Destroyer: Tinseltown Swimming in Blood ★★★
Merge Records
It's weird. When Ed Sheeran or Mick Jagger affect an American accent, we think nothing of it. But when a North American artist sings in a fake English accent, I – for one – find it deeply strange. Destroyer's Canadian frontman Dan Bejar is a case in point. (Nicki Minaj and Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices are others.) And two decades into his career, I still can't quite see past that. Seriously, his new single sounds as though a guest on Jimmy Fallon's Wheel of Musical Impressions were tasked with imitating John Lennon fronting The Cure. Which is a recommendation. If you choose to take it that way.
https://youtu.be/h-N6jfO5NOQ
Bree Runway: What Do I Tell My Friends? ★★★★
Machine Records
As a teenager in London, Bree Runway once performed for Michelle Obama, who told her to "make sure you never, ever stop singing". Mrs Obama, if you recall, always advocated both female empowerment and healthy eating. So, technically, the former first lady might approve of this video's violent denouement: in which Bree skulls a sleazy photographer with a fruit bowl and then twerks over his corpse.
https://youtu.be/qL24u7qyyiw
The Fontaines: Hurricane Laughter ★★★
The Fontaines are a five-piece Dublin rock band who sound like a pepped-up cross between Whipping Boy and The Fall. This new single may or may not be about dropped phone signals, which is definitely my second top phone-related pet peeve – after poor battery life, obviously. The band's upcoming five-date Irish autumn tour kicks off with a performance at the Hard Working Class Heroes showcase in Dublin on October 29th.
https://youtu.be/R26xFm5n6aY
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Phone Jam ★★★
Interscope
Speaking of phones and autumn tours, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs play their first public concerts in four years in the US next month. In the age of online piracy, Karen O and co have released four albums in 14 years. Which may explain why this track is mostly about being cash-strapped.
https://youtu.be/b4vUL6NYLN4
