Singles: March 2011

Words: Saam Das

At the end of March, I checked the "March singles" folder in my inbox. 66 messages. Oh boy. A new record. It means that (for this month at least) I'm including an extra list of singles that I think are worth checking out. Before that come ten of my favourite/the "best" singles from March, which I heartily recommend. Listen to them all below.

New Patrick Wolf demo

So London troubadour Patrick Wolf made a demo from his fourth album available the other day via his MySpace. This coming after last year's apparent threat to quit music altogether (or at least not tour anymore?) followed by a hasty retraction. Or something like that, I got a bit confused. Read about it at Pitch4rk [link].

Although I enjoy his work, I'm no expert so I shall be consulting the wise fans on one of his messageboards for their views of 'Wargames', the new demo [link to forum]. Although can I first say, everytime I see the songtitle, I immediately think of the Matthew Broderick film of the same name. He almost starts a nuclear war via a computer game, watch it. Was Ally Sheedy a fittie? I can't really remember.



tivin thinks: "its Verrrry Lycanthropy innit?"
hex object ponders: "kinda Crystal Castles no?"
popyyyyyyyyy goes one further: "very crystal castles-esk!!!!!! eeeeeeeeeek!! excitement!!!!!!!!!!!"
a basket of kittens loves: "his return to noises"
victoria likes: "how the vocals are not the top of the track"
rain says: "At first I didn't like the beat, but it's growing on me. It sounds like it's from the same place as vulture and blackbird".
mynameisryanstiles believes: "the beat reminds me of stand up tall-esque dizzee rascal. or those 90's r'n'b/pop girl groups".
Marcus gets: "quite into it, and then it ends".
Sarah Motherfucking Records duly notes: "Let's be honest guys, Patrick could fart down a microphone, run over some puppies and homeless orphans and record their dying screams and crunching bones and put it on myspace as a 'demo', and everyone would still go apeshit over it".

Then the thread descends its semi-chaos after lighthouses proclaims: "I think it's a good thing this album being so bleak, shake all the clingers on dancing round their handbags to Magic Position. Don't need those fairweather types". What a lovely person.

Mr Wolf had this to say about the demo:

First, on my music player is an excerpt of a demo of a song called wargames, part of the more political, current affair part of the album It first started on my atari Back in the days when I had an atari str and a a couple of sturdy outboard samplers about eight years ago now rewritten over the last year as a battlecry my own battle against the apathetic technological age I debuted it in full with an amazing gospel choir at the barbican last winter in the plague songs
night with rufus wainwright and imogen heap, I performed as neolithic warrior complete with a bleeding skull for the climax with ondes martenot and full brass band... a personal highlight of last year..

So yeah, I can only really echo the praise given. It is only a demo so understandably raw, hopefully the end product will prove to be excellent, as with much of his other material. Here, see what you think.

Patrick Wolf - Wargames (Demo)[Yourfilehost download]//[Sendspace mirror]

You! Me! Blogging! Part 2

So while many people are still being a bit silly about Klaxons winning the Mercury Music Prize (c'mon guys, M People even won it!), I will be forging on with my new blogger feature.

John Sheil//London//[Beneath The Dutts]
John is into a lot of the same music I am and if you go to his blog, you'll find him veering between cynicism and enthusiasm, whereas I always remain somewhere in between.

John says he created the Beneath The Dutts "because I really liked finding new music from all these blogs, so I thought I might try my hand and it is at least one thing constructive in my life". Seeing as he answered all my questions, I'd say he's done at least two constructive things in his life now.



His most loved track from his blog is 'Augustine' by the ever-so-metrosexual Patrick Wolf. "He is truly original and completely different to the guitar plague currently happening. That particular song speaks volumes to me".

When asked about what bands we should be watching for, John reckons "after seeing Tokyo Police Club and Late of the Pier at Reading, those two are going to massive next year. But a lot of people already know about them so I'll go for Elle S'Appelle or even Kevin Tuffy as my 'surprises'".

Patrick Wolf - Augustine [right click, save as]//[Sendspace link]

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Jade McDonald//Kirriemuir, Scotland//[i want to hear what you've got to say]
At the moment Jade's blog is looking a bit sparse music wise (as it's mainly a lifestyle blog) but with her youthful exuberance, it's worth checking back on it in the future. Her Scottish upbringing means she recommended many bands that people reading this might be unaware of. Jade thinks The Law, We Smoke Fags, The Brogues, Luva-Anna, Astro Firs, Damn Shames and Popup all deserve to be big so keep an eye out!

She started the blog, which originally began as part of her Livejournal, as she felt "the need to share music I love with people". She feels the need to share so much that when I asked her for her favourite track posted so far, she gave me three! "I like all of them because they were the soundtrack to my summer really, as cliched as that sounds". Visit Jade's blog for alternative download links.

Giant Drag - Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover) [right click, save as]
Regina Spektor - Loveology [right click, save as]
Air Traffic - Shooting Star [right click, save as]

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Jamila Scott//Manchester (soon to be London), England//[Fucking Dance]
Jamila put a naughty word in the name of her blog, although not quite as naughty as the word in that single by The Teenagers. Thankfully, her output is a bit less silly and a bit more ace. She also runs a fanzine called Bizarre Prostitution, although that's taking a bit of a breather at the moment. Fucking Dance came to life as Jamila is "always banging on about some new band i've discovered and blogging about it seemed like a good way to get that out to a wider audience than just my friends".



Jamila thinks people should be/are buzzing about "anything coming out of the American Experimental scene. Everyone pretty much knows about Vampire Weekend, YACHT and Dirty Projectors. UK shows late this year!" On a similar note, she plumps for 'Chemicals And Cowboy Boots' by Nick Miller as her favourite Fucking Dance track. "It sounds so timeless, and evokes a crazy flood of all types of emotions in me. Radiohead meets Anthony And The Johnsons. It's haunting and touching and exciting all at the same time".

Nick Miller - Chemicals And Cowboy Boots [right click, save as]//Also downloadable on Nick's [MySpace]

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I hope you manage to check these blogs out and yes, I was being a bit lazy when I couldn't be bothered to do extra download links, sorry. Part 3 coming soon and maybe even a Part 4 but I won't get ahead of myself...

Patrick Wolf & The Wombats Radio Sessions

So as promised, here are radio sessions from two of the brightest acts to come out of Britain for sometime - south London troubadour Patrick Wolf and Liverpudlian cheeky chappies The Wombats. Both are really great sessions and exhibit some mighty fine tracks!

First up is Patrick Wolf's magical Music Response session for XFM [link] to showcase his new album, The Magic Position. Featuring the poptastic single of the same name, an album track (which is as close as you can get to Patrick Wolf pretending to be The Cure) and an enchanting cover of 'Moon River' - which is apparently a really famous song sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's, not that I knew that till I googled it, my woeful cultural knowledge has been exposed.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (XFM Music Response Session)
Patrick Wolf - Get Lost (XFM Music Response Session)
Patrick Wolf - Moon River (XFM Music Response Session)

Now for "the hottest unsigned act in the UK" - The Wombats. So they're carrying around this massive unsigned tag like The Long Blondes did not so long ago but on the evidence of this radio session (04/04/07), it can't be long till a major label snaps them up. Probable forthcoming single 'Kill The Director' is the best yet (which is saying loads because I loved the other singles), a ridiculous foot-stomping singalong - "Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand"! Complete with one of the catchiest choruses of the year to boot. Also included is the hook filled current single 'Backfire At The Disco' and new track 'School Uniform', a rant against the oppressive clothing of our education but unsurprisingly catchy.

The Wombats - Backfire At The Disco (BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe Session)
The Wombats - Kill The Director (BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe Session)
The Wombats - School Uniform (BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe Session)

Buy Patrick Wolf's third album The Magic Position from HMV [link]
Buy The Wombats new single 'Backfire At The Disco' from HMV [link]

Covers are nice, like sugar and spice

I really want to post loads of amazing tracks I've got hold of recently but I'm just going to hold some stuff back for now - treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen after all! But this post shouldn't disappoint with Maximo Park adding a northern twist to The Proclaimers' classic '500 Miles' and Patrick Wolf's fantastic interpretation of 'On Sussex Downs' by Larrikin Love. In fact, more Patrick Wolf will be coming soon so if you're a fan keep checking back!

So Maximo Park recently did a BBC Radio 1 session for Jo Whiley (in the "live lounge"), playing their latest single 'Our Velocity' and then performed a cover. They chose to take on 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' by Scottish band The Proclaimers - who still seem to be going to this day! The Maximo Park intro actually sounds a bit like Patrick Wolf's material before Paul Smith's distinctive vocals kick in. An energetic, yet at times haunting cover ensues which let's be honest, is miles better than the Comic Relief 2007 cover [link]. Okay, okay, I'll let them off because it's for charity! Nothing beats the original obviously though. Still, gotta love The Proclaimers' appearance on the ridiculously funny Family Guy:

Maximo Park - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge

Whereas Maximo Park are now well and truly established, Patrick Wolf is only just gaining mainstream coverage following his third album 'The Magic Position'. Crossing and mixing broad genres such as classical and folk, perhaps his newfound success is a reflection of a more poppy ethos on the new album? Nonetheless, Patrick is one of the most creative artists around at the moment (he actually spent a year at Trinity College Of Music studying composition) at the tender age of 23. Here, he transforms Larrikin Love's 'On Sussex Downs' into a darker, bewitching affair. A more melancholy version, it compliments the already impressive original with a lovely string arrangement. Releasing one of the year's most vibrant singles ('The Magic Position') has done him no harm and who knows, you might be hearing Patrick Wolf once again soundtracking cricket highlights as I recently did.

Patrick Wolf - On Sussex Downs

As a bonus, here's a Patrick Wolf (techno-ish!) remix of Larrikin Love's 'Happy As Annie'
Larrikin Love - Happy As Annie (Patrick Wolf Remix)

Buy the new Maximo Park album 'Our Earthly Pleasures' from HMV [link]
Buy Patrick Wolf'a new album 'The Magic Position' from HMV [link]
Buy Larrikin Love's debut album 'The Freedom Spark' from HMV [link]
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OBLIGATORY PODCAST MENTION
If you haven't already listened to/downloaded my podcast (you'll have done well to avoid it!), then please check it out [link]. It features some of the finest new british bands about such as Johnny Foreigner and goFASTER>> and also new singles from Help She Can't Swim and Distophia. Thanks loads if you've listened/downloaded it already, means a great deal to me!