Singles of the Week: 13th February 2013

Anthony Chalmers is a promotions manager, booker, DJ and record label boss based in London. He's also going to tear apart the latest singles released this week. Enjoy.

If you'd like your single reviewed on a future edition of 'Singles of the Week', or have any tips for us, please email newmusic@thefourohfive.com.

The Staves - 'Winter Trees'

Alright, The Staves. It's the all-sister folk band right? A&R man's dream: they are sisters, they can sing, they are pretty etc etc.

This is much too straight for my taste in music really, but it's a nice enough song for sure. Fans of Fleet Foxes and that sort of thing will certainly like it.

Wolf Alice - 'Fluffy'

Ah these guys! I think I might know a member or two from a previous band. I've certainly heard a lot of talk about them. Not actually sure if I've listened to a song before though. So what's this single like then?

Hmmm dunno, think I might be a bit old for this. Basic rock song about "searching for cheap thrills".

Gotta be better than Palma Violets though, right? Certainly a certain section of the young music market is craving for Indie bands, so along with Peace etc they could find an audience.

Charlie XCX - You (Ha Ha Ha)

Ah the Gold Panda sampling one. I really like the original and when I heard this for the first time I really didn't like it. But on the second time around it's not really so bad. Obviously aimed right at the pop market but nothing wrong with that.

Much better than the Katie B vocalled Bax, right? Or has everyone forgotten about that car crash?

I'm actually quite happy I listened to this a second time. I think the first time over I was put off by the terrible video, but actually it's not a bad pop song at all, and I hope Gold Panda makes lots of money on it!

Boys Noize - 'ICH R U'

Not really sure what to say about this. Sure, when it's banged out to thousands of people at a festival they enjoy it well enough, but sitting here with my headphones on, I'm not.

Tegan & Sara - 'Closer'

Haven't listened to these guys in ages, but I remember them having some good songs back in the day.

What is this!? It's full on electro pop and utterly nothing like I remember them sounding like...

But getting over that, it's a pretty good pop song. Definitely gone off on something since 'Walking with the Ghost'! I've heard big pop hits from major acts that were a lot worse than this one, that's for sure.

Tony Brutus - 'Water Pistol' [Single of the Week]

Okay well this is a re-release but it's a beautiful early 80s dub track. The production was getting slicker at this point so all the classic echo & cuts of dub aren't in there but it took another year or two before everything when everything went DigiDub and it became a lot more banging.

Great vocals and beautiful production.

Jimi Hendrix - 'Somewhere'

Ah yes, that brand new up and coming act Jimi Hendrix!

So they found a big box of unreleased Hendrix tracks which is being released around now. I'm a Hendrix fan for sure and new stuff can only be a good thing.

This song massively reminds me of an older track... the guitar line 'Castles Made of Sand' maybe? Or some of it '1983 (A Merman I shall Be)' as well.

Haven't got a press release so haven't said when this is from but I'd certainly guess it was in the last couple of years of his life for sure.

Not breaking new music ground for him or what came later, but certainly a good song.