This Week's Singles by The Lipster: 12/01/09

New year, new column!

DiS welcomes our friends at The Lipster (thelipster.com), who are experts in the field of the individually released track. Each week they will hip-hop between what's hoping to enter the pop charts, as well as taking us through videos to giggle to and some great songs that they love which are fizzing with MP3 blog buzz.

Traditionally, early January is a time for broken resolutions, all your friends claiming they're off the drink for a month but lasting less than a week and a proper scarcity of decent singles. Fittingly we start this weekly column with a trudge through a lot of singles which seem to have been written to a brief of "oh, any old shit will do". Roll on next week...

Single Of The Week!
Wavves 'So Bored' (Young Turks)
Fittingly, 'So Bored' sounds like a teenage bedroom and that makes it all sorts of brilliant. Wavves main man/only man Nathan Williams even manages to make the we-turned-it-up-too-loud-and-blew-the-speakers thing sound charming rather than old and cheap. It's not original and it's not clever, but you only need look at White Lies to see where arch gets you. myspace.com/wavves

White Lies 'To Lose My Life' (Polydor)
Who knew that the sound of 2009 would be a rehashed Bravery dressed up in polite British student clothing knocking off New Order artwork? White Lies lovers claim it's all about the live shows. Is that true? I haven't seen them yet, but to justify 'To Lose My Life' they must be pulling out firework cannons and Flaming Lips-style audience balls. Which they probably aren't.

Girls Aloud 'The Loving Kind' (Polydor) What to do when you've got more beady eyes on you than you've had since your TV-talent-show-assisted debut single? Why, pick the wettest song from your new album and hope nobody notices that it's not actually all that amazing, even if it was produced by the Pet Shop Boys. If they've got any sense, they'll pull it back by putting out the incredible 'Love Is Pain' next.

Eminem w/ Dr Dre & 50 Cent 'Crack A Bottle' MP3 here
It's strange that Eminem is still peddling his jester-in-the-court-of-rap schtick when public perception has long since tuned into the fact that he's a miserable sod. 'Crack A Bottle' is nothing more than money for old rope - crass jokes, a jaunty beat and a half-arsed guest rap from 50 Cent. On the bright side, Dr Dre adds a light sprinkling of class.

Kid Cudi Vs Crookers 'Day 'N' Nite' (Data)
There's no point in running from this onslaught of a single, since Crookers have thrown everything they've got at it, including what sounds like a lorry full of broken TVs reversing. But they've done it without stifling Kid Cudi's rap and that bodes well for his proper non-remixed launch over here.

Cherbourg 'Last Chapter Of Dreaming' EP (Chess Club Records)
Fleet Foxes, you've got a lot to answer for, with your layered vocals and nature-loving artwork. Like so many, Cherbourg are unable to escape the violin-makes-you-sound-like-the-Levellers trap, but Horses - always a good title for a song - is nice, as miserable medieval choral harmonies go.

Heartsrevolution 'Ultraviolence' (Kitsune)
This screams Skins trailer and is almost impossible to distinguish from Crystal Castles, except that Crystal Castles are slightly more distorted and mostly better. But if you skip straight pass the original and track down the Spank Rock remix, the Vitalic remix and the sleepy Chateau Marmont remix, then this is suddenly a million times better.

For more from the Lipster ladies, visit: thelipster.com