 Print this page |
Singled out
The Fratellis – ‘Mistress Mabel’
|
It's easy to sneer at the straightforward likes of The Fratellis from behind your clever and esoteric Battles records. But who would expect lyrical depth and musical complexity from a band who named themselves after the villains in The Goonies? Yes, ‘Mistress Mabel’'s words make Noel Gallagher look like Oscar Wilde. Yes, these Scots will probably always be in the commercial shadow of similar indie plodders like the inferior Kaiser Chiefs. Yet there's something massively likeable and charming about such an unpretentious band banging out this piano-led hit-in-waiting. ‘Chelsea Dagger’, the Glaswegian trio's biggest hit, was an instant success because it was an unashamedly big, dumb indie singalong. This year's festival season may see this, the lead single from new album Here We Stand, hit similar heights.
Download song 
Watch video: Broadband
Foals – ‘Red Socks Pugie’
|
There’s a special prize waiting for the first reader who can tell us what a ‘red socks pugie’ is. Or perhaps we don’t want to know. Lifted from their recent debut album Antidotes, this track didn’t exactly have the words “obvious single” slashed through the middle of it last time we sat through the whole album. That said, we’re not sure anything did, since Antidotes was pretty much the sound of singer Yannis Philippakis disappearing up his own rear end over 45 minutes. Regardless, there’s some lovely tinny, clattering, Tago Mago-era Can-esque drumming here, and a plaintive, lost, light-as-a-feather chorus. Essentially this is everything that’s good about Foals condensed into one easy-to-digest slice.
Download song Watch video: Broadband
