Neck Deep In It And Starting To Drown

Girls Aloud “Swinging London Town” – I think that a lot of people have been trying to write this song over the past decade, this sort of precisely calibrated techno rock thing, and in retrospect it now seems as though there are entire discographies that are like rough drafts for this one perfect composition.

“Swinging London Town” is sung from the perspective of a spoiled young socialite who is all too aware of the toxic nature of her lifestyle. She is already seduced by the excess and decadence, but can barely mask her contempt for virtually everyone and everything in her life. Status symbols are alternately desired and derided for being ridiculous cliches, evidence of nonexistent imaginations and mindless trend-hopping. The character is on the outermost limits of our sympathy, but she earns some small measure of it in the context of the arrangement. As the track intensifies, the vocals initially recede into the mix, making her seem overwhelmed and tiny as she is consumed by her world. When the bridge hits, the bottom drops out and it suddenly seems like happy hour at a trendy nightclub on the ocean floor. When the song comes back up for air, the vocals grow more confident, though the lyrical tone is more defensive than anything else. It’s the sound of pride swallowing a person whole, and desperation being trumped by aimless ambition. Think of this as being like the “kicking squealing Gucci little piggy” section of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” fleshed out into a proper character study. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Celebration “China” – I saw Celebration perform last night, and I’m left with one big question: How is it that the indie world is not losing their shit over these people? Is it just that the record is still fairly new and not a lot of people have seen them live just yet? If we’re at the point when the Animal Collective can be indie stars, there’s no excuse for this band not to find its audience. The performances on the album certainly did little to prepare me for the brilliance of their live act, with the hyperkinetic percussion and minimal keyboard parts providing a surprisingly powerful backdrop for charismatic frontwoman Katrina Ford, who is rather like an interesting, more imaginative version of Karen O. The band was at their best with the addition of a two-man horn section, which allowed them to approximate moves from old James Brown live performances as shot through the prism of art rock in the style of Siouxie and the Slits. The name suits them – everything in their performance felt cathartic and celebratory, vivid, vibrant and alive. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Elsewhere: The Knife’s One Session version of “Heartbeats” is a must-have. Said The Gramophone has it. Go get it.