Singles & Downloads

Single of the month: Poliça - ‘Dark Star'

Other releases by Liars, Tribes, Childish Gambino and Hot Chip also reviewed

22 May 2012

The pile of pre-summer releases on The List’s doorstep this month was rather intimidating, but here is a round-up of the best (and rest). Liars new track, ‘No 1 Against The Rush’ (Mute Song ●●●), is three-and-a-half minutes of slithering synths and…

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

Also featuring Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny

27 Apr 2012

What’s the consensus on imitation to the point that it rivals, perhaps even betters the source? Well, Glasgow’s Marvel Heights almost achieve such an accolade, kicking off this month’s singles run-down with their straight-outta-Paramore, angsty rock…

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Django Django, Kate Bush and Lightships also reviewed

28 Mar 2012

TS Eliot got it wrong. April is not the cruellest month. Not where our ear canals are concerned, anyway. April is killing us with its pop kindness. Take ‘Storm’ (●●●●, Because), a sojourn into sun-dappled collage-rock, courtesy of vintage exoticists…

Psyche and Wounded Knee share Single of the Month title

Also featuring Martin Creed, Ladyhawke and Estelle

28 Feb 2012

What this world needs is more high-concept ephemera created by actual, proper artists like Martin Creed, who create minute-long folk ditties like ‘Where You Go’ (Telephone) ●●● amidst light switch-flicking their way to the Turner Prize and Scotsman…

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Django Django, The Twilight Sad and more also reviewed

3 Feb 2012

Come hither and let us imagine a world, a perfect world – a realm in which Kim Wilde is engaged in a goth-disco tryst with The Sisters of Mercy. Think about it. Harder. Got it? Congratulations, you are now playing ‘Lafaye’ (●●●●, Full Time Hobby), the…

Single of the month: Trailer Trash Tracys ‘Candy Girl / Strangling Good Guys’

Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys and more also reviewed

5 Jan 2012

Music snobs love to flame Florence and the Machine these days. But as ‘No Light No Light’ (Island) ●●●● proves, Welch does epic, pagan pop pretty much perfectly. Her only crime is that lots of people now like it. They’d no doubt sneer at the recent…

Singles of the month: She & Him's 'Christmas Day' and Laki Mera's 'Crater (Mogwai remix)'

The Plimptons, Smith & Burrows, Trailer Trash Tracys and more

6 Dec 2011

This being ‘the Christmas issue’, there are a few festive tracks in the mix. The Plimptons (16 Ohm) ●● release ‘Christmas All Over This Town’ – Madness type fun but with love ‘em/hate ‘em vocals. Smith & Burrows, comprised of Editors’ Tom Smith and…

Single of the month: Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks’ ‘Senator’

James Morrison feat. Jessie J, Erasure, Kelly Rowland, Vaccines and more also reviewed

15 Nov 2011

At last, the collaboration we’ve all been waiting for! Yes, it’s James Morrison feat. Jessie J ‘Up’ (Island) ●● and it’s astonishing that they’ve come up with a lump of saccharine X-Factor duet fodder and not the greatest song you’ve ever heard. What…

Singles of the month: Mummy Short Arms 'Change'

The Kills, Blood Orange, The Pierces, Wild Beasts and more

20 Oct 2011

As we prepare to stare winter right in the face, we find ourselves in the throes of record labels’ last real push for glory before the Christmas single sprint. The Kills lead a heavy charge from Domino but sadly, with ‘Baby Says’ (Domino) ●, they…

Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells and Malcolm Middleton are pick of September singles

Jens Lekman, Josh T Pearson and Django Django also among highlights

16 Sep 2011

The humble lyric is oft-overlooked in the quick-fix rush of the singles market. Come hither, then, as we salute the month’s most loquacious quality popsters. No such discourse would be complete without a nod to Swedish indie-bard Jens Lekman, whose…

Single of the Month: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins’ ‘Honest Words’

Also reviewed: Katy B, Ghostpoet, Anna Calvi, Airship and Ed Sheeran

24 Aug 2011

As Mercury Price fever ensues, there’s a last-minute dash to make the most of this extra attention, however, the resulting singles are admittedly a bit hit and miss. The latter is unfortunately the case for Katy B’s scatty, 90s dance rip-off…

Single of the week: Tigers by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Bombay Bicycle Club and Alpines among singles & downloads

16 Aug 2011

What’s to be found in this week’s musical sack of treasures? Some whining, some honky tonk and some mildly threatening Mafia references, as it turns out. Nerina Pallot’s ‘Turn Me On Again’ (Geffen) is an ode to sexual tension, favouring a trite rhyming…

M83 and Jens Lekman among highlights of August singles and downloads

Wynter Gordon, Toddla T and How To Swim also feature

10 Aug 2011

Music must mostly be on its holidays considering how light the singles bag is this month, but in the pursuit of assessing shortplayers The List does not rest, just don’t blame us if we’re grouchy. That means you, Hard-Fi. Why must you offend us so with…

Single of the Week: Joan as Police Woman - 'Chemmie'

Charlie Simpson, Howler, Letters, The Last Battle and more reviewed

3 Aug 2011

We are to be assured that Charlie Simpson is well and truly out of short trousers on ‘Parachutes’ (CSM Records ●●●). Lyrically, things have matured past his chart-friendly pop-punkster days and his light rock would perhaps appeal to admirers of…

Singles of the month: Blood Orange - Sutphin Boulevard

Radiohead, Seafieldroad, Bright Eyes, and more also reviewed

18 Jul 2011

It’s a good month for Scots musicians, both electronic and otherwise. Probably the best ever, in fact, for 24-year-old Aberdonian Emeli Sandé with ‘Heaven’ (EMI) ●●●●, her instantly recognisable, ‘Unfinished Sympathy’-like major label debut after…

Singles and downloads May/June 2011

Battles' ‘Ice Cream’ take Single of the Month title

31 May 2011

The phrase ‘singer-songwriter and professional footballer’ would have most reviewers frisbeeing a CD into the bin faster than you can say ‘super-injunction’, but fortunately enough for Kevin Rutkiewicz it’s a fan of his club, the mighty Dunfermline…

Singles of the month: Gyratory System and Something Beginning with L

'New Harmony' and 'Angel Sized' best tracks of March/April 2011

24 Mar 2011

You join The List in a proper strop. Blame Aaron Wright’s ‘Trampoline’ (Dset) ● and ‘Interrupt’ (Albino) ● by Toy Horses; the latter all timid boy vocals and Turin Brakes-isms; the former reminding us that we hate the bloody Kooks. We also hate the…

Single of the fortnight: Austra - Beat and Pulse

Single reviews February 2011

18 Feb 2011

Alexis Jordan, Arthur's Landing, Austra, Cults, Jacques Greene, Lupe Fiasco, Lykke Li, Martin Creed, Music, Naum Gabo, Neon Trees, Penguins Kill Polar Bears, and Verse Metrics all reviewed.

Randan Discotheque's Heather the Weather - Single of the Month

Singles & downloads January 2011

14 Jan 2011

The humanoid is often wracked with existential angst at the turn of the year. This malady will be aggravated by the latest release from Sandi Thom. One is likely to suffer unyielding conundrums like: why has this single been released? And: why has Thom…

Christmas singles and downloads - December 2010

15 Dec 2010

Message to Corey Taylor of Slipknot: nobody likes a Scrooge in a death mask. ‘You know where to stick those jingle bells’ is not a fitting festive sentiment for your debut solo single, ‘X-M@$’ (Roadrunner). Still, it's preferable to the yuletide…

Twin Sister - All Around and Away We Go - Single of the Fortnight

Singles and Downloads - 30 Nov 2010

30 Nov 2010

Wow. Whisper it, but we might just have stumbled upon one of the most half-decent months of Singles & Downloads in recent memory. Where to start? How about in the most unlikely of places, with Plan B ’s ‘Love Goes Down’ (679) ●●● and the continuing…

Wild Palms' emotional and energy-fuelled 'To The Lighthouse' is single of the fortnight

Singles and Downloads - 3 Nov 2010

1 Nov 2010

Nadine Coyle first shot to fame with Girls Aloud, Steve Mason is ex-Beta Band and Kele used to be in (yes, yes we get it now) Bloc Party. So it’s a ‘solo project’ party to kick things off in The List’s singles swag bag this issue. Sadly ‘Insatiable…

Singles & Downloads - 6th October 2010

Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers - Can’t Stop

6 Oct 2010

What fresh hell is this? Eardrum-abusing punky indie duo The Ting Tings, as mixed by chart-dance hitmaker Calvin Harris ? A ● and a big sloppy raspberry too to ‘Hands’ (Columbia), which is very soon to be a dancefloor anthem at a cheesy provincial…

Singles & Downloads

15 Aug 2010

Is there just no stopping Robyn? What with her three albums in a year and her electro-pop victories, and her masquerade as an inferior fembot going by the name of Sky Ferreira, and – sorry, what’s that you say? Ferreira is in fact a Portuguese-American…

Singles and downloads - July 2010

This month's batch of songs to look out for

30 Jul 2010

Mercury Prize nominee Corinne Bailey Rae takes a sassy new direction in ‘Closer’ (Parlophone) ●●●● – from her new album The Sea – a smoother, more soulful, more kick-ass effort than the sugary rom-com soundtrack stuff she seems to have, mercifully, left…