth, commanding you to do evil deeds with girls half your age. 'Black Lungs' may well be a subtle meditation on the dangers of nicotine, but its alien death-ray guitars suggest otherwise: the song drills itself into a perverse kind of mania which might put some of our more sensitive readers off them completely.
As you've probably deducted by now, Ono Palindromes are not going on tour with Laura Marling in the near future: they're essentially geeks with an unhealthy interest in filleting the spines of their listeners. That's not to say they're potential dissertation subjects or even all that evolutionary - but by mamma do they rock.
Ric Rawlins


Robyn
Hang With Me
(Konichiwa / Island)

At the risk of showing our age – and losing our entire readership - we remember Robyn’s first incarnation as a Scandinavian pop pixie who released chart bothering effort, ‘Show Me Love’. We were young and foolish, please forgive us.
Having disappeared for a bit and returned as a more angular pop pixie who gained serious credibility with a series of floor-fillers, you’d think there wouldn’t be any need for a third bite of the musical cherry, right? Wrong - although we’re really not sure whether this regression to slightly banal pop technically classes as a third bite, as it sounds an awful lot like the first.
All we can really say is that as reassuring as it is to know that we can ‘hang’ with Miss Robyn on the proviso that we’re ‘for real and not pretend‘, we still think we’ll pass because ‘we’re washing our hair’ or something.
Rory Carroll


The Heebie Jeebies
Misery Guts
(Everything On Toast)

Drawing from calypso punk rhythms and the awkward time changes of Captain Beefheart (while still being unmistakably Yorkshire), The Heebie Jeebies debut single ‘Misery Guts’ is a bit special.
There’s enough going on here to forgive some shoddy 2nd rate social commentary a la The Enemy, but with lines as disorientating as “I was young, dumb and full of com-plications”, there’s no danger of these Rotherham lads falling quietly in behind the depressing, flag-waving Brit bands waiting desperately in line for a Weller endorsement.
Mark Wall


Twin Sister
Vampires With Dreaming Kids/Colour Your Life EP
(Double Six)

These chaps have been causing havoc on US blogs such as Brooklyn Vegan, but so far us Brits haven’t seen an inch of ‘em. Until now!
And what a tasty looking debut UK release it is: two EPs, gatefolded together and wrapped up in some nicely artistic photography. The package sends off art-pop vibes from a mile away - so what's the verdict, doc?
The band have certainly got an attic-party atmosphere going on; neither upbeat or downtown, they're an artistic, largely acoustic pop group with a thirst for Warhol-style creativity. 'Nectarine' demonstrates their openness and lack of pose with a charmingly naive female vocal (although you never know if naivety is a pose these days – what a conundrum!)
Throughout the two EPs, it's clear that Twin Sister have got access to decent studios: the production combines DIY intimacy with ambient atmospherics, lending credence to the proverb 'it costs a fortune to look this terrible'. More than that however, the band deliver the romance of the pale moon to your speakers in a way that School Of Seven Bells never quite mustered.
Ric Rawlins


Wintersleep
Black Camera
(One Four Seven Records)

I was surprised to read that two of the five members of Wintersleep also perform in Holy Fuck. There’s definitely no sign of any booming, loop-ridden electronic experimentation on show here: a shame.
Instead, ‘Black Camera’ owes more of its sound to the American rock genre, with a driving bass line and off-kilter guitars supporting singer Paul Murphy’s remarkable ability to croon like Michael Stipe.
Wintersleep have recently been sharing the stage with a number of indie’s big hitters (White Lies, Editors and the Maccabees), and when you listen to this latest effort you can see why they would fit in nicely. ‘Black Camera’ certainly ticks the boxes for a guitar-fuelled indie anthem; but I think therein lies the problem – quiet verse, louder chorus, time for a breakdown and, wait for it, fuzzy guitar solo. It all feels a little too self-conscious and restrained, with the result utterly underwhelming.
Simon Bell


DELS
Shapeshifter
(Big Dada)

A hugely addictive grime/acid-pop crossover tune, 'Shapeshifter' has DELS collaborating with Hot Chip's beat master Joe Goddard to create what feels like the soundtrack to a sci-fi fantasy comic book.
In fact, someone should push this single in the direction of the next Spiderman movie: if the bad guy was some kind of city eating pixel-monster, this would make the perfect theme to its entrance.
Cindy Suzuki


Ex Libras
C u t (s)
(Wirebird)

This band are experimental but not avant garde. The sound is created through splicing drum patterns, modulating vocals and an extended process of perfectionism until all the life is drawn out of the sound leaving this over produced mess.
‘C u t (s)’ is constructed out of parts taken from their LP ‘Suite(s)’. It’s hard to distinguish what’s been recorded specifically for this EP and what’s been copied and pasted from the album. However this is a curiosity not worth dwelling on, because ‘C u t (s)’ is music for music’s sake - it sounds dead inside, a potent mix of un-soulful trip-hop and Thom Yorke-esque umming and ahhing.
Samuel Breen


UNKLE ft. Big In Japan
The Answer
(Surrender All)

James Lavelle is renowned for all sorts: Honest Jons staffer, Mo Wax founder, trip-hop pioneer, mix tape maestro, DJ Shadow collaborator… the list goes on.
However ‘The Answer’ reminds us of him at his most boyish. It recalls his remixes of Ian Brown and The Verve. The track propels this macho swagger with organ sounds that give a nod to ‘60s soul.
As ugly as this all sounds, ‘The Answer’ comes up trumps. It’s a cauldron of ideas and sounds with a slight eccentricity to the structure, and a melancholy that strides against this cockishness. Having said that, for all its beguiling moments it also sounds like a possible soundtrack for the football highlights.
Samuel Breen


Pulled Apart By Horses
High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive
(Transgressive)

Having slayed far too many festivals to count this summer, Pulled Apart By Horses should be knackered. But they're not, judging by this high-octane, bouncy and downright silly three-minute bout of aggression that sums up the band's appeal in a nutshell.
While their recorded music can’t even come close to matching the band's ferocious live powers, the upshot is that more focus is placed on their solid and resolute instrument-playing skills. The opening drum roll is less of a precursor, more like the sound of a stampede running towards you at great speed.
The joyful, glorious abandon of the lyrics (“High five! Swan dive! Nose dive! I'll make you dance with my balls of fire!”) only add to the truckload of fun that's on offer. This single is a riot.
Max Raymond


Ólöf Arnalds
Crazy Car
(One Little Indian)

Icelandic singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds is a person who can combine the best of both worlds: combining enchanting folk with a certain amount of charm and humour. ‘Crazy Car’, the lead single from her new LP (see the album section for a review), is a heartfelt yet playful plea to a friend who is moving away.
Accompanied by long-time collaborator David Thor Jonsson, this is new ground for Arnalds as she sings in English rather than her native Icelandic. In this instance it works given the humorous lyrical detail, urging her friend to “think inside the box”. However, the real beauty of this is that it isn't suggested in a nagging and annoying manner but a calm, collected and almost tongue-in-cheek way. You'll be lucky to find a single release that combines amusement and beauty so well.
Max Raymond


Sleepy Sun
Marina
(ATP)

For the most part ‘Marina’ is a slow, grinding Kyuss-like blues pressure cooker, except with arrangements and a style similar to Neil Young. At intervals the main riff is spiritually harnessed by the angelic voice of Rachel Fannan, offering a kind of purgatory between heaven and hell.
This effective contrast then unexpectedly climaxes into a faster tribal beat-down towards the end, more in tune with ESG than Zeppelin. It really works and captures the spirit of the extended jam lots of bands used to perform, which probably made up half of their live set. B-side ‘Horses’ is more of a traditional 70’s rock affair, slightly prog and not as exciting as ‘Marina’ but still possessing the warm southern sentiment the band appear to have in abundance.
Steven Belfrage