mystery jets, raveonettes, futureheads and more - singles for THE week beginning march 10th!

THE FUTUREHEADS / THE BEGINNING OF THE TWIST (679 RECORDINGS) Praise be, the Sunderland boys are back! Jilted, staccato and upbeat, you’ll be singing along before the end of the first play. The Futureheads belt out this tight little ditty, with all the muster of a hound in heat. The Beginning of the Twist is a whole lot of chorus and not a lot of verse – just the way I likes it. LATE OF THE PIER / THE BEARS ARE COMING (WEST OUT WEST) My ears aren’t actually melting – which is what they should be doing according to this band’s myspace page - but the infectious beat is penetrating down to my bone marrow. A little bit Daft Punk, a touch Hot Chip, if you like throwing a few shapes on a sweaty, pulsating dance floor, then request this. Only one thing though: what’s with the American accent when you hail from Castle Donington? THE RAVEONETTES / YOU WANT THE CANDY (COLUMBIA) ‘You Want the Candy’ may hark back to The Raveonettes earlier stuff, but it’s also a rather insipid, adventure-less sugary pop tune. It’s like Shipman’s sandwich filler – fine if you’ve got nothing else in the fridge, but you wouldn’t want to dine on it every day. As it is, this is hardly mind-altering; I’d rather be listening to The Train Chronicles. DENNIS HOPPER CHOPPERS / LISTENING TO THE MC5 (DWINK) I thought I was listening to The Stranglers’ Golden Brown, but in fact, on closer inspection, it’s Dennis Hopper Choppers - aka Ben Nicholls. There’s a sort of Magic Roundabout feel to this, a bit of wah wah, a measure of the 70s. If it was a colour it would be an orangey brown, probably on a wallpaper. THE SHOES / KNOCK OUT (50 BONES) Destined to be the theme tune to the next Gladiators-inspired TV feast – if The Shoes are lucky. This sounds like it’s made up of a load of demos from my first Casio keyboard. No, that’s a lie, my Casio keyboard rocked harder.