Singles for the week starting 23 April!

Taffy
So Long
(Club AC30)
* * * *

Taffy have served up a perfectly imperfect, sugary sweet pop gem with ‘So Long.’ A chugging driving guitar leaves room for drums and bass to fill out the space, with a groove that will fill dance floors at any venue with taste.

There are hints of The Libertines in the music but with the slight incoherency of the vocal, it comes off as much Lovefoxx as Doherty. ‘So Long’ is a little gem for a sunny day.
Billy Vibes



Hospitality
Betty Wang/ Friends Of Friends
(Fire Records)
* * *

Double A-Sides seem to be a dying breed in this age of excessive mp3 downloading, so it’s refreshing to see to Hospitality roll out a fine example of one here.
Dealing lyrically with an unfortunately named woman who refused to change her ways, ‘Betty Wang’ is a bittersweet super-catchy summery number straight-out of back catalogue of Sarah Records.
Things get more inspired on ‘Friends Of Friends’ when squeaks of brass, a groovy breakdown and evolving tempo shifts congeal to concoct an infectious melody. If “LET’S BE CATCHY!” is Hospitality’s battle cry, then they may have won the war.
Luke McKenzie



PEACE
Follow Baby
(Deadly People)
* * * * *

“Don’t believe the hype!” advised Chuck D. And nine times out of ten he’s spot on too – but sorry Chuck, not in this case. PEACE are a quartet from the West Midlands who are appropriately generating buzz on the blogs, with this debut official single taking the Madchester grooves of the early ‘90s then adding a deliciously crunchy bassline, a few evil sci-fi melodies and a splash of falsetto ecstasy. Needless to say, it’s going to be something of a dancefloor magnet after a couple of G&T’s, but PEACE aren’t just Britpop-chasing part monsters: the bats of doom are flapping over this single’s horizon, suggesting the band will be exploring a broader emotional spectrum than most as their career unfolds. For the time being though, they can whack a classic single together – and that’s all you need to know.
Danny Canning

Pulled Apart By Horses
Wolf Hand
(Transgressive Records)
* * * * *

Songs that make you want to throw yourself off your roof into a pile of boxes are rare things these days; they always seem too passionless, too boring and too polite to take a risk and be dangerous. Well fuck you world! Because ‘Wolf Hand’ is here to prove that guitar music still has a pulse.
Just listen to this onslaught of youthful, raucous energy, the zenith of musical exposition and then you’ll understand. Pulled Apart By Horses aren’t a breathe of fresh air - they’re a brutal punch in the face, and one that’s entirely welcome.
Luke McKenzie



Velociraptor
In The Springtime/Sleep With The Fishes
(Too Pure Singles Club)
* * * * *

Bands! You don’t need to go impressing us with backwards Moogs to win a single of the month around here; in fact you don’t have to be especially radical at all: Australia’s Velociraptor have done it with a simple pinch of Stooges garage madness, twisted summery attitude and some wonderfully stoned-bum vocals.
The group originally counted among their members our other flavour of the month, DZ Deathrays – but since then the DZ have been busy with other things (namely, er, DZ) and songwriter Jeremy Neale has taken the reigns and set about assembling ‘Earth’s Mightiest Band’. (That’s right guys, screw the false modesty).
He’s come pretty damn close too: of this double A side, ‘In The Springtime’ is the jet propelled highlight, which sounds like The Strange Boys being recruited into the high school production of Grease, while ‘Sleep With The Fishes’ takes its lyrical cue from ‘Maggie’s Farm’ before splurging into a bubblegum chewin’ B-movie about garage rock surfers. Both are utterly disposable, yet both are enjoyably digestable!
Ric Rawlins