Singles Released 25th September

Doherty vs. Barat week. Neither of their songs are impressive. They seem to have taken on an air of ex-reality show contests; you can remember caring about them but have no idea why.


Peak of the Week: The Pipettes - Judy

Weakest track on We Are The Pipettes by some distance. Still, better than pretty much everything ever.

Simple Kid - Ballad of Elton John

Two reasons for mentioning this:

1. Best title of the week.
2. Gives me an excuse to post my second favourite performance from TFI featuring The Young Offenders (who were fronted by the artist later to be known as Simple Kid - or TALTBKASK for short).

Wiiiiiiillllll went on to star as Harry Potter.

Paolo Nutini - Jenny Don't Be Hasty

The people he writes songs with have also written songs with Dido and James Blunt. If I'd have known that before I heard his music I wouldn't have heard his music. Unlike those he's compared to, Nutini has a deeply soulful voice, involved lyrics and a knack for making every word he sings entirely believable. To further distance himself from the beige brigade, this track features a riff straight out of the back catalogue of The Rolling Stones (who Nutini recently supported). This single should make him as famous as the record company desperately want him to be. Although, given that Last Request tanked, I wouldn't bet on it.

The Blood Arm - Suspicious Character

When The Blood Arm first became the next big thing thanks to the Strokesque Can I Have Your Attention I was convinced they were some sort of spoof band. The fact they're still plugging away without getting any more popular suggests they're 4REAL.

The Blood Arm - Suspicious Character (Remix) via MySpace

Juliette and the Licks - Hot Kiss

Hollywood, Scientology, "I used to go out with Brad Pitt", blah blah. This song is an enjoyable slab of dirty rock but it's hard to shake the feeling that Lewis is just acting the part of a rockstar. If only she'd been as bad at acting as Jack Black we'd know.

Juliette and the Licks - Killer via MySpace

The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club - Impossible Sightings Over Shelton



Donning an evening gown whilst playing the drums shows an admirable dedication to elegance sadly lacking in most of today's bands. VEGC's Pixies style catchy-melodies and indie-stylings should seem them do well.

Jack Butler - Velvet Prose

A band rather than a person (none of whom are called Jack Butler). They are often unaccountably compared to T'Arctic Monkeys. If so, they're much closer to the more recent Monkey tracks that no one likes. They sound more akin to the likes of Maximo Park and Bloc Party who have also yet to find the 'Bass' knob on their guitar amps. Not to be compared with the the lumpy blues band of the same name.

Jack Butler - How's This For Leverage

Jack Butler - Candles

Via their website

Lily Allen - LDN

God, she got old quickly. Bored of this song months ago. Why's she releasing this summer song when she could be releasing Knock 'Em Out?

Lil' Chris - Checkin' It Out

Prize alumnus of Gene Simmons' Rock School. With a cheeky rip off Blur and plenty of youthful joie de vivre this is a good listen. And just look at the scamp on his website. Don't you just want to ruffle his hair, give him a spit wash and send him home before it's dark?