Singles & Downloads

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…

Singles & downloads - 30th June 2010

7 Jul 2010

The great thing about Super Adventure Club is that they don’t take themselves too seriously – which is ideal as it’s impossible to take them seriously. ‘Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle’ (Armellodie Records) ●●● is a highly strung burst of weird psychedelic…

Singles and Downloads - June 2010

9 Jun 2010

And so the hominids of this wretched earth confronted the perpetual question, as they had done oft since time immemorial, or at least since Charlene soared out of Neighbours and onto the pop throne 23 (23!) years ago: have you heard the new Kylie…

Singles and downloads - May 4th 2010

4 May 2010

Trying to be cool is often the death of decent music, so let’s avoid style mag darlings and delve into the hinterlands of good tunesmithery. First up are Glaswegian foursome Kassidy who look and sound like they’re from Big Sur circa 1972. ‘Stray Cat…

Singles and downloads - April 14th 2010

15 Apr 2010

The singles pile: always an education. What have we learnt this time? Only that Sandi Thom still lives, breathes and makes singy-like noises, this time aided and abetted by widely-revered American guitar-twiddler Joe Bonamassa on ‘This Ol’ World…

Singles and downloads - February 2010

17 Feb 2010

Let’s start this time with the newie from Sugababes version (counts on fingers) 4.0, because a new Sugababes single, ace or execrable, will always be worthy of discussion. And ‘Wear My Kiss’ (Island) ●●● is certainly blessed with a memorable chorus…

Singles & downloads - Mon 18 Jan 2009

20 Jan 2010

It’s a new year and The List is feeling all aquiver. You see, our appetite has already been whetted by a whole host of new acts filling our ears with futuristic pioneering pop, so be warned: for this issue’s track reviews, derivative idiotmusic will NOT…

Singles and Downloads

17 Dec 2009

Homecoming is over, right? So it’s OK to say that Hue and Cry are canine excrement of the highest order? Their version of the Rolf Harris ‘classic’ ‘Two Little Boys’ (Blair Hill) is a painfully smug loungecore abomination, an affront to all human ears…

Christmas singles 2009 roundup

The Xmas Factor

2 Dec 2009

The dull predictably of The X Factor now means that some putty-faced goon will get a Christmas number one single every year from now until the apocalypse, followed in the top ten by an army of insentient reality TV drones. Yet, in the face of this sad…

Singles & downloads - November 2009

13 Nov 2009

The List is getting in touch with its feminine side this fortnight; hoping we can get through this latest selection of singles and downloads while pretending that boys don’t even exist. Ewww boys. Much fuss has been made of the fact that lots of female…

Singles and Downloads

From Julian Casablancas to Paulo Nutini, with some actual interesting stuff in between

15 Oct 2009

Anticipating the arrival of a new White Stripes or Strokes release? Well, you’ll just have to make do with a couple of self-indulgent solo-projects via respective indie-rawk frontmen Jack and Julian. While the former cult icon and his Dead Weather…

Singles & Downloads

1 Oct 2009

There’s an almost embarrassing number of good local bands dishing out fine efforts this time. One name that may be familiar is Ming Ming and the Ching Chings, whose double A-side ‘Show Off’/‘OUT in the West of Scotland’ (Badly Built) ●●●● is an errant…

Singles and downloads

Your tunes for the week

21 Aug 2009

Sugababes are sexy and, bless ‘em, they want us to be sexy too, so they’re imploring us to ‘Get Sexy’ (Island) ●●. Strange, then, with all that sexy-talk in the air, the single should be an insipid rehashing of that deeply unsexy Right Said Fred song…

Singles and Downloads

The good and less good of what's out this week

14 Aug 2009

Art Brut - ‘DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshakes’, Eric Hassle - ‘Don’t Bring Flowers’, Jack Penate - ‘Pull My Heart Away’, Lily Allen - ‘22’, Biffy Clyro ‘That Golden Rule’

Singles and Downloads

6 Aug 2009

Much touted at the start of the year, Little Boots’ takeover of planet pop hasn’t quite materialised, and ‘Remedy’ (679) won’t change that. A decent enough pop strut with obligatory chunky synths and singalong chorus, it lacks the personality of her…

Singles and downloads

29 Jul 2009

Virtually no one releases good singles in August. The charts are full of summer pap while decent acts are up to their knees in festival mud. So hello, Dolores ‘The Cranberries’ O’Riordan, whose ‘The Journey’ (Cooking Vinyl) is utterly anaemic, dreary…

Singles & Downloads

9 Jul 2009

Time was that the onset of summer beckoned a slew of novelty singles, courtesy of cartoon pop ingénues, often replete with carefree dance moves. You know: The Vengaboys’ ‘Going to Ibiza’; Los del Rio’s ‘Macarena’; Whigfield’s ‘Saturday Night’. Ah, happy…

Singles & Downloads

22 Jan 2009

When is an EP not an EP? When it’s basically a single plus three forgettable remixes, ala Future Loop Foundation ’s ‘The Sea & the Sky EP’ (Just) •• – a decent floaty chill out tune all told, but surrounded by such unnecessary filler tracks as to do a…

Singles & Downloads

8 Jan 2009

My New Year’s resolution was to give all music the benefit of the doubt but Travis are making it difficult. According to their press release they’re now at their ‘loudest, edgiest and most arresting’ since their debut. If only that description bore any…

Singles & Downloads

11 Dec 2008

By the time you read this there will be no escaping it: the country will be brainwashed and swamped by X Factor mania, swaying in a zombified state to a bland and inspid version of ‘Hallelujah’ and I’ll have attempted to eat my own ears. Again. So…

Singles & Downloads

27 Nov 2008

What’s that Lassie? Name+Relucto are trapped down the well? ‘Spawnofspoon EP’ (Hum+Haw) ••• is a plinky-plonky kind of techno that is thankfully less like being punched hard in the face over and over, and more like the voices in your head have taken to…

Singles & Downloads

30 Oct 2008

You know times are tough when you have to resort to Tony Christie to get you through the day. OK, the climate’s shagged and the banks are collapsing, but it’s the piffling amount of brilliant tracks that’s really getting my goat this issue. What? Us…

Singles & Downloads

16 Oct 2008

The challenge for The View is to avoid ‘doing a Fratellis’, i.e. delivering an underwhelming second album thereby massaging the feeling that all your early promise was based on one good song. Sad to say, the rowdy but slight jangle of ‘5 Rebbeccas…

Singles & Downloads

2 Oct 2008

Nothing draws a groan of predictably quite like finding a new Oasis shortplayer on top of the singles pile, so we’ll keep this brief. ‘Shock of the Lightning’ (Big Brother) •• is another bit of drony fluff Noel Gallagher probably found down the back of…

Singles & Downloads - Local Special

18 Sep 2008

Locally-sourced produce is all the rage these days, so let’s have a cheeky wee Scottish round-up this issue, eh? Quality meat to kick off in the form of Frightened Rabbit, whose ‘I Feel Better’/’The Twist’ (Fat Cat) •••• is excellently jittery, skittery…

Singles & Downloads

3 Jul 2008

Why is there so much slickly produced, pretend-to-be-credible pop around these days? Newton Faulkner, Amy MacDonald, The Hoosiers, Sara Bareilles – the insipid list just keeps on getting longer. Eurgh, and here’s another one; the emotionless and utterly…

Singles & Downloads

19 Jun 2008

It’s definitely a good fortnight for bizarre and beautiful sounds. For those who like their tunes a little out of leftfield, there are some ear-bending audio treats in store. For those who don’t, there’s always Nickelback ’s soft-rock mush on…

Singles & Downloads

5 Jun 2008

This month’s singles and downloads is pretty special, with a mix of deranged French experimental, dubstep soul, a minimal masterpiece and a sublime piece of R&B/hip hop from a duo that you just know are going to deliver something standout... There’s…

Singles & Downloads

22 May 2008

It may be happy coincidence, or just a refusal to write about the new Rascals single, but there’s only good stuff left in the pile this issue, meaning everyone deserves a big sloppy one on the lips for their efforts. Dead or American have run at…

Singles & Downloads

8 May 2008

Get ready, kids, it’s New Morrissey Single of the Fortnight time! And this one’s a stormer, all taut and driving, and laced with that familiar austerity which, you suspect, hides a well of uncertainty somewhere just below the surface. And it’s got these…

Singles & Downloads

24 Apr 2008

Independents, ie self-released records and downloads, are the current music industry trailblazers, but talk of ‘independence’ may account for the broad Scots accents on at least some of the current local releases. Comrade Down – 1/3 of former John Peel…

Singles & Downloads

10 Apr 2008

Life’s shit enough, so this issue we’re only gonna review good stuff. So, no Libertines-influenced jangle monkeys, no dodgy hip hop, no execrable manufactured pop or R&B, no po-faced nu-metal (you have no idea). Only quality, original tunes will make it…

Singles: Electronica Special

27 Mar 2008

Of late, the singles and downloads review has been driven more towards the indie scene, understandable perhaps, given the lack of creativity in dance music lately. But while all this ‘real band’ resurgence has been going on, electronic music has found…

Singles & Downloads

13 Mar 2008

Hurrying past James Blunt and Bryan’s Adams’ new singles, let’s start at the only logical place, the ‘Start Beginning’ (FDM Records) ••• with Nizlopi (of ‘JCB Song’ notoriety) and their relentlessly optimistic, acoustic pop rainbow of a song that could…

Singles & Downloads

28 Feb 2008

With Spring’s arrival comes a whole bunch of new tracks from bands who are readying an assault on 2008, and boys with guitars look set to feature just as heavily this year as in any other. Or resilient old fellas with guitars, as The Charlatans ’ ‘Oh…

Singles & Downloads

14 Feb 2008

The trouble with being trendy and much touted is that, at some point, you’ve got to produce the goods. Indie ugly mugs The Cribs singularly fail to do so with ‘I’m a Realist’ (Wichita) •, a tuneless, insipid, po-faced sub-Razorlight jangle. Ditto for…

Singles & Downloads

4 Jan 2008

With January a dry month for releases, the New Year seems a good time to catch up on some left-field singles that have shamefully slipped through the net in this old-fashioned vinyl-only special. Edinburgh’s Wee Black Skelf is the most unsung but…

Singles & Downloads

29 Nov 2007

As it’s all a bit gloomy outside at the moment, here’s a mellow selection of singles to wrap your freezing fingers round. Starting off the collection is the latest offering from Kate Walsh ‘Tonight’ (Mercury - 3 stars), with vocals so warm and lovely…

Singles & Downloads

15 Nov 2007

There’s a definite sense of gloom hanging over this fortnight’s bunch, particularly from the Glaswegians. Make Model prove that misery needn’t be without a sense of humour in ‘The Was’ (EMI) ••••, whose grungy cries of ‘Comatose stoned/Softening the…

Singles & Downloads

18 Oct 2007

Pop music. What’s the point of it all? Why, quite clearly to ensure that the horrifying likes of McFly can continue to be the beneficiaries of monumental marketing campaigns when all their original fans are surely thinking about starter mortgages these…

Singles & Downloads

4 Oct 2007

That’s it. I’m officially breaking up with Kate Nash. I defended ‘Foundations’ long after everyone else had gone right off it, but the bathroom sink drama of ‘Mouthwash’ (Fiction - 2 stars) with its cringily self-aware opener ‘This... is my face’, is…

Singles & Downloads

6 Sep 2007

It’s Autumn again and, as ever, there are a sack full of new singles struggling to squeeze into limited radio rotation spots like fat men caught in a revolving door. Just as scientists have a tough time predicting natural disasters, gauging how…

Singles & Downloads

23 Aug 2007

Without the right tunes, a buff set of pipes are about as much use as a pair of boxfresh Nikes to a landmine victim. For proof, check out London’s latest supposedly hot-prospect Bobby Kray ’s ‘Silly Games’ (V2) ** – four minutes of rangy vocal…

Singles & Downloads

16 Aug 2007

A pair of lovely lady sounds open this issue’s whip through the short players, which has a strange males vs females dynamic incidentally. ‘Mr Blue’ (Tallgrass) *** by Catherine Feeny ambles along in a loved-up winsome haze, its head lost in a cloud of…

Singles and Downloads

1 Aug 2007

Plaudits from Bono are to credibility what salt is to a slug, although his favourite Dublin ‘sleazy-funk’ outfit Republic of Loose’s windin’n’grindin’ stinker ‘Break!’ (Loaded Dice) is actually rubbish enough without the old Il Papa-bothering one’s kiss…

Singles & Downloads

Records

16 Jul 2007

SINGLES & DOWNLOADS (Image: The Heavy) I declare it the Summer of Dross! Kicking off the half-arsed festival-promoting releases is Mika ’s ‘Big Girl’ (Casablanca, 1 STAR), which flaps along like Scissor Sisters devoid of the camp charm and…

Records - Singles & Downloads

3 Jul 2007

(Image: Malcolm Middleton) Think back to when you were 17 or 18. Remember the bands you enjoyed then, when music seemed like the most important thing ever? Now subtract the ones that fill you with toe-curling embarrassment and the ones that somehow…

Singles & Downloads

18 Jun 2007

(Photo: Cherry Ghost) After the sugar-rush, bubblegum-pop of ‘Girlfriend’, the dreary ballad that is Avril Lavigne ’s ‘When You’re Gone’ (Columbia, 1 Star) is blandness personified. Andrea Corr ’s ‘Shame On You’ (Atlantic, 1 Star) meanwhile isn’t as…

Singles & Downloads

21 May 2007

(Picture: Caz Mechanic) It can be with some trepidation that one delves into the fortnightly sack of singles and when the first out proves to be the charming ‘Cupid’s Revolution’ (Big Toe’s Hi-fi, 3 Stars), Barba Poppa Choppa ’s super-cheeky re-rub…

Records - Singles & Downloads

Singles & Downloads

9 Apr 2007

(Herman Dune) It’s compare and contrast week at List Towers, so first up are a brace of female singers, and there couldn’t be more contrast between Amy Winehouse and Melanie C. The former’s ‘Back to Black’ (Island, 4 Stars) is a gorgeous, melancholic…

Records - Singles & Downloads

Singles & Downloads

27 Mar 2007

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad month and first up is a bonkers, skiffle-surf cheese dream offering from Thomas Truax called ‘Have We Been Left Behind?’ (Anarkhy, 4 Stars). I’m not sure exactly what’s happening on the cover of ex-Sugababe Siobhan…

Records - Singles & Downloads

Singles & Downloads

13 Mar 2007

There’s good and bad to be found in every country, and so as not to waste too much of your precious time let’s just concentrate on the music for the time being... So for every Super Furry Animals in Wales there is a Kelly Jones, in Ireland an Ash and a…

Singles & Downloads

28 Feb 2007

The road to musical hell is paved with good intentions. This year’s Comic Relief charity single sees two of our most treasured girl groups unite for a cover version of Aerosmith’s ‘Walk This Way’ (Fascination/Island - 2 stars). Unfortunately, while the…

Singles & Downloads

29 Jan 2007

Singles? Downloads! Seeing as 2007 is the year when MySpace makes it really big, so much so that your mum and dad will be using it to check out that fun new pop act they heard on Jools Holland, let’s celebrate new music. Without wishing to bark in your…

Singles and Downloads

4 Sep 2006

Were the Singles and Downloads desk to dish out an award for Most Obvious Candidate For Being in an Advert of the Fortnight, it would have to go to Zero 7 featuring Jose Gonzalez ’ ‘Futures’ (Atlantic) ***. Just imagine that for a minute … it’s MOR…