Fanzine, Kele, Wombats & more: Singles for the week starting 7 November!

Fanzine
Roman Holiday/My Stupid Brain
(Fat Possum)
* * * * *

This is the news! Fanzine have made a debut single. It's being released on flexi disc in a run of 500. Fanzine have also made a fanzine. It's been written and illustrated by themselves and their friends, and comes free with the single. Music geeks! I am not making these things up: Fanzine are indeed, all your utopian dreams manifested into reality.
Of course, all this would constitute meaningless gibberish if the single was terrible, but here's where Fanzine pull off the Evel Knievel stunt of the century: 'Roman Holiday' is the proud owner of a catchy-as-bananas AC DC riff fused with the melodic bliss of early Super Furry Animals.
And if that's not enough, when the song rips off its jumpsuit to reveal a crunchy leather jacket and a ridiculous guitar solo at the halfway mark, one thing becomes suddenly very clear: Fanzine are basically here to magnetise indie Fellatio.
Over on the flipside (or if you've bought the single, the flexi-side) we get 'My Stupid Brain', a slow burning, Pavement-esque song with a message I’m fairly sure we can all relate to. The tune also has several purposes: if you don't buy this single, you can sing 'My Stupid Brain' to yourself as a sort of self-lashing lament. If you do buy this single, you can sing along to the flexi disc as a fan! Everyone’s a winner.

The Wombats
1996
(14th Floor/Warner Bros)
* * *

You know those critics who smoke pipes and gibber about famous bands who were "better in the olden days", which usually means "before they were famous" and especially "when I saw them play that intimate club several years ago"? I think I'm about to become one of the bastards.
The Wombats were an angular and super-energetic Beach Boys back in the summer of whenever-it-was. Now they're playing Brixton Academy! And accordingly their sound has morphed into the realm of epic synth pop. How dare they! [Shakes fist, lights pipe]
Ric Rawlins

Kele
The Hunter EP
(Wichta)
*

Under the cloud of an MC Escher vortex of pomposity, Kele releases ‘The Hunter’, a collection sounding like it’s been scraped clean from the bottom of the ‘Intimacy’-era barrel. All five songs on display sound like tired ‘90s dance tracks, offering all the depth of an X Factor final and the staying power of one of its winners.
After his shows of monumental vainglory, Kele needed to unveil a barnstorming EP, but this doesn’t even come close. His best bet now would be to book an audition with Bloc Party.
Dai Howells



Esben & The Witch
Hexagons EP
(Matador Records)
* * * *

To allow Esben and the Witch into your lugholes is to invite a burrowing of darkness into your senses. Continuing to commit feats of remote alchemy, this EP builds on an already impressive array of goth-tinged malady with Rachel Davies voice at the forefront of the assault.
‘Hexagons III (The Surge)’ holds the most captive charm, while ‘Hexagons II (The Flight)’, tempers the gentleness of Davies’ operatic wails as touches of electronics flick between the verses and spinning chorus. Sell them your soul.
Emily Kendrick

Gruff Rhys
Space Dust #2/Whale Trail
(Turnstile)
* * * * *

Perhaps an unlikely choice for a single, 'Space Dust #2' is nonetheless one of many highlights from the Welsh Music Award winning 'Hotel Shampoo' album; it's essentially a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg's randy male-female conversations, complete with a hormonal piano accompaniment.
'Whale Trail' on the other hand, is pricelessly bonkers. The song has been recorded to soundtrack the iPhone cute 'em up game of the same name, and although it sounds like the Beach Boys for toddlers, it also contains subversive instructions to tax the rich, and a heavy metal middle eight.
Ric Rawlins



Blood Orange
Champagne Coast
(Domino)
* * *

'80s erotto-pop is the name of the game with Dev Hynes' latest single, which you could imagine soundtracking a steamy scene from Top Gun or Days Of Thunder (or indeed anything with Tom Cruise in, come to that). The spirit of Prince is in here somewhere too, in a gothic late-night kinda way. Dramatic - and not a little bit kinky too.
Ric Rawlins

Blue On Blue
We Never Sleep EP
(Tip Top records)
* * * * *

Blue On Blue sound more artistically confident than ever before. Of their new EP, 'We never Sleep' and 'Paradise Syndrome' approach what you could describe as Burroughsian chillwave, although they're hypnotic and sexy as opposed to self-damningly lo-fi, with Dee Sada coming across like Lydia Lunch had she been born in 1985.
Meanwhile, 'I Feel Warm' finds Billy Steiger bobbing in a floatation tank, crooning out his relationship regrets to a lonesome Eno vibe until he's warmed up by what could be John Cale's missing violin, while 'Mad Girl Love Song' lullabies us to sleep then feeds a gently militant distortion into our dreams. Avant rock with integrity? Whatever next!
Ric Rawlins

Cinema Red and Blue
Butterbean Crypt EP
(Fortuna Pop!)
* * *

A very high-concept package, this: a limited-edition Halloween-themed EP released on “spooky” black and white 10-inch vinyl. How delightful. Although by the time you read this, Halloween will have already happened, which is a bit of a shitter. Oh, unless you’re reading this on the website, I suppose; in which case, happy Halloween! BOO!
Anyway, the EP contains two new songs by “indiepop supergroup” Cinema Red and Blue, plus a couple of obscure ‘60s cover versions. Opening track Walkin’ To The Cemetery is an excellent garage pop tune complete with Wurlitzer organ (organ, as you know, equates to SPOOKY in popular song). Actually, it sounds a bit like the Inspiral Carpets, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book.
Mat Beal