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Kicking out a thumping bassline and full of Barry Dobbin’s typically eccentric high pitched vocals, Clor’s ‘Good Stuff’ is a three and a half minute quirky pop treat. The 
verses meander contemplatively around Dobbin’s musings about “sucking poisonous juices” through “curly straws” while the chorus jives frenetically in a flurry of beats and funk riffs. A rare knack but apparent in spades here is that Clor have the ability to pull you in, draw you close and permanently implant themselves in your heart forever within the space of one song.
A whole lot dirtier and a whole lot darker than their super cool, super styled debut ‘Love Is A Number’, White Rose Movement’s latest ‘Alsatian’ takes their self described synth-rock-disco to whole other plain. Rather than oozing, it grinds cool out of every pore with abrasive menacing riffs. Finn Vine’s aggressively searing vocals and twisting synthesized movements that build and build to a four minute crescendo. White Rose Movement have a bite that's just as vicious as their bark.
This week Feeder fans get two songs for the price of one with the release of Double A-side ‘Shatter/Tender’ but with both plumbing the depths of staid MOR melodic rock you could hardly call it value for money. ‘Shatter’ edges it in terms of quality but still manages to sound like a cast off from the last Stereophonics album. Meanwhile, ‘Tender’ is the kind of turgid, dreary ballad that invokes projectile vomiting rather than the heartfelt emotion it’s targeting. Save your pennies and save your ears.
In fact use the cash you saved not buying the Feeder single to buy the other Double A -sider out this week, the remixes of The Prodigy classics ‘Out Of Space' and 'Voodoo People’. While the Audio Bully's reworking of 'Out Of Space' may not be too adventurous, the Pendulum version of 'Voodoo People' is a truely awesome take on the original. Cramming in more BPM than a Keith Moon machine gun-esque drum solo and enough bass to cause several earthquakes there's enough vibrating electonic beats here to fry your brains.
Montreal knob twiddler extraordinaire Tiga gets a little help from his friends Soulwax and Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) and aptly produces an effortless floor filler in the form of ‘You Gonna Want Me’. The pace is laid back, the beats hypnotic and the vocal delivery cool as fuck - perfect for dropping at 4am during an all night gurn-athon and don’t 2 Many DJs know it as it’s now a staple of many of their sets. Check out the darker and even more cerebral B-side ‘Do It Don’t Stop’ for more proof the Canadian knows his way around an electronic rhythm in style.
Re-releases these days are as regular as the latest football rape case or tawdry cocaine Kate headline. The latest to hit Gigwise’s in-tray is El Presidente’s ‘Rocket’ which first saw the light of day in the final weeks of 2004. Like a throw back to early 70's glam-rock, fused with a sprinkle of disco and maybe a smidgen camp cool, it's no wonder all and sundry are currently referring to them as the “Glaswegian Scissor Sisters”. Infectious as hell and with a hidden sleazy underbelly it seems certain to launch them onto many a music lover's radar.
Gigwise can’t seem to find a good reason to like Alfie, and we constantly remain indifferent. ‘Where Did Our Loving Go?’ does nothing to change this feeling. Yes, they produce perfectly good 'float on the breeze' summer-pop ballads that should lift the spirits, but they lack that little spark to really pull at the heart strings. Here they glide through four minutes of syrupy melodies at a pedestrian pace. Sorry Alfie, there just wasn’t any love in the first place.
Proving that good song writing is far from a dead art Stephen Fretwell’s ode to starting a new life in the Big Apple - ‘New York’ - is a beautifully crafted, romanticised acoustic take on a city you’d normally associate with noise, sleaze and rock n roll. Sometimes it may drift towards the David Gray end of the musical spectrum, but if you block twitchy headed warbler from your mind for a couple of minutes you’ll hear lyrical creativity at it’s simple best. By the end you’ll be wanting to book a one way ticket to the city that never sleeps.
The Departure peaked too early, their first few singles were stone cold angular post-punk anthems but ‘Arms Around Me’ sees them lose that form and fall into a world of dreariness. Gone are the driving straight lines and razor sharp 90 degree angle shifts, instead we’re left with a gloopy mess of riffs that go nowhere and empty sentiments. The lacklustre nature of the whole thing makes the four minutes of it’s duration feel like an age, in fact it could easily induce a coma. The Departure have left the building.
Rough around the edges and as raw as they come, just the way we like it, The Roger Sisters return with the pre-new album taster ‘Emotional Control’. Crashing drum beats reverberate around metallic guitars that jut out from behind a rolling bassline at every given opportunity. All that plus the spiky attitude of Jennifer Rogers and a monochrome vocal performance from honorary sister Miyuki Furtado as he continually repeats the lines “I want, don’t want, I wanna be free, don’t want it, I want it’. We like, you like.
Turkey of the week: Simply Red go Latin on ‘Perfect Love‘, it makes you want to slit your wrists. The ginger twat's press insist on sending us this rubbish, so Gigwise insists on telling them what a complete pile of shit it is. Hucknall don’t patronise us with this faux World Music bollocks. What, did you go on an all-inclusive holiday to the Puerto Rico last winter or something? Did you go to the hotels weekly local entertainment night with the special Caribbean style BBQ? Quite frankly, the UN should introduce sanctions on you for crimes against humanity.
Best of the Rest:
Earth The Californian Love Dream – 'Blackstuff'
Like a trippy, west coast beach culture version of Queens Of The Stone Age ETCLD rock like fuck but tag on sun-bleached melodies.A pretty darn good combination if you ask us.
Aberfeldy - 'Summer's Gone'
It may sound like they spent a day in nursery school while writing this song but there is no denying that the simple melody and childlike lyrics are the perfect blend of sweetness and light.
Snap Ant - 'Grumpy Nymph'
Not strictly out this week; they sent us the CD late but we are slowly falling in love with Snap Ant. Inventive, slightly off kilter electro-pop with a jerking rhythm and the kookiest of vocals.
