EOIN BUTLER's's guide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams
YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Skeletons
Interscope
****
One of the oddest tracks from last year's brilliant It's Blitz! album, Skeletons' New York avant garde-meets- Braveheart soundtrack shtick actually grows on you after repeated listens. Spooky!
WALLIS BIRD
La La Land
Rubyworks
***
Fresh from her Best Irish Female triumph at last Friday’s Meteor Awards – in your face, Dolores O’Riordan! – Wallis Bird returns with a tougher sound. “Spiky and acerbic” is how the press release describes it. I’d call it more Ladybird/PJ Harvey.
MARY J BLIGE
I am
Geffen
***
“Nobody’s going to treat you as good as I am,” promises the veteran r’n’b singer. Mary J would make a fine wife, but a piss-poor English teacher.
KESHA
Blah Blah Blah
Columbia
****
Here’s another brash, profane American pop diva in the Katy Perry/Lady Gaga mould. If grammar is Blige’s Achilles heel, Kesha’s is undoubtedly anatomy. “Don’t be a little bitch with your chitchat,” she barks at one point. “Just show me where your d*** is at.” Girl, if you don’t know where his d*** is at, you may not be as worldly wise as your attitude suggests!
CRYSTAL SWING
He Drinks Tequila **
Cork brother-and-sister duo Derek and Dervla Burke are the web's latest viral sensations this week, with their version of the raunchy He Drinks Tequila. The accompanying video is a little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll and, well, a little bit disturbing to be completely truthful about it. A must-see nonetheless. See youtube.com
WESTLIFE
Talk Me Down
Syco
**
“Too wired for anything except the crossfire in my head.” You wait three and a half minutes for that signature sudden key change and it never comes. Something strange is happening to Westlife. Jeez,
if this were anyone other boyband, I might suggest that Talk Me Downsounds like a song about a bad acid trip. But it can't be, can it?