Eel go far, that lad
The rest of this week’s singles: Eels, Los Campesinos!, Lumineers and more!
Published on September 5th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
The rest of this week’s singles: because it would be rude not to…
Aeroplane Flies High – “Blossom”
As meaty, ‘monster’-riffing beardy rawk goes, we quite like this. It’s thoughtfully laid-out and incorporates the odd quirky flash of Dismemberment Plan-esque ingenuity.
Plus, the attendant ‘monster’ riffs have a fluttery sort of flair to them that’s many rungs above the kind of idle skater bilge that so many bands use as a crutch.
This is much better than we thought it would be after a couple of seconds of it.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
Bad for Lazarus – “BURNT!”
Ace, crashing, ranty fun.
What else need we say other than “liable to make you grin like a loon”? Beast of a bass/piano motif, too.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
Eels – “Kinda Fuzzy”
Eels haven’t changed all that much over the years, but they’ve always had enough about them for that not to matter.
Here’s another scuzz-pop gem to continue the long line of them…and the video features Mark Everett dressed as a clown, which actually isn’t as scary as you might imagine.
Maybe that’s because he’s dancing with children and – *gulp* – smiling. You’re goddamn right, it’s a beautiful day.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
Jutty Ranx – “I See You”
Apparently every ****er and his dog can make a song exactly like this these days – you know, lightly brooding electro-pop with a disco-ish sort of step to it, lots of drippy synthwork and grinding bass for easy kudos…
Yes it sounds eminently presentable, but it feels like we’ve heard this same basic thing about a million times this year alone. Lyrics like “I break through to get to you, it’s so true” don’t help in terms of distinguishing it from, you know, anyone or anything else…and neither does that dubstep breakdown.
NO. MORE. ****ING. DUBSTEP. BREAKDOWNS. PLEASE.
Yawn, basically.
Rocksucker says: Two Quails out of Five!
Similarly…
Austra – “Painful Like”
Sounds like about a million other songs.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
Chela – “Romanticise”
Sounds like about a million other songs.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
London Grammar – “Strong”
A Florence by any other name is still a Florence.
Nice enough kind of ‘strung out’ vibe to it, though.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
Los Campesinos! – “What Death Leaves Behind”
Eh? What? When did Los Campesinos! turn into Lostprophets?
I mean, it sounds like it’s aiming for Modest Mouse – and hey, the lyrics are still up to scratch, especially the reference to former Middlesbrough forward Joseph-Désiré Job – but that ‘TV soap weepy scene’ chord progression makes us want to scream into a pillow.
Please don’t become rubbish, Los Campesinos!!
(Only one of those exclamation marks is ours, the other is of course theirs.)
Rocksucker says: Two Quails out of Five!
Lumineers – “Submarines”
Even though one of them insists on dressing like you’d imagine Woody from Cheers might when he goes back home to visit his folks, it’s still much better than Mumford & Sons.
Possibly a little harsh to compare the two, but frankly they bring it on themselves.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
Those were the rest of this week’s singles. Have a splendid weekend, all!
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Review: Eels – Wonderful, Glorious
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.
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