Pepe Deluxe, Bombay Bicycle Club & more: Singles for the week starting 17 October

Pepe Deluxe
The Storm
(Catskills)
* * * * *

The fact that the front cover of ‘The Storm’ shows a woman flying through the air whilst firing laser beams from her guitar at some multi-legged beast should give an indication as to what to expect from the “3.2 minutes of new Pepe Deluxe adventures.”
Yet no amount of weird cover art can prepare you for the sheer lunacy that follows. Early Pink Floyd, Mexican salsa music and the Pink Panther theme on acid come together to make the single most preposterous song ever conceived. In short, ‘The Storm’ will be the single most fantastically barmy 3.2 minutes you’re ever likely to experience.
Dai Howells

Bombay Bicycle Club
Lights Out Words Gone
(Universal/Island)
* * * *

When BBC said they were picking up the guitars again, we didn’t think they meant the Police’s summer reggae guitars. Still, ‘Lights Out Words Gone’ is undoubtedly a soothing moment of genius from their new album: the whispered croon of a female stirs innocently in the background, while experimental samples point towards the Willow The Whispy world of Brian Eno. As long as they don’t shoot the video on a yacht, it’s fair to say that BBC have achieved the ‘chilled out summer pop song’ with their integrity intact.
Ric Rawlins

The Damn Jammage
Well Hanged EP
(Metric Acorn)
* * * *

Holy chickens! How awesome is ‘Well Hanged’? Let’s not beat about the bush here, The Damn Jammage have hit the whack-a-mole right on the snout with the proverbial foam mallet.
Somehow the band’s filthy, ratty vocals manage to communicate large amounts of soul (though just whose soul it is, is yet to be determined), while folkabilly punk delivers a powerful bitch slap on ‘No Rest For The Crooked’.
Later on both the lamenting ‘Black & Blue’ and the Irish tinged popabilly of ‘Stockpiling Poison’ offer turbulent waters and engulfing melodies. Get the idea? The Damn Jammage are bloody marvellous.
Jessica Acreman

Trophy Wife
Bruxism EP
(Blessing Force)
* * *

First REM teach us that sleep makes our eyeballs vibrate, and now Trophy Wife reveal that our teeth involuntarily grind and clench when we’re snoozing too. Next week: The Drums reveal that sleeping is in fact just plain evil.
Until then, Bruxism is the name of both the aforementioned teeth phenomenon and the new EP from Trophy Wife, experimentally containing five tracks helmed by five different producers.
It’s full of the kind of supercool electro-bliss you might find playing at American Apparel as you stagger about feeling like a pathologically uncool hunchback, but there are soulful undercurrents: both ‘Seven Waves’ and the Foals-produced ‘Wolf’ are magic with their melancholy, while the James Yuill produced title track offsets its October gloom with a side order of funkiness.
Ric Rawlins

Max Raptor
The King Is Dead
(Naim Edge Records)
* * * *

They love it heavy in the Midlands. Black country rockers Max Raptor’s stock continues to rise with their new single ‘The King Is Dead’. It’s a hackneyed comparison but their sound really does simmer with the riotous rush of At the Drive-In.
Rolling bass-lines and buzz saw guitars kick things off until front man Wil Ray throws in his two pence worth. The Oi inspired chorus, a ‘rush to the mic’ chant, is the payoff here. Max Raptor aren’t pushing things forward but they’re pushing hard and it’s got to pay off.
Mark Wall

Forest Fire
The News
(Fat Cat Records)
* * * *

It may sound fey, but sometimes we all need an audio hug. Thankfully, Forest Fire’s latest single ‘The News’ is the perfect remedy to all things bad in the world, all teen-angst and warm jumper indie pop-fare. Reminiscent of The Shins, this track is beautifully cool enough to be accepted by Shoreditch hipsters and your Mum, alike.
Ryan Bassil
Out 17 October

Grass House
Faun/The Breeze
(Holiday Club Recordings)
* * * *
 
Teetering between the ramblin’ blues of Johnny Cash and Tom Waits, Grass House’s latest outing is a darkly poetic two-part tale engineered for playing in the darkest of smoky rooms.
The double A side single is as ferocious as they come, with ‘Faun’ offering snarls of “split lips” and a Cohen-esque observation of the unfolding “Circus of the neighbourhood”, while the bitter one-liners of ‘The Breeze’ channel early Conor Oberst. It’s essentially a pic ‘n’ mix influence of almost every great folk musician ever then, yet delivered in a uniquely fresh and intriguing fashion.
Ryan Bassil

Billy Vincent
St. Catherine’s Oratory
(Something Nothing)
* * * * *

Gypsy-punk folk songs about medieval lighthouses are few and far between. Thank Christ, then, that Billy Vincent has made theirs - frankly - bloody brilliant.
Managing to be somehow both dark and dazzling at the same time, ‘St Catherine’s Oratory’ opens with a mournful and sombre violin, before breaking out into its rampant and catchy-as-hell stride, not pausing for breath once en route.
Thankfully, this is also true of the rest of the tracks on their ‘Once on the Grand Union’ EP, adding up to a picture of a band who’ve hit their stride in an assured and superb manner.
Dai Howells

The Wild Mercury Sound
Miss Frost
(Hearts & Minds)
* * * *

Miss Frost is an odd and rather chameleonic single to get your head around. It opens like a Britpop incarnation of The Maccabees, before finding its way to being a bluesy, blouse-y version of The Courteeners in their early days. Then, without warning, the song takes a more sinister turn, heralded by the arrival of a hushed and heated spoken word piece. This new trajectory reaches its conclusion in a double barreled,
Muse-esue rock out. It’s odd, yes. But then when was anything this good ever straightforward?
Dai Howells