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SINGLE OF THE MONTH!
THE DISTILLERS - "Drain The Blood"
The Distillers are, quite simply, one of the best US punk bands to have landed on our reviews desk for quite some time. Taking the basic "fuck you" spirit of RiotGrrl and actually remembering to add some tunes to the equation, "Drain The Blood" is three minutes of ultra-feral spike-punk just like Nirvana used to do early in their careers and is easily the best thing to come out of the singles pile with all guns blazing this month. Superstars in waiting? You wouldn't bet against it. (5/5)
THE REST
Shout with laughter and dance for joy kids, there is a new Wildhearts single out this month. Okay so if you took our advice and got "The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed!" a couple of months back then you'll have heard "Top Of The World" (4/5) a million times already but it still doesn't make it any less of a superb song from Ginger and co. It's also a lesson that the dismal likes of Jet's "Rollover DJ" (2/5) and the Hiss' "Back On The Radio" (2/5) which are the sort of yawnsomely predictable trad-rock songs punk originally set out to nuke, could do with learning.
More traditional rock thrills this month can be found with the ever-reliable Iron Maiden's "Rainmaker" (4/5) and the new offering from Probot (aka Dave "How many records is that I've featured on this year?" Grohl collaborating with Venom frontman Chronos) "Centuries Of Sin" (4/5) which are both metal so old-skool it makes the Darkness look like Limp Bizkit. This, in case you were in any doubt, is A Very Good Thing.
Did someone mention Limp Bizkit? Oh look, they're in here too. With an absolutely atrocious cover version of the Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" (1/5) which, even by Fred Durst's extremely low standards, has to be one of the worst things he's ever put his name to. Yeesh, not good. Korn's new single "Right Now" (2/5) meanwhile, wouldn't have sounded out of place on their debut album. Unfortunately, given that that was now released ten years ago, it begs the question - would a bit of musical progress really hurt that much? A bit better is Blink 182's attempt to go emo, "Feeling This" (3/5). Okay so it's not the most convincing of transformations but at least it's progress of a sort.
Other Kerrang! fodder heavyweights on the comeback trail this month are the Stereophonics whose "Since I Told You It's Over" (2/5) is hands down winner of "Most Boring Song This Month", Hundred Reasons whose "The Great Test" (3/5) while not a bad record, sounds worryingly like last year's thing in 2003 and Lostprophets who at least add a bit of pogosity to the rather good "Burn Burn" (4/5) and therefore, in a fair world, will hopefully chart the highest out of the three.
Over in the pop corner, it's business as usual really ie mostly shit. Britney Spears' collaboration with Madonna "Me Against The Music" (1/5) sounds like the sort of thing Christina Aguilera would reject as a B-side which, we suspect, isn't exactly the change of direction da Brit was hoping for. As for Robbie Williams' dire "Sexed Up" (1/5) and Busted's Godawful "Crashed The Wedding" (1/5), do we really need to tell you how dismal these two boils on the arse of the music industry are yet again? Even the normally unbearable Mis-Teeq's "Style" (2/5) sounds a bit less abysmal than usual after that double dose of shite.
Tell you what, let's go for a wander into the zone marked "quiet indie" for a bit instead, shall we? Here this month, you'll find the Ambershades with the pleasant but rather dated Britpop throwback that is "Eighth Day" (2/5) (sadly not a cover of the old Hazel O'Connor standard which would've been funny), Belle & Sebastian still trying to be too clever and fey by half with the Trevor Horn produced "Step Into My Office Baby" (2/5), Clearlake still treading the same mildly pleasant indie-pop path as always with "Can't Feel A Thing" (3/5), the Coral putting a second single out in as many months with "Bill McCai" (3/5), unfortunately not one of the stronger tracks off "Magic And Medicine", Kasabian doing an impression of a poor man's Beta Band with the decidedly less than interesting "Processed Beats" (2/5) and the Buffseeds just being downright tedious with "Sparkle Me" (2/5).
Taking a quick detour via Tim Burgess' sun-soaked newie "Only A Boy" (3/5), the Thrills' just as retro only with less of a tune "Don't Steal Our Sun" (2/5), Starsailor's less than interesting "Born Again" (2/5) and Dashboard Confessional's even less interesting stadium strum through "Hands Down" (1/5), we find ourselves over in electro-indieland (hey, that's almost a Jimi Hendrix album title!) And swaggering straight out at us come the year's premier Duran Duran revivalists the Dandy Warhols with a new single called "Plan A" (3/5). Good but still not a patch on "We Used To Be Friends" from earlier in the year. Wander past them and you'll find the Electric Soft Parade with the rather groovy "Lose Yr Frown" (3/5), the Cooper Temple Clause whose "Blind Pilots" (3/5) is okay but ruined by the lead singer doing a very bad Liam Gallagher impersonation, Primal Scream sleepwalking through a cover of "Some Velvet Morning" (3/5) with Kate Moss on breathy backing vocals. Which isn't actually too bad. Better though is the excellent Rapture's newie "Sister Saviour" (4/5) which takes the PIL blueprint and adds better tunes. Nice one. But it goes without saying that Radiohead's "2+2=5" (2/5) isn't really worth bothering with unless you're stuck in a bedsit and can't think of anything better to do than wallow in your own misery. Try instead the newie from the Blueskins, "Magic Road EP" (4/5) which skitters around like a ladybird on amphetamines and is a bit good.
Surprisingly, the emo section is oddly quiet this month with just the one new single, namely Million Dead's "It's My Party" (2/5) which is the aural equivalent of the school nerd skulking in the spare room with a bottle of lemonade while everyone else grooves out to Christina Aguilera on the stereo in the front room. Not really very good all told. A better bet is Hot Hot Heat whose "Talk To Me Dance With Me" (3/5) at least has a bit of energy behind it as does hotly tipped new boys Razorlight's second single "Rip It Up" (3/5) though sadly it's not a cover of the excellent Orange Juice song of the same name. King Adora meanwhile have yet another shot at doing this comeback thing with the Jane's Addiction meets T-Rex swagger of "Drag" (3/5) which is pleasant enough but not a patch on Muse's frenetic, furious and utterly fantastic "Hysteria" (4/5). However, beware their low-budget evil twins the Veils whose "Lavinia" (2/5) takes much the same elements as Matt Bellamy and co but just ends up a whiny mess. Much more work needed. A better bet on the "wide eyed newcomers" front are froth-gob-punk mob My Red Cell with the self-explanatory "My Red Cell EP" (4/5) which leaps straight for your throat with sharpened teeth and doesn't let go. We like.
Finally this month, five behemoths on the comeback trail - the White Stripes tread the sublime fantastic yet again with the howling at the moon blooz of "The Hardest Button To Button" (4/5), the Red Hot Chili Peppers get something approaching a return to form with the pummelling "Fortune Faded" (3/5), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club release the dark and menacing but not as good as "Stop" "We're All In Love" (3/5), No Doubt come up with an oddly straight cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life" (3/5) as a taster for their forthcoming Greatest Hits album and finally the Raveonettes round things off very nicely with the ice maiden "Just Like Honey" strut of "Heartbreak Stroll" (4/5) which, stars that they are, they back up with "The Christmas Song", our first festive treat of the year (oh yeah, don't forget the Darkness' effort is out in a few weeks as well by the way). Which rounds off 2003's Singles very nicely I feel. Have a good holiday y'all and we'll see yers in 2004.
All singles reviewed by Andy James
