Singles for the week starting 16 January!

Pulled Apart By Horses
V.E.N.O.M
(Transgressive)
* * * *

“You haven’t got a pulse!” taunt everybody’s favourite screech-core rockers on this album-previewing slab of AC/DC-esque riffage. ‘V.E.N.O.M’ is a great piece of adrenalized fun, and although it isn’t the best song on the new record, it still bites with more… well, with more venom than any other of the whooshes out there. Fang-tastic.
Danny Canning
Out 16 January

NZCA/LINES
Okinawa Channels
(LOAF Recordings/Lo Recordings)
* * *

This pulsating and mildly kinky tune is so subtle it’s barely audible, making it perfect to watch traffic glide past your window to at night. At first so humble you might gloss over it, the song reveals itself as a credible relation of Metronomy on repeat listens, with shuffling electro-beats, a whispered Prince-esque vocal and a tastefully neat string section rounding off the classiness.
Ric Rawlins


The Rifles
Sweetest Thing
(Right Hook)
* * * *

Just the ticket to rebound rumours that today is 'blue monday' (aka the most depressing day of the year), 'Sweetest Thing' is full of freshness and forwards-looking oomph. Alright so the tune isn't all that memorable and we've castrated bands for less, but The Rifles have pulled off a rare feat here: they've written an upbeat, summery rock tune that circumnavigates the realm of cheesiness - and that takes skill.
Ric Rawlins