Eoin Butler's guide to downloads, singles and free audiostreams
M.I.A.
XXXOInterscope **
She enjoyed massive crossover success courtesy of Paper Planes. But it's all gone sour of late for M.I.A. The release of her Maya album was marred by a wave of bad publicity. The singer's response is this pretty but uncharacteristically toothless video offering for XXXO. Is the rapper/activist/professional controversialist actually playing it safe for once? I don't know, but this may be the closest she ever comes to doing an album of country standards.
65 DAYS OF STATIC
Weak4/Come to Me **
Instrumental post-rock has never done it for me. It's too ponderous, too beloved of earnest 30-something males who play videogames in their bedrooms. That said, if it either 65 Days of Static or 500 Days of Summer, I'd pick this every time. Man, I really hated that film.
THE MINUTES
Fleetwood ***
Another impressive single from Dublin-based noise merchant s The Minutes, whose debut album ( Marcata) is due for release later this year. Would Fleetwood be enjoyed by Irish rock aficionados everywhere? Fleetwood would, would Fleetwood! (I truly, truly apologise for that joke.) See itunes.com
THE WOMBATS
Tokyo (Vampires Wolves)Warner ***
Underground, overground, wombatting free . . . Sorry, wrong group! The new single from The Wombats finds them roaming the Japanese capital, “confronting the demons of the past” and – let’s face it – probably secretly hoping to run into Scarlett Johansson.
THE JOLLY BOYS
RehabGeejam Recordings ****
They tried to make him go to rehab, but Albert Minott said no, no, no. And why wouldn’t he? Whatever his poison, it has clearly done the Jamaican veteran and his bandmates a power of good. The Jolly Boys have been playing together for all of 60 years now. (Hollywood actor Errol Flynn was an early fan!) If this version of the Amy Winehouse hit doesn’t put a stupid smile on your face, well, you mustn’t have a pulse!
