Clever Eleven August 2008
This month's squad boasts a few veterans side by side with a heap of fresh or little known faces. The Little Ones are the only act to break the brit barrier, but at least each of the four UK countries is represented.
1. Red Light Company - Meccano
- Joyous debut single from London-based five-piece that proves that chant-alongs ala Black Kids or Los Campesinos! don't have to be irritating, as long as the actual song is good.
2. Oasis - The Shock Of the Lightning
- In the impressive company of Supersonic, Some Might Say, D'You Know What I Mean, Go Let it Out, The Hindu Times and Lyla, this nobrainer is clearly the weakest leadoff single from any Oasis album, but NME leaves hope for the forthcoming album by stating it's only the fifth best song on it.
3. The All New Adventures Of Us - 45 Forever
- In good indie spirit this band counts seven musicians that chose the Scandinavian forests for recording their debut album that contains this celebration of the preferred record format.
4. The Primary 5 - So Much To Find
- The former Teenage Fanclub drummer Paul Quinn doesn't stray too far from his roots with his solo project, but adds a nice little bit o' twang to the melodic mix.
5. White Lies - Death
- Their mundane debut single Unfinished Business was strangely over-hyped, but the follow-up shows that these Chiswick chaps might head for the musical space The Killers left when they went all Springsteen.
6. The Little Ones - All Your Modern Boxes
7. Feeder - Tracing Lines
- Fans were not overly impressed by this pretty decent Maxïmo Park imitation from the Welsh veterans, but took up a petition demanding new songs and a physical release of this single!
8. Fox Cubs - You Never Learn
- Another serious contender for the aforementioned Killers-spot, as these guys totally rips off Mr. Brightside (but cleverly omits them from their MySpace "influenced by"-list).
9. The Coral - Being Somebody Else
- The obligatory new song on the scousers' upcoming singles collection is a pleasant pastoral with sweeping strings that recalls classics like The Ballad of Easy Rider, Hazey Jane II or any Shack tune, really.
10. David Holmes - I Heard Wonders
- The Northern-Irish remixer and soundtracker goes "serious musician" and even dabbles with groovy nu-gazing on the first single from upcoming album The Holy Pictures.
11. Captain Wilberforce - You Must Remember This
- Forget the goofy alias, Leeds lad Simon Bristoll's one man band has delivered a magnificent album packed to the brim with the kind of sofisticated, yet potent power pop defined by Matthew Sweet, Auer/Stringfellow and Falkner/Manning.
SUBS NOT USED: The Faff - That's A Nice Glove?, The Ryes - How Come Loretta, The Tamborines - Come Together, Conor Oberst - Moab, Ron Sexsmith - Brandy Alexander, The Dandy Warhols - Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers aka the Ballad of Sheriff Shorty.
