This Week's Singles:11.03.13 (and some words of advice)
Wendy's last column for DiS, in which she attempts to impart some old-lady wisdom about the music industry.»
Articles
Wendy_Roby has written the following articles:
This Week's Singles 5.03.13: Tame Impala, Cloud Boat, Sticky, Riva Starr
Single of the Week! Sticky feat. Lamahra Starr - ‘Cutting Shapes’ (Big Dada) People say to me*: 'How do you decide which single is empirically best each week? I mean, they are all so different, it must be so hard.' And I say to you, my internet f»
This Week's Singles 25.02.13: Melt Yourself Down, MØ, WALK, Jagwar Ma
Single of the Week! Melt Yourself Down - ‘Fix My Life’ (The Leaf Label) Jazz kaleidoscopes, man, everybody's gawpin at 'em. And you need to be gawpin at 'em too if you wanna be hip to Melt Yourself Down - who believe that every hook should be rep»
This Week's Singles 18.02.13: Sweet Baboo, Fat White Family, Pick A Piper, Nick Cave
Of this week's single of the week, Wendy says: ".. this appears to be a song about how utterly boring life can be when you throw your lot in with someone else and discard all the spontaneity of early romance; it has lines about how Sweet Baboo is pleased that you categorise his life into 'little tiny piles', even though he still wants you to go and do something crazy - even though that's not How You Live. It also has a pleasingly original and internet-now video, that marries campy memes and real feelings even though you really shouldn't be able to do this. Basically, I put it on and then just grinned at it for the whole of its nearly-five-minutes."»
This Week's Singles 11.02.13: Darwin Deez, Tempest Storm, Charli XCX, The Cribs
Single of the Week! Darwin Deez - ‘Free (The Editorial Me)’ (Lucky Number) Ludicrously-curly tunesmith Darwin Deez has a knack, and it is almost aggravating to hear him manipulating us again, with his bloody melodies and his wretched happiness an»
This Week's Singles 4.02.13: Dutch Uncles, Randan Discotheque, Raisa K, Karl Bartos
Single of the Week! Randan Discotheque - ‘Grandad's Coffin’ (The Bonjour Branch) I don't just love Randan Discotheque's Craig Coulthard for his Forest Pitch project, nor do I only love his band Randan Discotheque for their (perfect) concept singl»
This Week's Singles 21.01.13: Kwes, Eskmo, Golden Teacher, Tim Burgess
Single of the Week! Golden Teacher - 'Dante And Pilgrim' (Optimo Music ) Golden Teacher aren't messing about, which is why the entire vocal performance of 'Dante And Pilgrim' is snarled in jerky French - or saccadé française if you want to be a po»
This Week's Singles 14.01.13: Teleman, Everything Everything, Factory Floor, Villagers
Single of the Week! Teleman - 'Christina’ (Moshi Moshi) The Guardian have called 'Christina' erotic - a fusty choice of words that puts me in mind of naughty etchings designed to provoke the nethers of those too squeamish for actual, haitch-dee p»
Singles of the Year: 2012!
The best singles from 2012, plus a Spotify playlist!»
This Week's Singles 10.12.12: Ned Collette & Wirewalker, BEAK>, Jesse Boykins III & MeLo-X
Single of the Week! Ned Collette & Wirewalker - 'How To Change A City' (Fire Records) 'How To Change A City' took an unforgiveably long minute to get going, and when it did, it put me (happily) in mind of Young Americans-era Bowie. But it's »
This Week's Singles 03.12.12: Sleepin' Giantz, Throne, Keel Her, Olympians, The Cast Of Cheers
Single of the Week! Sleepin' Giantz - ‘Mucky’ (Tru Thoughts) 'I love Rodney P enough to read his entire Wikipedia page' does not really cut it as a compliment, but I did and I do - few can do menacing excitement as well as he. Fallacy & Zed B»
This Week's Singles 26.11.12: Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Ossie, IO Echo, Divine Fits
Single of the Week! Ossie feat. Tilz - ‘Ignore’ (Hyperdub) As you might imagine, 'Ignore' is about not being on speakers with your boo, no matter how many times they bother your telephone. "I don't mind, I like the chore, you chasing me daily, an»
This Week's Singles 19.11.12: Pure Bathing Culture, Vessels, Tame Impala, Dobie
Single of the Week! Pure Bathing Culture - 'Ivory Coast' from ‘Pure Bathing Culture’ EP (Memphis Industries) Sometimes it only takes one perfect line, and one perfect melody to which that line is sung, to make you fall for a song. I feel like thi»
This Week's Singles 12.11.12: Omega Male, Animal Collective, Roses Gabor, Dutch Uncles
Single of the Week! Omega Male - 'Testosterone' (Full Time Hobby) Lecherously low slung, 'Testosterone' includes the sound of sirens going off - as if a particularly manly cove had passed through a sexy airport detector, and broken it by sheer »
This Week's Singles 05.11.12: Sam Lee, Dirty Projectors, Stay+, Egyptian Hip Hop
Single of the Week! Sam Lee - ‘The Ballad Of George Collins’ (The Nest Collective) Even the most glancing knowledge of murder ballads should leave you in no doubt: if you spot a 'fair maid' with 'red ruby lips' you should immediately scarper; tal»
This Week's Singles 29.10.12: Mac DeMarco, Two Fingers, Colorama, Bat For Lashes
Single of the Week! Mac DeMarco - 'Ode To Viceroy' (Captured Tracks) You, lazy, are not allowed to invoke the Beach Boys when appraising any songs with honeyed, three or four-part close harmonies. The Dogs of Criticism also decry comparisons to »
This Week's Singles 22.10.12: Everything Everything, Jessie Ware feat. Wild Beasts, Villagers
Single of the Week! Everything Everything - ‘Cough Cough’ (Columbia) Forced to choose a concept whose importance supercedes all others when it comes to the creation of pop music, I would definitely settle upon 'effort'. I mean, I could care les»
This Week's Singles 15.10.12: Anna Meredith, Susanne Sundfør, Liars, Hooded Fang
Single of the Week! Anna Meredith - 'Nautilus' from ‘Black Prince Fury’ EP (Moshi Moshi) Because the best fifty pence I ever spent was on Philip Glass and Aphex Twin's deliriously wonderful 'Donkey Rhubarb' EP, I am naturally inclined tward 'Naut»
This Week's Singles 8.10.12: AlunaGeorge, Standard Fare, Keane, Melt Yourself Down
Single of the Week! AlunaGeorge - ‘Your Drums, Your Love’ (Island) When you have a longheld, irrational hatred of a particular band, it doesn’t taint or falter. In the same way that the embarrassments of youth do not dispel or wane after time - »
This Week's Singles 1.10.12: Alt-J, Pollens, Richard Hawley, Tilly & The Wall, Allo Darlin'
Single of the Week! Pollens - ‘Helping Hand’ (Tapete Records) ‘Helping Hands’ is a sound collage in the ma-ma-manner of Laurie Anderson’s earlier work - though I should point out; there are no benevolent Art Nutbags doing voiceovers on it. Instead»
This Week's Singles 24.9.12: Dan Croll, Trimbal & Harmonimix, Jesse Boykins III, Umberto
Single of the Week! Dan Croll - ‘From Nowhere’ (Racquet Records) You would not expect a single that has Raw Sex as its backing band to be full of pomp, but Dan Croll’s is. ‘From Nowhere’ is, in fact, as packed with bombast as it is possible for a»
This Week's Singles 17.9.12: The Insomniax, Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight, The Castanets, Pale Seas
Single of the Week! The Insomniax - ‘Love She Wants’ EP (Earnest Endeavours) At the tail end of summer I get on a rescue mission, clinging to singles with any kind of bright aspect, as if they could prolong what little daylight is left, before we»
This Week's Singles 10/9/12: Lorn, Shrag, Society, Tonfedd Oren, Sures
Single of the Week! Lorn - ‘Weigh Me Down’ (Ninja Tune) As you should know by now, Lorn is not creating flowery music; he prefers to wallow in the weeks-rank, dank stuff at the bottom of the vase. And it is not especially subtle music, with its l»
This Week's Singles 03/09/12: Dan Bodan, White Rabbits, Jens Lekman, Kindness
Single of the Week! White Rabbits - ‘I’m Not Me’ (Mute) ‘I’m Not Me’ has that metallic sheen so often found on Brendan Benson’s more jittery numbers. And it’s wonderfully restless; changing direction so fast with each new time signature, the drum»
This Week's Singles 27.08.12: Gravenhurst, Poliça, dEUS, Bondax, Dan Deacon
Single of the Week! Gravenhurst - ‘The Foundry’ (Warp) The problem with all known recording software and studio gadgetry is that there is no button marked 'atmoss' - no easy way to automatically put air or nimbus into a song. You will need Nick T»
This Week's Singles 20.08.12: Patrick Watson, Peaking Lights, FaltyDL, Tender Trap
Single of the Week! Patrick Watson - ‘Step Out For A While’ (Domino) One day I am going to get round to making a playlist of all my favourite, waltzy, merry-go-round songs – singles that go up, up, up, with the peculiar grace of gold-leafed, stat»
This Week's Singles 13.08.12: Django Django, The Pictish Trail, Zeus, Gary War
Single of the Week! Django Django - ‘Hail Bop’ (Because Music) Googling the cove responsible for the liquid digital landscape in Django Django’s video saw me end up on this page. Which I share with you, kindly person, to prove that there still re»
This Week's Singles 06.08.12: Jai Paul, Spiritualized, Dinosaur Jr, Keel Her
Single of the Week! Jai Paul - ‘Jasmine (Demo)’ (12” on XL) Furtive shopping is the best kind, which is why I am very fond of telling my Mum off for ‘spending all of Daddy’s money’ - especially when she comes back from Clarkses armed with five p»
This Week's Singles! 30.07.12: Dead Fader, The Antlers, The Shins, The Orb
Single of the Week! Dead Fader feat. Sensational - ‘Fishsh’ from ‘work it, no’ EP (Robot Elephant Records) When press releases promise the sound of ‘unapologetic dread’ it is impossible not to have your interest piqued. Which is why Dead Fader’s »
This Week's (Olympic!) Singles! 23.07.12: Muse, Delphic & Keane
This week’s singles column has been given over to the Olympic theme tunes. It is also a slightly breathless rant about the restorative power of exercise. »