Nite Songs

  Welcome back to the Singles Bar for March. Spring is almost here, the world at large seems to be waking up and the new releases are starting to become a bit more plentiful so why not pull up a chair and we'll see what's on the menu this month. And a good start to this month's selection with a welcome return for Leeds pop-punk veterans The Cyanide Pills   with The Kids Can't Be Trusted With Rock 'n' Roll  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗), a great singalong slice of Ramones indebted pop-punk taking a humourous swipe at "punk rock police" types. Cracker of a B-side as well in the frenetic Do You Wanna Know? Not sure if this is a standalone release or an album taster but if the latter then consider my interest most definitely piqued. Arriving in the same package from Damaged Goods records is the new effort from the Courettes . As you'll probably know if you read our review of their Back In Mono  album last year, while most of the world was losing its head over this band...

  So here we go then. It took a lot of head-scratching, a lot of re-listening to albums that I'd reviewed months ago and at least ten rewrites but I'm happy to present the Nite Songs Top 50 Albums of 2021. Enjoy! *** 50.      DESPERATE JOURNALIST - "Maximum Sorrow" Desperate Journalist's fourth album sees them on good form with plenty of the same swooping dream-pop epics that recall the Cocteau Twins at their most ethereal as well as a few unexpected diversions into other waters that provide a welcome change of pace when it's needed. One of those groups who definitely deserve to be much better known than they  are. *** 49.      LUKE HAINES - "Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman" Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman   sees Haines on typically acerbic form whether he's skewering his targets or writing sinister whimsical odes to failed historical regimes. He's also on good form musically here veering from gentle folk through atonal po...

  We first encountered Sahf London scuzz-punks Chubby & The Gang via their debut album Speed Kills last year. An intriguingly odd beast, it was 80% full throttle thrash-punk with the odd unexpected more reflective slow number. Although it didn't quite mesh together as comfortably as it might've, there were enough promising signs there that with time, this lot could be on to something. I'm pleased to report that with this second album, the group have honed their sound well and it represents good progress. Although the opening one-two of the title track and It's Me Who'll Pay  see them attacking your eardrums with all the subtlety of a brick to the face, the chugging riff of Coming Up Tough  and the more poppy melodies (including handclaps!) of On The Meter  show a band who aren't willing to let their sound box them in and all power to them. In fact, the thrash-punk that was the main force of Chubby & The Gang's debut seems to have been relegated to a...

August always seems to be a bit of a quiet time for releases and to be honest, it has been a bit quieter than usual at the Singles Bar this month. However, we've done a bit of rooting around to find a few potential gems we might've missed in the last few months as well as a handful of new releases plus a couple of mini-albums for you so if you'd be so kind as to head out on to the roof terrace and soak up the sun a bit, we'll get our selection over to you straight away. Well, we started with a Wildhearts  single last month and we do so again this month with the excellent Sort Your Fucking Shit Out  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) another promising salvo from the upcoming 21st Century Love Songs  album. Poppier than last month's Remember These Days , it still packs enough unexpected twists and turns to what initially appears to be a straightforward slice of pop-punk but builds up to a furious crescendo. Great stuff. We've already encountered Norwegian pop-punks The Cocktail Slipper...

  The obvious template for Brighton punk upstarts Chubby & The Gang is the Cockney Rejects - they've got a similarly ramshackle shoutalong charm as Canning Town's finest did back in the day and it's this sheer energy that keeps Speed Kills barrelling along and holds your attention. The snotty likes of Pariah Radio , All Along The Uxbridge Road ,  Hold Your Breath  and the singalong Bruce Grove Bullies  are sheer yoof defiance and have a snarling belligerence that's all too rare among young bands these days. The only red light comes with an ill-advised excursion into power-pop on Trouble (You Were Always On My Mind)  which just feels like a bit of a mess and the fact that the later tracks do tend to merge together in your mind as the album goes on. But then, they are a young band so you can kind of forgive that. It's the stark Billy Bragg style Grenfell Forever  which really sees them pulling off a surprise though as they come up with something genuinely...