The Nite Songs Singles Bar - December 2021 (Xmas Special!)
Well, as with last year, we're doing a Christmas Special for the Singles Bar. Although disappointingly given that we had to add a whole extra section on to the column last month to accommodate all the festive stuff, this year the pickings have been a bit slimmer. Still, we've stocked up on the mulled wine so pour yourself a glass and let's see what's turned up in Santa's sack this time around.
Starting with some non-festive stuff first though in the form of the Kut and their new single Animo (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) marking their return to the fray after a couple of years away. A chugging slice of pop-punk, this is a decent effort only let down slightly by the use of vocoder'd vocals on the chorus which is a bit painful on the ears. Not bad overall though and hopefully the second album will be along soon.
We've been anticipating the Scaramanga Six's new album Worthless Music for a while now and a review should be incoming any day now but in the meantime, Big Ideas (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is the fourth single from it and is exactly the sort of lurching weirdness you'd expect from the S6 (one part Talking Heads and one part The Fall) complete with guitars which I actually thought were a horn section the first time I heard them! Another great song from this band and we're looking forward to giving that album a listen imminently. Bandcamp Link
It's good to see Dream Nails back at the Singles Bar and They/Them (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), the follow-up to August's Take Up Space, is another ferocious slice of X-Ray Spex agit-punk in support of the non-binary community and taking aim at terfs with righteous fury. Great stuff as always - whether this is a sign that a second Dream Nails is on its way in 2022 or just a standalone release I'm not sure but if the former then I'm very much looking forward to it. Bandcamp Link
It's good to see Buster Shuffle back after a two year absence and New Badge For My Uniform (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a fired up diatribe against the trials of menial work to a rolling ska rhythm and the none more Cockney vocals. Great stuff from a very under-rated band and hopefully this is another new album we can look forward to in early 2022.
Also back after a break are Swedish rock 'n' rollers Diamond Dogs with Alright Brutus I'm On (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) and it's good to hear Sulo and co back on form after the slightly disappointing Recall Rock 'n' Roll and the Magic Soul album last year. A glorious sax-honking slice of '70s indebted rock which is one part Quireboys and one part Mott the Hoople, this is a very promising sign and hopefully indicative that a big proper swinging comeback from this very underrated band is just around the corner. In the meantime, consider this our non-Christmas Single of the Month for December.
As mentioned earlier in the column, while 2021 doesn't seem to have anywhere near as many Christmas singles as we did at the Singles Bar a year ago, there are at least some hardy souls keeping the faith such as power-poppers The Peppermint Kicks with It's A Peppermint Christmas (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) which starts off all gentle and Beatlesy with gentle flutes before the guitars kick in to start off a proper Kinks style rave-up. Some good wholesome festive fun, make no mistake. Bandcamp Link
Also getting in on the festive action is Wicked Cool stalwart Kurt Baker with Christmas In The Sand (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) which also shamelessly harks back to the Christmas songs of the '70s (Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday in particular). Unapologetically big singalong chorus, Beach Boys style vocal harmonies, toe-tapping hooks, yup, if we were playing Christmas song bingo then this would be a full house and there's nowt wrong with that. Bandcamp Link
It's maybe telling though that the best Christmas single this year has come from a group with previous form here namely Eureka Machines and Chris Catalyst whose split EP Stay Another Christmas Every Day (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗). I'm pretty sure it's only Chris who could take East 17's Stay Another Day and turn it into a big dreamy Beach Boys style psychedelic singalong while the Eurekas stamp their own mark on Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day with typical aplomb. Elsewhere, covers of the Turtles' Happy Together and Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World (albeit done more in the style of the Joey Ramone version) may not strictly speaking be Christmas songs but I defy you not to start grinning and tapping your toe along listening to them. Great stuff and pretty much essential festive listening in my book. Bandcamp Link
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MINI-ALBUM REVIEW
SEVEN DAYS AND DOESN’T DIE - “Seven Days And Doesn’t Die”
Just the one mini-album offering this month but I'm pleased to report it's a good 'un - Seven Days And Doesn't Die are the other band of Rich Ragany & The Digressions guitarist and occasional vocalist Kit Swing and it's pretty obvious from the rampaging opener Snatching Defeat which kicks in at breakneck speed with a full on punk metal assault and doesn't even consider slowing down for the next four minutes that we're dealing with something pretty damn impressive here.
NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)
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Anyway, that's yer lot from the Singles Bar for 2021 - hope you've enjoyed the various instalments and found some enjoyable music herein. We'll be back in January in the unlikely event that there's enough releases to justify a full column then, if not February. In the meantime, have a great Christmas and New Year and we'll see you all on the other side in 2022.
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