Eoin Butler's guide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
My Girls Domino ****

Animal Collective's eighth studio album Merriweather Post Pavillionhas already been greeted with rapturous (some might say, hysterical) acclaim from critics everywhere. Even the notoriously difficult to please PitchforkMedia gave the album an impressive 9.6/10. No singles have been announced yet, but My Girls is the standout track.

N FORCE
All My Life All Around The World *

Unremarkable dancefloor fodder, notable only for the lavish Vegas hotel-room scene in the video. Buxom vocalist tells her companion that he’s her mother, father, brother and sister rolled into one. Which makes what they do next a tad disturbing . . .

THE PRODIGY
Omen Cooking Vinyl **

The first single from their Invaders Must Die album will leave your “head battered by future nostalgia, your serotonin levels twisted by feel-good hardcore and your synapses snapped by whiplash attitude”. Well, that’s according to the press release at any rate. I’d take that with a pinch of salt though. The Prodigy support Oasis in Slane this June, which is appropriate given that, artistically, both acts appear to have been cryogenically frozen in time since the mid-1990s.

Bell X1
How Your Heart Is Wired Belly Up Records ***

Their fourth album, Blue Lights On The Runway (the first without guitarist Brian Crosby), is in the shops on February 20th, but this six-minute taster is currently streaming at www.myspace.com/bellx1.

KID CUDI VS CROOKERS
Day'N'Nite Data ***

It’s Friday night. You’re on your second Bacardi Breezer when the DJ drops the new single from Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi. Your feet begin to tap, as your body is drawn irresistibly toward the dance floor. You don’t know the words but find yourself singing along anyway. “Day and night na na na na naaaa / Day and night etc.” Yip, still got it girl.

WHITE LIES
To Lose My Life Fiction **

The latest great white hopes of British guitar pop are London three-piece White Lies. Singer Harry McVeigh has already been compared to Ian Curtis and Julian. He sounds more like a silly man doing a bad Billy Idol impression to me. But what do I know?