vampire weekend, alphabeat, land of talk and more - singles for THE week beginning may 26!

by Amy Rich
Released: Mon, 2008/05/26 on various indie schmindies
ARTROCKER RATING:
SINGLE OF THE WEEK: VAMPIRE WEEKEND / OXFORD COMMA (XL)

Hallelujah for Vampire Weekend – this single splits forthright with pure, unadulterated originality. An electric shock of brilliance, it’s head and jaunty shoulders above the rest of the week’s releases.

‘Oxford Comma’ has a reason for being - it sounds like nothing else while reaffirming that indie isn’t dead. And if only I wasn’t afraid of the mud at Glastonbury I’d be seeing them live.
It distracted me from Bosnia & Herzegovina's entry in the Eurovision. For a moment at least.
ALPHABEAT / 10.000 NIGHTS (THE FAMOUS CHARISMA LABEL) Ah, Alphabeat - every fickle young indie kid’s dream. But will they notice that this second single sounds exactly like Alphabeat’s last one - Fascination? And not just that - if they raided their parents’ decomposing cardboard boxes full of vinyl they’d soon find that Alphabeat sound like a whole back catalogue of 1980s ‘songsters’ too. But not as good. 10,000 Nights sounds like Chesney Hawkes dueting with Sonia, and I’d still rather be doing the time warp. COLLAPSING CITIES / FEAR OF OPENING MY MOUTH (WAY OUT WEST) Andrew Lloyd Webber wouldn’t put up with this sort of dirge. Where’s the star quality? The wow factor? The John Barrowman shmaltz? Or for starters, where’s the tune? This is just a snippet of the lyrical pazazz you can expect to hear from ‘Fear of Opening My Mouth: “Next year I think I’ll end my life.” Too late for me. LAND OF TALK / YOUNG BRIDGE (ONE LITTLE INDIAN) Thank God for Land Of Talk. Especially this week when it comes to the singles - it’s the first track that makes any impressions. There’s a kind of Cardigans / Concretes feel to this, and it distracted me from Bosnia & Herzegovina’s entry in the Eurovision. For a moment at least. XX TEENS / THE WAY WE WERE (MUTE) The Teens are by far the most lyrically strange band to feature this week – just listen; ‘I remember when we were young / we used to have so much fun / We used to ho ho ho ho ho!” Apart from that, it’s got a Prodigy-esque baseline and Creeps undertones. What does this mean for you, the listener? Preeps, or if you like, Crodigy. FRIGHTENED RABBIT / FAST BLOOD (FAT CAT) There’s always room in the music biz for one more Editors - or at least a sultry Scottish version anyway. It may sound harsh but there’s also a touch of the Snow Patrol about these guys - it’s in the quivering lyrics, the emotional revelations. Those aside, this track’s a wee bit of a grower. Especially if you’re of the melancholy ilk.

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