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Greetings, readers drinking decaffeinated fair trade perry (wah wah remix) and nibbling spoons while the boss is singing the latest Coldplay dirge. Welcome to another edition of our “off again, off again, hey it’s on again!” single reviews column. Granted, some of them aren’t singles, but I liked them and made my stupid human collaborators review ’em. Problem?

This week’s singles come courtesy of Electro and his goofball villain persona. Not the gritty Electro that appeared on the Sin-Eater arc of Spidey. That depressed me when I was a kid.

Ah, singles, right:

Pistola Kicks – Proceed Advance / Lazy Baby Hurricane

‘Proceed advance’ is a track full of stamina with a powerful bass line conversing with the guitar and drums as the perfect complement to the full display of stamina. The strong lyrics of this song as “You to me are everything I am not / You to me are everything I forgot” risk to become an autumn hymn to leave everything that’s not good to you behind.

This is a kind of snappy tune that would immediately catch all of your senses. This time the bars are filled with cold descending notes, guitars and voice with a slight reverb and marching drums that literally encourage you to walk away faster from whatever is chasing you. Perfect time of the year for a song like this!

The rush of blood to your head continues after delivering a tune as ‘Proceed Advance’, it’s time to proceed with a rather colorful song that takes an ascending focus on the gamut. ‘Lazy baby hurricane’ is a warm, harsh and winterish tune suggesting a retreat to other kind of world.

Even when music is warmer than its predecessor by taking a high note as base and just walking mostly through sharp notes, lyrics are clearer and suggests unwanted changes caused by disappointment (‘… when friends become enemies’), and has an amazing capacity to bring imaginary / real mementos in the form of slides in your mind.

It’s the cold through your bones, a change of scenery juxtaposed with a colorful music composition. Sweet!

Ethan Ash – All I Need

Sweet is the sound of an acoustic guitar and Ethan Ash, fresh from some dates (as in gigs, not the other, silly) with Ed Sheeran, sounds as sweet as an Eccles cake in ‘All I need’, a carefree (but not sugarfree) ditty with some lap steel to give it a bit of a country feeling (or is it the lovely organ hiding in the back?). One for the “music for relaxing after a bad week” pile. – Sam

The Lucid Dream – Heartbreak girl / I feel so lonesome

‘Heartbreaker girl’ is a merry tune with colors understood under the context of early-mid 60’s. This band proofs that labels on music are sometimes nothing but useless words.

Tambourines and drums in eights of notes bringing the energy and will to carry on and just move your head to the beat. Guitar and bass follow almost the same structure and deliver as a whole the “rush to blood to your head” feeling, or the instant 2.05 min long mood shifter.

‘I Feel so lonesome (I’m blue for you – the selector session). Again that vocals echoing in our minds, in the fashion of an empty room and revolving sounds coming along, as the sensation got after losing someone / something important in our lives.

This song reminds me of the 70’s ballads with a touch of experimentation as background; blue and slow bass slides to bring the longing atmosphere to your mind. This is a quiet and nostalgic moment that slowly mourns for the past, and the loss.

The Narrows – Able Danger

It’s hard to mix genres together deftly and it certainly takes a lot of bravado to mix electronica (the 80’s type that goes dumbah-dah-dingdum) with the weird time signatures of prog (and its bastard child, post-rock). So leave it to The Narrows to actually amalgamate them and survive it. Love the ending of the song (quick refrain of the guitar parts from the beginning)- Sam.

LickSpittle – Superhero

If it ain’t broken… break it and fix it! You might need the practise. LickSpittle do a little rocky number (finger snapping included) that has some extra layers of details. The almost stream-of-consciousness lyrics are juxtaposed with an ethereal ghostly scream before a break down that might make your day change colours (blue, green, red, you name it). It’s a smooth ride, just don’t get hitched to it (that’s how I got divorced). – Sam.

Stalking Horse – Waterhole / Broken Brain

A dancey tune and a constant beat is what ‘Waterhole’ is all about. The voice oozes from the stereo while an interesting drum pattern (slightly buried in the mix) makes you bob your head. ‘Broken brain’ is more of a sweet number, starting deceptively with some acoustic stuff before going for a chillout beat. Sweet! – Sam.

Adele – Yo, Kelly Clarkson, you wanna a piece of me? 

I would. Both. Now.  – Jonny Sock

Catch us up next week when we slate another shit band (or solo artist – Beyonce, I’m looking at you, thieving bastard). Until next time, I’m Orestes Xistos and I rule this dump. See ya and kisses and (((sholay))) (((hugs))). I just wrote that to piss off Onslaught, ’cause he’s a coward, not like our lord Tláloc (who, incidentally, is my PA).

Links: 

Pistola Kicks Website. Myspace. Facebook. Twitter. Last.fm. Spotify. Soundcloud.

The Lucid Dream Facebook. Myspace.  Last.fm. Twitter. Soundcloud.

Stalking Horse Bandcamp. Twitter. Facebook. Soundcloud. Myspace.

The Narrows Bandcamp. Facebook. Twitter.

Ethan Ash Myspace. Facebook. Twitter. Soundcloud.

LickSpittle Facebook. Website. Twitter.