The Beta Band
The Patty Patty Sound
(Regal Recordings)

The Beta Band combine Swell style acoustic strumming with wibbly electric noises and a considerable amount of skill to make this the most appetising ep in a batch of CD’s reaching precariously to the ceiling. The four tracks each serve to define The Beta Band as engaging eccentrics and confuse any conception you’d made of the band from the previous track. “Inner Meet me’ and ‘She’s The One’ are the most sensible tracks using a fairly solid acoustic base to do odd things to but ‘The House Song’ and particularly ‘The Monolith’ are very, very odd and very freeform in a very good way. I have to admit my vocabulary can’t keep up. Oh and it clocks in at just under 38 minutes. Pretty good value if you ask me.

Money Mark
Hand In Your Head
(Mo Wax)

Unlike the sprawling brilliance of The Beta Band, Money Mark has put all his noodly low-fi obsessions to one side for a minute to come up with as concentrated a piece of retro lounge lizard pop as you’ll find. It works off a cheesy piano line which slowly burrows into your mind whilst the beats come in in all the right places and Mark sings some nonsense over the top. If perfect pop is what you’re after this gets pretty close.

Warm Jets
Never Never ...
(Island)

Kind of retro-modern Eighties guitar pop with a nineties spin. It’s kind of good. The chorus is as catchy as the flu around the office and the guitars are crunchy enough to replace the honeycombed centre in a Crunchy bar. There is something ‘other-worldly’ about it as well. Something almost Bowie like. Well, before he started pissing about with drum and bass that is.

Asian Dub Foundation
Free Satpul Ram
(FFRR)

The righteous indignation behind this single powers is straight through Senser territory into something very special. Satpal Ram was attacked by six racists in a Birmingham restaurant and fatally wounded one of them when he fought back. He’s now serving a life sentence and the quite simple gist of this song is that he shouldn’t be. With more tracks like this Asian Dub Foundation could well be one of the bands of ‘98.

Ultrasound
Best Wishes
(Nude)

It’s all about size with Ultrasound. ‘Best Wishes’ is as huge as Tiny himself, lasting five minutes plus and featuring some hefty big noisy feedback bits worthy of Spiritualized. Unfortunately where Spiritualized have honed their sound so that they can sound utterly chaotic yet still tuneful this does slip into bloody great racket territory on a couple of occasions. They’re definitely not ‘just another guitar band’ but compared to The Beta Band they sound a bit run of the mill.

Space
The Ballad of Tom Jones
(Gut)

I can’t quite make my mind up about Catatonia. One minute they’re just another indie band and then the next Cerys sings and everything is forgiven. Apparently on the new material the band finally catch up to the voice and they are quite special. However, even Cerys’ voice can’t rescue another comedy Space song. I’ve always known what to think of them and it’s not been pleasant.

Spring
Chuck it up!
(Bungalow)

Imagine Stina Nordenstam fronting Stereolab had their post-rock element been replaced by a deep admiration of the Cardigans. It’s a marketing disaster releasing it in the middle of winter when it’s obviously a summer single. Well, just imagine you’re skiing and the sun is out and the snow is glimmering and it should have the right effect.

PFILBRYTE
Merry Go Round
(Ignition)

So, the question is; how can a man who has worked with Dr. Octagon rap so badly? Luckily the rest of track is pretty good in a lite hip hop, lite rock, lite Beck sort of way but it come back to the fact that every time Pfilbryte opens his mouth you can’t help but cringe.

The Dandy Warhols
Everyday Should Be A Holiday
(Capital)

Laid back vocals, physchedelic guitar and some chugging drums. This is another single released about five months too early. Okay so we all wish it was summer but all these summer singles aren’t helping, they’re just rubbing in the fact that it’s cold as fuck and miserable as sin outside.

Six By Seven
88-92-96
(Mantra)

What most of the above bands don’t realise is that sometimes less is more. However, Six by Seven seem to have grasped the fact that less initial bombast sometimes means more attentive listening. This single deserves that as it slowly builds up tension and suspense with a slow guitar line and half mumbled lyrics that mutate into loud feedback and troubled angst without you really noticing. The second track sounds a bit like the Fall and is no worse for that.

Lotte
Empty
(Adelphoi)

You can see the chorus coming about five minutes before it eventually arrives, the chord changes are painfully predictable and she’s complaining about being ‘empty’ which is a vague enough complaint so that ‘people can read what they like into the lyrics’. However, the single is saved by the fact that ‘Armitage Shanks’ did the photography. Surely he’s too busy making toilets?

James Iha
Be Strong Now
(Hut)

This is the guitarist from the Smashing Pumkins debut single and it’s a slight, acoustic affair not at all reminiscent of the Pumkins. It’s another bloody summer single. I thought record company people were supposed to be dead smart at this sort of thing. Oh well, it’s nice and inoffensive as it is.

Definition of Sound
Eccentric
(Universal)

This is pulled down by a crap shouty chorus reminiscent of the NEDS or PWEI. DOS do a similar thing to PWEI actually in combining samples, electric stuff and guitars to a similar painful effect. However, if they’d just lose the semi-industrial fixation they might be quite good.

Bedlam Ago Go
Season No.5
(Sony Music)

The modern dilemma of how to put decent vocals on a dance record remains. Underworld do it effortlessly but beyond that most vocals on electronica tracks are terrible. This isn’t a bad attempt. The reggae chorus is pretty good and although the vocals are a bit ‘British rapper’ the rest is okay. This is a fairly downbeat track that’s a bit like Leftfield in it’s atmospherics.

The Hybirds
See Me Through
(Heavenly)

Apparently it’s the music that’s going to see the lead Hybird through. Not if it’s turgid indie pop like this it isn’t. One original thought wouldn’t go amiss.

A
Foghorn
(London Records)

Not the most subtle of records this. However, after the limp indie guitar of the Hybirds it’s nice to hear something with a little bit more welly. There is a great guitar bit in it which is reminiscent of the Foo Fighters and it’s got a decent amount of bile in it so it can’t be too bad.

Senser
Adrenaline
(Ultimate)

So Senser return without Heitham but with a bit more scratching and programming to beef up their agit-rock past. It’s pretty heavy actually and Kirsten Haugh makes a fairly scary front woman sprinkling her lyrics with a healthy dose of liberal swearing. All in all it’s a vast improvement on Definition of Sound who are trying to do a similar thing.

Bromide
If all your dreams come true where are you going to sleep ep
(Scratchy)

It’s a little weak for my taste, as a not very famous person once said. If you’re going to go for the self loathing thing then you could at least do it with a little more vigour. Bromide are a three piece who fall short on account of a weak voice and a reluctance to put enough tunes into their version of guitar rock. It’s not that bad to be honest but we don’t really need another ‘not bad’ rock three piece. I mean we have Ash already.

Carrie
Molly
(Island)

In which Carrie praise the virtues of having a girlfriend who takes you from behind with a dildo.

Velvet Jones
Twisted
(Naked)

We’re at the seedier end of the singles reviews now. This one has the most salacious cover picture I’ve encountered yet and the title is as much a statement of intent anything. However, they’re twisted in a very conventional Suede wannabe type way.

Pitchshifter
Genius
(Geffen)

The old metal programming crossover thing has been done before. It was called industrial and didn’t really get anywhere. Anyway this is a bit like Definition of Sound and Senser but overly metal for my taste. Talking of metal, I’ve realised genre’s don’t die they just turn into another one.

James
Destiny Calling
(Fontana)

Ahhh! Flashbacks! Ahhh! I don’t want to be sixteen again. I was miserable

The Young Offenders
That’s Why We Lose Control
(SSO)

The group with the man with the Bolan hair and screetchy voice. I have to say that that’s the most intelligent comment I can make after this many singles in a day. My brain is melting and this isn’t helping.