_Or decent album tracks?_Their fans might kiss the band poster before going to bed. But not you. You don’t want to have their babies, you just like the singles. Those catchy-tuned, glorious-chorused things you heard on the radio. Songs that you subsequently found, to your horror, had zero in common with the album from whence they came.That’s the “singles” band. And this mogger’s list includes Ash, Basement Jaxx, the Beautiful South, Destiny’s Child, Gorillaz, the Police, Supergrass, and the White Stripes. This week I’ve added a new one—Hard-Fi, a indie-pop outfit from Staines in England.They knock out melodic and melodramatic indie-pop about kids desperate to escape suburbia (for, I dunno, an inner-city project.) But not to fear, diversity fans, for Hard-Fi also sing about having no money, getting your girlfriend up the stick, and falling around shitfaced at the weekend. You know, _real_ Joanna Newsome territory.In my younger days I would have totally identifed with Hard-Fi's working-class zeroes but now the lyrics seem a tad one-toned. There’s only so many songs you can listen to about “escaping” before you want to push eject yourself.But the singles. Ah, they’re a different story.Hard-Fi’s latest and possibly greatest single is (wait for it...) _Suburbian Knights_. It kicks off with the completely meaningless yet superbly sing-a-long “aaaaaaaaah, ooooooohh”. That's the chorus. Once you’ve mastered it, you can join in after a first verse of typically bolshy Hard-Fi lines, such as “Work till you die, that’s what they teach you at school”. Following some whinging about having nothing to do, we get the nicely-observed couplet, “But global terror they say, we are at war/ but ain’t got time for that, ’cause these bills keep dropping through my door”. And that’s about it. But it’s an undeniably good tune.Hard-Fi’s other big singles are _Living For The Weekend_, _Hard To Beat_, and _Cash Machine_. They all came from catchily-titled album “Stars of CCTV”, which sold over a million copies. _Suburban Knights_ is from their less catchily-titled second record “Once Upon A Time In The West”. It's been getting a lot of press, not for the musical content but because the boys released it without cover art. (If only "old Carlton Banks had done the same".:http://www.stereogum.com/archives/album-art/kanye-wests-graduation-cover-for-real.html) Not that it will work on me. I haven’t heard the LP, and most likely never will.I’ll just look out for those sublime 45s.....In the Comments:1. _Hard To Beat_ mp3 - my Nike+ “power song”!2. _Cash Machine_ video - one of the best pop videos I've seen in years.
Comments (14)
I can't say I'm bothered about Hard-Fi. Not really my cup of tea.