Eoin Butler's guide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams
USHER
Moving Mountains
LaFace
**
Downloading the cheesy R&B heart-throb Usher's latest offering from iTunes to my iPod: €0.99. Single fare ticket on Dublin bus: €1.05. Enduring 15 minutes of sustained ridicule from two teenage girls in the seat behind me: rather embarrassing, if the truth be told.
THE COOL KIDS
Chocolate Industries
****
"Your friends don't dance / And if they don't dance / Then they ain't no friends of mine . . ." An antidote to the present-day rap orthodoxy of bitches, bling and bullets: The Cool Kids hark back to a somewhat more innocent era, when hip-hop meant stone-washed Guess jeans and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
CARLA BRUNI
Ta Tienne ("Yours")
Downtown Records
***
To the accompaniment of pianos, flutes and pipes, a husky Mrs Sarkozy pays tribute to her diminutive husband thus: "You are my lord, my darling, my orgy . . ." Hmm, now there's an image to haunt your nightmares.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS, JULIAN CASABLANCAS & SANTOGOLD
My Drive Thru
****
There's already strong speculations that Pharrell Williams will produce the next Strokes album. Here's a preview: Julian Casablancas and Santi White duet on this surprisingly successful collaboration, recorded to celebrate the 100th anniversary (I'm told) of a pair of shoes. www.converse.com
THE VERVE
Love Is Noise
Parlophone
**
Though I'm still not hugely taken with The Verve's comeback single, my opinion of it has at least risen slightly since I realised the chorus doesn't blandly decree that "love is nice".
CRYSTAL CASTLES
Vanished
Merok Records
***
When they performed at Andrews Lane Theatre in Dublin earlier this year, charismatic Toronto duo Ethan Kath and Alison Glass amused the crowd with a series of risqué jokes and spot-on celebrity impersonations.
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
Midnight Man
Mute
****
"Everybody's coming round to my place," croons Cave, before rushing out to stock up on cocktail sausages and Rice Krispie buns. Incidentally, that was a joke about Crystal Castles. Two less communicative performers I have yet to encounter.
