EOIN BUTLER's guide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams...
Fionn Regan
Protection Racket
Heavenly Records
****
“A little birdie told me you’ve been siphoning the poor box/I heard the knitting circle discussing Chubb locks.” Fionn Regan has gone electric for his second album and, while the ghosts of Dylan’s Highway 61 are undoubtedly revisited, the Bray singer-songwriter shouldn’t have too many Judas catcalls to contend with.
Laura Marling
Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)
Virgin
***
The battle for the Christmas No 2 (come on, the X Factor winner almost certainly has the top slot sown up) is dominated by a slew of repeat offenders: George Michael, Aled Jones, Pet Shop Boys et al. So it’s good to Laura Marling inject some new blood into the race. Admittedly, she comes up short in one respect: sleigh bells Laura, you need sleigh bells. Well, now you know for next year!
David Guetta featuring Estelle
EMI
**
Yawn. That someone has recorded yet another dancefloor anthem arguing the case for love and understanding among all mankind will hardly come as a surprise. More objectionable is the video, which racks up an extraordinary number of gratuitous product placements in three minutes. It also appears to endorse dancing as a cure for homelessness, but that’s another story.
Vampire Weekend
XL Recordings
****
The first official single from their Contra album sees Vampire Weekend serving up a frenetically paced two-and-a-half minute ticker-tape parade of punk, pop and calypso.
Ian Brown
Just Like You
Universal
*
Like Lionel Messi baring down on a defender, the enduring appeal of Ian Brown swerves, sidesteps and utterly eludes me. If Brown were loved simply because he used to be in The Stone Roses, then the law of diminishing returns would have put paid to his career long ago. But as his recent gig at the Olympia proved, the Mancunian is a popular as ever. In the words of the old Kit Kat ad: You can’t sing, you can’t dance, you look awful . . . You’ll go a long way!
