Batch of Old 45′s 07/05/07

Blimey, not a great week for the short release format, but there we go. Record companies complain that their industry is falling apart and yet they still release and bank roll toss like this. Oh well…

First up is the quite ridiculous Hump de Bump by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is the worst thing I’ve heard all year, it’s bad enough that the RHCP’s sound as if they’re going through the motions, but it’s not helped by the worst chorus known to humanity. What happened guys? Where did it all go wrong?

Random act of the week is Kharma 45 with their debut single Where’s Your Spirit Man which is the kind of terrible dance/guitar cross-over thing that should be shot at birth. It’s not helped by the title chanted over and over and over and over again… It’s just so devoid of any originality that it can do nothing but offend.

Scottish outfit The Ideal Panic have thrown all of their influences into secod single Precious Things. We have a bit of The Smiths in there, a dollop of The Police and a smattering of Maximo Park. So, it should be great then right? A slice of pop genius? Unfortunately not, the track never takes off and left me feeling rather cold. With all the guitar bands trying to make the grade at the moment these guys need to try a whole lot harder. There is just nothing original or inspriring about it.

Best of a bad bunch is The Black Angels. Their debut album was touted by Iggy Pop and the like it was a dirty and rough slice of drone-esque garage rock. The single Better Off Alone is a bit of a odd decision as a single, not one of the most upbeat tracks from the album. It sounds rather repetitive, the vocals sounding like they’ve been taking from a zombie flick from the 70’s and during it’s three minutes it goes nowhere. Disappointing.

Ahhh, the light at the end of the corridor. The quirky but quite wonderful Turner Cody releases his debut single Suzzanah today and what a wonderful slice of anti-folk it is. His laid back delivery augmented by the presence of oddly haunting woodwind instruments and his twisted lyrics bring to mind Robyn Hitchcock. The odd couplets of weirdness balanced with his more straightforward declarations of love and loss. Genius.