MGMT… M-pressive (sorry)

The Best of This Week’s Singles: MGMT, Melt Yourself Down, The Earth and more!

Published on April 23rd, 2013 | Jonny Abrams

Another week, another fresh batch of singles to sift through and sort into three piles, starting with the best of ’em.

Oh yes, it’s This Week’s Best Singles!

Alberteen – “All You Need to Make a Movie (A Girl & a Gun Cornershop Mix)”

This sixth and final track from Cornershop’s latest Singhles club series comes from a Nottingham group who sent an early demo to Tjinder Singh seeking his esteemed counsel. He particularly liked this track and invited them to Sassy P Studios to record it, proving yet again what a fabulous ear for new music he was blessed with.

Understated, sophisticated and mysterious: “All You Need to Make a Movie” is all of these things and more.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail

Cut Your Hair – “Mad Love”

Naming yourself after a classic Pavement single practically demands unfairly lofty comparisons from the outset, but the near-total lack of resemblance to Pavement is but one of this song’s many winning qualities (not that Pavement aren’t wonderful, but we can’t be doing with another copycat outfit now, can we?)

The swaggering rooftop performance of the video immediately suggests Happy Mondays but, while this Barcelona trio sound like they share a proclivity for artificially induced euphoria, the accelerating rhythm and delightfully sneering vocal see them forge a strong identity of their own. It’s under the influence, in both senses of the phrase; and it’s just in time (fingers crossed) for summer.

Rocksucker is decidedly mad for this.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail

Melt Yourself Down – “Release!”

Very much in keeping with the clattering urgency and madcap visuals (WARNING! about those, by the way) of previous single “Fix My Life”, this latest helping from Melt Yourself Down – brainchild of Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear saxophonist Pete Wareham – confirms Rocksucker’s suspicion that any ensuing LP would be amongst this year’s outstanding releases. It’s fresh, dynamic, brimming with colour and technique, and reassuringly berserk; suffice it to say, we heartily approve.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail half a quail

MGMT – “Alien Days”

MGMT continue to ply idiosyncratic, addled-sounding electronics with beaming ’60s psych-pop melodies, a theoretically winning formula that they realise with bucketloads of panache and good humour. Rocksucker wasn’t really taken in by their early hits but this is exemplary stuff. Roll on the album!

Rocksucker says: Four and a Half Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail half a quail

Pinkunoizu – “I Chi”

Taken from the Danes’ forthcoming Second Amendment EP, this swirling, spacious oddity is at once vaguely unsettling, utterly hypnotic and thrillingly tangential within its two-and-a-half-minute running time. Great video from Ewan Jones Morris, too, not to mention an unexpected sonic twist right at the end.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail

The Earth – “How the West Was Won”

The Earth is the brainchild of Super Furry Animals drummer Daffyd Ieuan, and this measured psych-pop number – which incidentally reminds of Ieuan’s Love Kraft contribution “Atomik Lust” in terms of its Beach Boys-y gait and all-round stargazing mood – features Dionne Bennett on lead vocal duties as well as the respective talents of Mark Roberts and Tristan Marley.

It’s good stuff, too, just about Furry enough to tide over SFA die hards and flaunting enough of its own distinct qualities to suggest that the impending album OFF/ON 1 shall provide an altogether different listening experience. It’s a darn sight different to Ieuan’s previous, rocking-er project The Peth, too. Good stuff, even if it does feel strange to have those luxurious, firecracker drumfills tumbling around under Bennett’s ‘soul diva’ vocal.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail

Tune in tomorrow for The Worst of This Week’s Singles!

Artists: cut your hair, melt yourself down, mgmt, pinkunoizu, the earth

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.