Singles

EOIN BUTLER's guide to downloads, singles and free audiostreams

AEROPLANE

SuperstarWall of Sound ****

Post-Gaga, music video directors seem to believe that WTF!? is the only game in town when it comes to getting attention. Very often they might have a point. But here the tiresome parade of toilet seat necklaces, plungers attached to models’ breasts and toast glasses is really quite unnecessary, because the track itself totally kicks ass. Album, We Can’t Fly, follows on September 24th.

HUNTER GATHERER

Père LachaiseOsaka ***

A growling, menacing instrumental that does evoke the famous Parisian cemetery, but only when there’s a full moon and the residents have risen from their slumber to feast on tourists’ brains (or something like that.) This 7-inch single is launched in the Twisted Pepper in Dublin tonight. Support is from Hipster Youth, which might just be the worst band name of all time.

DEERHUNTER

Helicopter4AD ****

Hunting and aviation seem to be the recurring themes this week (former Alaska governor Sarah Palin would surely approve). This is a gorgeous mournful taster from Bradford Cox’s fourth album, Halcyon Digest.

KANYE WEST/JAY-Z

Monster IslandDef Jam ****

The first track from their forthcoming mini-album, Watch The Thrown, features Rick Ross and (of all people) Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. But it is the hitherto unknown Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj who steals the show. In one utterly deranged sequence, she manages to rhyme Tonka, Willy Wonka, Sri Lanka and conquer. A star is born.

R KELLY

FireworksJive Records ***

Another workman-like r’n’b ballad from a master of the oeuvre. But in these gloomy times, I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes Kelly would hurry up with the next instalment of Trapped in the Closet. “The sky is glowing with peace, love and harmony,” he sings here. Whatever, R, bring on the sex-crazed dwarves. Quick!