Calvin Harris – Ready for the Weekend
The adoration of the Bebo generation seems to have gone to this usually self-deprecating singer's head. Having drafted in a super-house, Ministry of Sound-style female chorus, his verses are delivered with the arch campness of Freddie Mercury. Not a particularly pleasing combination. And yet … kids bloody love him. Despite being born in the 80s, I am clearly too old to be a Calvin Harris fan.
Jack White – Fly Farm Blues
Grunge guitars, squawking vocals and blues riffs that sound like they originated from a 20s tin shack in Tennessee. I know what you're thinking: that sounds just like the White Stripes. And it does! It is, therefore, a mystery to us why Jack has gone Meg-less. We hope it's not the tell-tale sign of a break-up, like when one half asks for a "bit of space" to "think things over on their own", and next thing you know they're making sweet rawk with another woman. Oh ….
Listen to Fly Farm Blues
Paolo Nutini – Coming Up Easy
"I usually listen to Oldies radio," begins one of the comments on YouTube under this clip, which I think we can all agree is not a good start. "But (I) hit the scan button on my radio, and this song was playing. I thought it was a lost song by Otis Redding. Then the lyrics hooked me. OMG! What a fantastic song. I will get this CD tomorrow! All I can say is WOW!" Otis Redding? Try a Van Morrison impersonator after a 12-hour bender. One suspects these enthusiastic words were written by a record-label employee. The reference to the good old-fashioned compact disc would certainly suggest as much.
Miike Snow – Animal
These days, bands have their press releases drafted before they've even written their first single. And yet Swedish band Miike Snow still retain a bit of mystery. What we know about them is this: they are Swedish, they are in a band, none of them are called Mike (or Miike) and two of them wrote Britney Spears's Toxic. Cool, eh? We also know that their Brian Wilson-channelling single ticks all the boxes: uplifting lyrics, appealing use of an effects pedal and a hook that will stay lodged in your brain until the end of time. OK, so maybe until the end of the day. Enjoy it, before we see them on 4Music explaining how they sound like the Beach Boys, Animal Collective and Bo Diddley stuck in a lift.
The XX – Basic Space
Finally, a good week for singles! First some groovy Swedish pop, now some unbelievably mellow R&B-influenced indie from an exceedingly hip south London quartet who cite Aaliyah as an influence and never knowingly dress in anything but black. Subtle twinges of guitar, soft beats, a vague hint of melody and laidback vocals. It's almost enough to banish those memories of Calvin Harris.
