Singles Watch - June '05

The radio is alive with the sound of excellent new music. It seems that everyone who's anyone has a new album or addictive single out. Here’s a short list of the summer songs sure to be the touchstones of 2005:

- “Blue Orchid” by The White Stripes

Like just about every other first single off a Stripes album, this song rocks from the window to the wall. Every time this single hits the radio or my iPod, I can’t help but rock out. The freak show that is Jack White is back in high-pitched rocker mode, with a healthy dose of jagged guitar and a creepy ‘stache. And Meg, bless her heart, she can’t play the drums worth a damn, but she manages to keep a thwup of a beat in this song that keeps hands banging on steering wheels and tabletops nationwide. Let’s hope the rest of the album turns out just as well as this little preview (comes out tomorrow).

-“Feel Good, Inc.” by Gorillaz

Yes, its ‘that cartoon band.’ They’re back with better animation, but a whole lotta great sound. The combination of Damon Albarn’s dreamlike vocals and the hip-hop stylings of guests De La Soul, this song has all the makings of a great cruiser song. Equal parts trip and hip, I can’t imagine how this album could possibly be bad (haven’t heard other tracks as yet, anyone else?).

-“Chocolate” by Snow Patrol

I will concede that this song is in the same vein as just about everything put out by Switchfoot or Keane and it just might be a bit of a girly-melty-pop song…but the lyrics alone are enough to win my ears over. It snuck up on me, I’ll admit, but has become a song I sing along with on the radio.

-“Finding Out True Love is Blind” by Louis XIV

Now this song isn’t exactly new, but it is such a summer song. Lead singer/guitarist Jason Hill seems to be channeling the Rolling Stones in their younger days with this rollicking, brash song extolling the virtues of interracial sex. And the come hither female chorus is just so very….hot. There’s really no other way to describe lyrics like this.

-Wait (The Whisper Song) by the Ying Yang Twins
OK, it might not really look like it fits into this collection, but this gets mentioned solely because it has to be the most over-the-top rap song ever made. The uncensored version of this entirely whispered song is the most hilariously raunchy dead-serious single to hit rap radio as far as I’m concerned…even I feel a bit blushed singing along. I mean, it actually repeats “beat da pussy up” over and over! Fabulous.

-“The Best of You” by the Foo Fighters/ “A Lifetime” by Better Than Ezra

Not many bands can have an extended career without trying to “adapt” or “develop” their sound (i.e. change it because they wore it out). Both of these new singles sound as if they could have been made by these very 90s bands in the 90s…and they are none the worse for wear. As anyone who reads this know, I love 90s alt rock…and I’m glad to see it still exists. Keep on keeping on,

Honorable Mentions:

-“Be Yourself” by Audioslave (only cause it isn’t all that new)
-“Speed of Sound” by Coldplay (if it didn’t sound so much like “Clocks”, it might be more notable)
-“The Hand That Feeds” by Nine Inch Nails (OK, come on. It’s Trent Fucking Reznor. This man could sing the dictionary to a backing metal sound and I would love it.)