29 August 2010
22 August 2010
15 August 2010
08 August 2010
01 August 2010
25 July 2010
18 July 2010
11 July 2010
04 July 2010
27 June 2010
20 June 2010
13 June 2010
06 June 2010
30 May 2010
23 May 2010
16 May 2010
09 May 2010
02 May 2010
25 April 2010
18 April 2010
11 April 2010
03 April 2010
28 March 2010
21 March 2010
14 March 2010
07 March 2010
28 February 2010
21 February 2010
14 February 2010
07 February 2010
22 August 2010
15 August 2010
08 August 2010
01 August 2010
25 July 2010
18 July 2010
11 July 2010
04 July 2010
27 June 2010
20 June 2010
13 June 2010
06 June 2010
30 May 2010
23 May 2010
16 May 2010
09 May 2010
02 May 2010
25 April 2010
18 April 2010
11 April 2010
03 April 2010
28 March 2010
21 March 2010
14 March 2010
07 March 2010
28 February 2010
21 February 2010
14 February 2010
07 February 2010
Contained within this week's batch of potential chart toppers was a shocking message: Christmas is coming. The arrival of the first two Christmas singles to hit TMF towers sent shivers through the collective spine even before their quality was assessed and brought back memories of better times. Times when the Christmas number one wasn't a foregone conclusion and therefore bands didn't need to release festive hits one month early to gain some recognition. After all, who doesn't remember the epic Christmas number one battle between Spice Girls and the Teletubbies in 1997? Just me then? OK, let's move swiftly on.
The Heavy - 'No Time'
Tick-tock-tick-tock here we go! It’s Soul-o-clock with these ballsy rockers, who certainly mean business. For all that this track does well it does occasionally steps over the line into cheesy when Kelvin Swaby tends to over-sing things. We all know he can holler, but sometimes less is more. (AM)
Tesla Boy - 'Electric Lady'
Do you remember when you were young and Uncle Toby (he wasn’t really your uncle, he just lived next door - but for some reason you called him uncle) challenged you to eat a doughnut without licking your lips? Today the same challenges are set for Russian children. Can they resist throwing crazy shapes on the dance floor whilst Tesla Boy play? Of course they can’t! Those crazy kids will dance until their legs drop off. Now you can too with this fantastic single from the finest pop act in the world. (AM)
We Were Promised Jetpacks - 'It's Thunder And It's Lightning / Ships With Holes Will Sink'
An impressive Double-A side of tracks from their brilliant album These Four Walls. These Scottish kids might not cheer you up after Mr.Pusskins is reversed over by a van, but their abrasive style and passion are undeniably captivating. Whilst this includes no new material, it’s a timely reminder to anyone who hasn’t purchased the album to include it on their Christmas list. (AM)
The High Wire - 'Odds & Evens'
Blissed out melodies and sugary sweet boy/girl vocals are the order-of-the-day for The High Wire. Let their ethereal charms spiral your heart and lift you out of the doldrums and into a land of rainbows and unicorns. (AM)
Alberta Cross - 'Taking Control'
Lush sounding indie rock, with the emphasis on the rock. This bowls along in sprightly fashion like a Teenage Fanclub song on steroids. Forget the single though and head straight for the album. (SB)
Alex Metric - 'It Starts'
‘It Starts’ is lowest common denominator, indie-dance by numbers, a pumping bassline propels the track forwards but there’s nothing much going on. ‘Discotron’ is like Donna Summer tune, only without Donna Summer, eagled eyed maths fans will note that 1 minus 1 = 0. Like EMF with a personality bypass it is throwing crap at the student-disco wall and hoping something sticks. (SB)
Albino: 'I Love Everyone'
Misanthropic folk Christmas song that’s, ooh, about three weeks too early for anyone to give a toss. Makes you appreciate the genius of Slade and Jonah Lewie.(SB)
North Atlantic Oscillation - 'Callsigns' EP
This one has set off a mini ripple of muttering and brow furrowing around Music Fix towers. Like Syd era Pink Floyd as imagined by the laptop generation this oughtn’t to work but it’s proven to be irresistible. It’s all good but best of the bunch is the space cadet cover of The Flamingos 1959 doo wop obscurity ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’. Intriguing. (SB)
The Disco Students - 'I Met My Girlfriend at a Friars Gig'
A hybrid of old skool post-punk and pub rock this paean to long lost venues is kinda like The 101’ers plays Television Personalities. Peel would have loved it. (SB)
The Lancashire Hotpots - 'Carry You Home'
Taken from their upcoming Christmas album, 'Carry You Home' is the comedy band's attempt at a serious song just with the addition of bells because, you know, it can't be a Christmas song without bells now can it? Just ask The Darkness. Unfortunately this all just ends up a dreary, unmemorable track that wouldn't even impress you if a band in a local pub started playing it. (IS)
French Horn Rebellion - 'Up All Night'
Up All Night? I certainly will be. I now have this track stuck in my head and it's not going anywhere. Unfortunately, that's not such a good thing. Electro with pretentions of something more, French Horn Rebellion, would probably sit well as a support act for someone like Empire of the Sun, but on their own this listener is unimpressed. (CP)
Modern Cliches - 'Your Lucky Numbers'
Given the average age of the band members, Your Lucky Numbers is a reassuringly mature retro-pop track. Guitars and drums combine to create a quality backing to Phil Warson's vocals. Very good. (CP)
Flo Rida - 'Available' (feat Akon)
More nondescript hip-hop/pop from the Florida rapper. Akon adds little to the track that is likely to appeal to clubbers over and above music fans. Lacking the production values of the likes of Timbaland, there isn't much here to get too excited about. Certainly not unlistenable, but pretty forgettable all the same. (CP)
Paramore - 'Brick By Boring Brick'
Hayley Williams' brand of girl rock continues to demolish everything in its path. 'Brick By Boring Brick' is unlikely to do anything to halt its progress and every teenage girl across the country will already be rocking out to this and the opinion of a TMF hack isn't going to stop them. That said, it is infectious and catchy, so there's no reason to be disappointed. (CP)
Iglu & Hartly - 'Dedication'
Unfortunately, not a tribute to the late Roy Castle or Record Breakers, this is instead some sort of irritating over-produced noise, the likes of which I'd rather not be subjected to again. (CP)
Tiesto - 'Escape Me'
Above average shot of fizzy club pop and milky bars all around too for actually attempting to write a (for a dance record) half decent lyric. "Bottles under tyres, forget about your friends" whips "I'm gonna take you higher" any day of the week. (MJ)
Dead Kids - 'German Heart'
Spirited indie-rock with a dash of electro. At TMF, we’re always up for a video which features pussy. (JD)
Turbowolf - 'Let’s Die'
Lots of shouting. Guitars cranked up to eleven. All the charm of a sweaty oxter. One for committed rock monsters only. (JD)
Rogues - 'Widows' EP
This is 1984! Duran Duran want their keyboard and guitar sounds back. A more recent comparison might be Mansun. Rogues definitely have enough pop nous to build on and are a name you may well hear more of in the future.
It was certainly a close run thing for this week's prestigious prize of 'Single Of The Week' with claims ringing in from all sides supporting the likes of Modern Cliches and Tesla Boy. However, it was the one review of a particular single containing the pronunciation of the word 'gorgeousssss' (yes, with the 's' chained no less than five times) that settled it. Now where's that drum roll when you need one...
Piney Gir - 'Say I’m Sorry'
“You can take the girl out of Kansas, but you can't take the Kansas out of the girl,” states Piney’s MySpace. In 'Say I’m Sorry', she’s crafted a chiming marvellous country-pop song. That it’s perhaps just a wee bit too cute only adds to the irresistable charm in this instance. Even if you’re a grown man, it may make you dream of lying in the grass, twiddling a daisy. (JD)
The Heavy - 'No Time'
Tick-tock-tick-tock here we go! It’s Soul-o-clock with these ballsy rockers, who certainly mean business. For all that this track does well it does occasionally steps over the line into cheesy when Kelvin Swaby tends to over-sing things. We all know he can holler, but sometimes less is more. (AM)
Tesla Boy - 'Electric Lady'
Do you remember when you were young and Uncle Toby (he wasn’t really your uncle, he just lived next door - but for some reason you called him uncle) challenged you to eat a doughnut without licking your lips? Today the same challenges are set for Russian children. Can they resist throwing crazy shapes on the dance floor whilst Tesla Boy play? Of course they can’t! Those crazy kids will dance until their legs drop off. Now you can too with this fantastic single from the finest pop act in the world. (AM)
We Were Promised Jetpacks - 'It's Thunder And It's Lightning / Ships With Holes Will Sink'
An impressive Double-A side of tracks from their brilliant album These Four Walls. These Scottish kids might not cheer you up after Mr.Pusskins is reversed over by a van, but their abrasive style and passion are undeniably captivating. Whilst this includes no new material, it’s a timely reminder to anyone who hasn’t purchased the album to include it on their Christmas list. (AM)
The High Wire - 'Odds & Evens'
Blissed out melodies and sugary sweet boy/girl vocals are the order-of-the-day for The High Wire. Let their ethereal charms spiral your heart and lift you out of the doldrums and into a land of rainbows and unicorns. (AM)
Alberta Cross - 'Taking Control'
Lush sounding indie rock, with the emphasis on the rock. This bowls along in sprightly fashion like a Teenage Fanclub song on steroids. Forget the single though and head straight for the album. (SB)
Alex Metric - 'It Starts'
‘It Starts’ is lowest common denominator, indie-dance by numbers, a pumping bassline propels the track forwards but there’s nothing much going on. ‘Discotron’ is like Donna Summer tune, only without Donna Summer, eagled eyed maths fans will note that 1 minus 1 = 0. Like EMF with a personality bypass it is throwing crap at the student-disco wall and hoping something sticks. (SB)
Albino: 'I Love Everyone'
Misanthropic folk Christmas song that’s, ooh, about three weeks too early for anyone to give a toss. Makes you appreciate the genius of Slade and Jonah Lewie.(SB)
North Atlantic Oscillation - 'Callsigns' EP
This one has set off a mini ripple of muttering and brow furrowing around Music Fix towers. Like Syd era Pink Floyd as imagined by the laptop generation this oughtn’t to work but it’s proven to be irresistible. It’s all good but best of the bunch is the space cadet cover of The Flamingos 1959 doo wop obscurity ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’. Intriguing. (SB)
The Disco Students - 'I Met My Girlfriend at a Friars Gig'
A hybrid of old skool post-punk and pub rock this paean to long lost venues is kinda like The 101’ers plays Television Personalities. Peel would have loved it. (SB)
The Lancashire Hotpots - 'Carry You Home'
Taken from their upcoming Christmas album, 'Carry You Home' is the comedy band's attempt at a serious song just with the addition of bells because, you know, it can't be a Christmas song without bells now can it? Just ask The Darkness. Unfortunately this all just ends up a dreary, unmemorable track that wouldn't even impress you if a band in a local pub started playing it. (IS)
French Horn Rebellion - 'Up All Night'
Up All Night? I certainly will be. I now have this track stuck in my head and it's not going anywhere. Unfortunately, that's not such a good thing. Electro with pretentions of something more, French Horn Rebellion, would probably sit well as a support act for someone like Empire of the Sun, but on their own this listener is unimpressed. (CP)
Modern Cliches - 'Your Lucky Numbers'
Given the average age of the band members, Your Lucky Numbers is a reassuringly mature retro-pop track. Guitars and drums combine to create a quality backing to Phil Warson's vocals. Very good. (CP)
Flo Rida - 'Available' (feat Akon)
More nondescript hip-hop/pop from the Florida rapper. Akon adds little to the track that is likely to appeal to clubbers over and above music fans. Lacking the production values of the likes of Timbaland, there isn't much here to get too excited about. Certainly not unlistenable, but pretty forgettable all the same. (CP)
Paramore - 'Brick By Boring Brick'
Hayley Williams' brand of girl rock continues to demolish everything in its path. 'Brick By Boring Brick' is unlikely to do anything to halt its progress and every teenage girl across the country will already be rocking out to this and the opinion of a TMF hack isn't going to stop them. That said, it is infectious and catchy, so there's no reason to be disappointed. (CP)
Iglu & Hartly - 'Dedication'
Unfortunately, not a tribute to the late Roy Castle or Record Breakers, this is instead some sort of irritating over-produced noise, the likes of which I'd rather not be subjected to again. (CP)
Tiesto - 'Escape Me'
Above average shot of fizzy club pop and milky bars all around too for actually attempting to write a (for a dance record) half decent lyric. "Bottles under tyres, forget about your friends" whips "I'm gonna take you higher" any day of the week. (MJ)
Dead Kids - 'German Heart'
Spirited indie-rock with a dash of electro. At TMF, we’re always up for a video which features pussy. (JD)
Turbowolf - 'Let’s Die'
Lots of shouting. Guitars cranked up to eleven. All the charm of a sweaty oxter. One for committed rock monsters only. (JD)
Rogues - 'Widows' EP
This is 1984! Duran Duran want their keyboard and guitar sounds back. A more recent comparison might be Mansun. Rogues definitely have enough pop nous to build on and are a name you may well hear more of in the future.
It was certainly a close run thing for this week's prestigious prize of 'Single Of The Week' with claims ringing in from all sides supporting the likes of Modern Cliches and Tesla Boy. However, it was the one review of a particular single containing the pronunciation of the word 'gorgeousssss' (yes, with the 's' chained no less than five times) that settled it. Now where's that drum roll when you need one...
Piney Gir - 'Say I’m Sorry'
“You can take the girl out of Kansas, but you can't take the Kansas out of the girl,” states Piney’s MySpace. In 'Say I’m Sorry', she’s crafted a chiming marvellous country-pop song. That it’s perhaps just a wee bit too cute only adds to the irresistable charm in this instance. Even if you’re a grown man, it may make you dream of lying in the grass, twiddling a daisy. (JD)
