Singles & Downloads 6

Wiley, Electric Boogaloo (Back Yard)

Erratic and spiky where his old mucker Dizzee Rascal has been slick and unerring in his rise to the top, East Londoner Richard "Wiley" Cowie has managed several massive pop-dance hits while remaining thoroughly entangled in the edgier, more aggro grime music scene which he helped to invent. This is very much on the pop-dance side of his output, with every mid-1990s club-energising trick in the book thrown into the mix - but it is done with huge élan, and there is enough of Wiley's wildcard persona audible in his raps about getting stuck into the dancefloor rather than lurking by the bar like a celebrity, to raise it well above the generic.

Even better, though, among the various remixes is one by Glasgow's master of hip hop/electronica/rave fusion Hudson Mohawke which demonstrates exactly why that city's dementedly hyper-vivid sounds are currently among the most fashionable in all of music. Its giddy clatter is a brilliant reminder of how club music at its best can be shamelessly cheesy, utterly bizarre and genuinely innovative all at the same time. (JM)

• Preview 'Electric Boogaloo' on Amazon

Kylie Minogue, All The Lovers (Parlophone)

"well, it's just slow faggy song, that is how it sounds and that is what we can see on the video" (Sic) - one of many similar silvers of incisive critique to be found beneath YouTube's hosting of Kylie's latest. Such redneck gibbering is engendered by the preposterous video, a Spencer Tunick-esque orgy-mountain (albeit in underwear) on the streets of New York with Ms Minogue flouncing atop like a fairy on a flesh Christmas tree. All well, good, camp and crazy, but I dearly wish the song matched it so that Mr "just-slow-faggy-song" would be left crushed in the dirt by blinding disco glister. Unfortunately, "All The Lovers" is a bit of a plod, like a lesser Hercules & Love Affair number given a Xenomania rerub. It was actually put together by electro-pop Kylie-mates Kish Mauve and Madonna-revitaliser Stuart Price, but both have done better work. Nonetheless, as radio froth goes, it's not displeasing, especially if it successfully irritates a few more dumb homophobes. (THG)

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Micah P Hinson, Take Off That Dress For Me (Full Time Hobby)

This Memphis-born, Texas-resident singer-songwriter is a great example of the benefits of time. Over four albums, he has matured into his deep voice and careworn persona to the point where now he feels worthy of mention in the same breath as the greats who inspired him. On the brief, purely acoustic "Take Off..." he drawls his sad seduction in a tone somewhere between Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson; the B-side, "Watchers, Tell Us of the Night" is built on an epic five-minute layering of guitar distortion, crashing drums and choral vocals to thrilling effect. That the two sit so well together is tribute to how strong the force of Hinson's personality as an artist has become. (JM)

• Download 'Take Off That Dress for Me' on Amazon

The Japanese Popstars, Destroy (Virgin/EMI)

"Destroy" harks back to a time when tunes such as Leftfield's "Open Up" and Underworld's "Born Slippy" conquered the higher reaches of the charts. In other words, it is thumping, crunching techno but topped with rocker-friendly vocals that give it a semblance of approachability. Irish trio The Japanese Popstars must have heard James Murphy's fantastic techno-grunge DFA remix of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Mars Arizona" and thought, "Hell, that's a good idea." The song itself is not similar (or, in truth, as wildly original) but the vibe is, and it boasts Spencer himself growling that his "skin is made of flypaper" like Iggy Pop in the days when he could really sleaze. Every sound is welded to a stately-paced acid house battering that simply grows and grows until you're either swept away or leave the premises. The Japanese Popstars remain ones to watch if you like your dance music concrete tough but also stadium ready. (THG)

• Download 'Destroy' on Amazon

Grasscut, The Door in the Wall (Ninja Tune)

With so many acts, from Radiohead to Beck to Gorillaz, making full-blown songs using the techniques of electronica and hip hop, it's odd that it should even be worthy of note that bands aren't guitar-centric any more. But it is, so there you go. Grasscut make a rather lovely sort of "indietronica", with a sweetly sung and massively infectious melody that could be from some great lost pastoral psychedelic pop song featuring buzzing organs and clockwork-sounding rhythms; remixers Bibio and PRDCTV, meanwhile, add their own fun twists to their versions without taking the song itself from centre stage. Quite lovely. (JM)

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The Volitains, Underground/This Love (Self-released)

Riding in on a bank of tribal drumming, this hard-rockin' shriek-athon is not simply the usual London wannabes texting in their third generation take on The Clash or, given the female singer, L7. Somewhere along the line a perverse New York art rock gene has muddied The Volitains' waters, not in that self-conscious early Bloc Party way, but more like "Death Valley 69"-era Sonic Youth. Thus the howling, annoyed vocals of front-woman Candice Ayery fight it out with an original, unpredictable stop-start stew of lairy guitars on "Underground" then, by way of reward, are given their own dirty T-Rex-meets-Led Zep riff to ride for "This Love". If The Volitains can muster this kind of avant-punk-blues assault live, they will go far. (THG)

• The Volitains website where 'Underground/This Love' will be available from 27th June

Aeroplane, We Can't Fly (Wall Of Sound)

Aeroplane has recently stopped being a duo and become the solo vehicle of Vito de Luca. The Belgian producer is about to launch an album, created with maverick French studio visionary Bertrand Burgalat, which has the potential to "do an Air". In other words, it has qualities that will make it the wet dream of every television montage sequence designer and advertising exec looking for something cool but supremely accessible. Then, by the end of the year, it may well have spread like a Balearic disco virus to the after-dinner stereos of Britain's hip bourgeoisie. The title track is released before the main event arrives in September and is a rounded taster offering a melee of reggae groove, children's voices, pattering percussion, juicy melody, cinematic gospel, and squelchy bubbling electronica. Resistance is useless for, whether dancing naked aboard a yacht on a sun-dappled Mediterranean evening or finishing Saskia's Raspberry Torte in a Georgian Hove townhouse, "We Can't Fly" is luscious, lavishly crafted and immensely likeable. (THG)

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Jakes / Darqwan, Time Ends / Jahwan (Tectonic)

As dubstep becomes more popular and risks being seen as formulaic, labels like Tectonic preserve three-dimensional versions of the sound. Bristolian producer Jakes' "Time Ends" wouldn't need its title opening dialogue snippet from the film 2012 to tell you it has an apocalyptic atmosphere -- it is all tension, with a glossy high-tech feel to its undulating drones, ticking rhythm and snare drums echoing into the distance that would perfectly suit a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. "Jahwan" by Sheffield's Oris "Darqwan" Jay is rougher round the edges but more sensual, with wordless ecstatic female soul vocals and rolling beats; it too has a gripping sense of dread and drama. This is club music that is both visceral and exquisitely sophisticated.

• Download 'Time Ends/Jahwan' on Amazon

Underworld, Scribble (Cooking Vinyl)

Having provided the launch pad that assisted The Prodigy in hurtling back to the top, Cooking Vinyl, once a folk label, now take a punt on another classic Nineties dance act. Underworld have been in a peculiar position for some time. A duo since their DJ associate Darren Emerson exited a decade ago, producer Rick Smith and frontman Karl Hyde have, in recent years, seemed keen to demonstrate their versatility. The results have been mixed, interesting, but where their fans wanted massive drums and swathes of synths, often bloodlessly cerebral, Hyde's stream-of-consciousness lyrics lilting rather than urgent. "Scribble" is a complete change of direction, initially a tough one to absorb. For one thing the general tone - the snippets of Auto-tuned FM radio vocal, the pre-set drum & bass beat - seems to be the work of a completely different, much younger band (Chase & Status spring to mind). After a couple of listens, however, once expectations have adjusted, "Scribble" blooms to epic life, euphorically memorable, the sound of festival fields at night where arms wave aloft, right to the very back. The sound, indeed, of Summer. (THG)

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6 Day Riot, All I Need (Tantrum)

This is the sort of record that should be easy to dislike. Everything from Tamara Schlesinger's plaintive vocal style and relentlessly cheery lyrics to the brass band tootling and skirt-swinging rhythm are so close to being faux-naif and "hey c'mon guys sing along!" happy-clappy that on first listen I was waiting to feel the bile start rising. But it didn't come, because 6 Day Riot are just good at what they do and not ashamed of it; unlike, say, the superficially similar but horribly twee and passive-aggressive Los Campesinos! there's no arch indie-schmindie coyness, just a sunshine-infused folk-pop song delivered dead straight that slips down sweetly like a cool glass of Montbazillac. Genuinely happy music is hard to make, so respect to them for this. (JM)

• Download 'All I Need' on Amazon