Tom Hudson assesses the latest tracks...Busy boys right about now, Leeds rockers *Pulled Apart By Horses* have kindly found the time between Other Demands to pen a few words on this week’s new singles. Thanks is extended the way of vocalist and guitarist Tom Hudson, whose views on this clutch of cuts have been so eloquently expressed.
PABH will soon release their third album, ‘Blood’, out on September 1^st. To mark the record’s birth, the foursome have teamed up with the West Yorkshire Revolutions Brewery to brew their own pale ale, flavoured with blood orange and Yorkshire Tea. Sounds delightful – we assume a crate is in the post, right now. Look out for Blood, the beer, at specialist ale houses around the land.
Check out their new video ‘Lizard Baby’ below, ahead of Tom’s take on the tracks we sent him to tackle.
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*Clean Bandit** – ‘Come Over’*
“Not really sure how this song came about, but from the sounds of it I think they used the soul of Cher’s ‘Believe’ Auto-Tune machine and fed it rum punch until it wanted to take a cruise with Kevin Lyttle to the Dominican Republic. This is just a guess, but I think the steel drum parts may have been inspired by the *(Secret Of) Monkey Island main theme*.”
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*Ameriie** – ‘What I Want’*
“Well, I have to begin this by saying that Ameriie’s ‘1 Thing’ is me and our drummer Lee’s all-time guilty pleasure tune. In fact, it isn’t even a guilty pleasure – it’s just awesome! Ameriie once again uses those sampled big, chunky soul beats and fills you with the need to waggle your finger like a no-bullshit-taking diva, as you try and sing along… only to realise your voice cannot get even close to her vocal register and you sound like Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man remake when they pour bees into his helmet. The only negative point is that she goes on about ‘what she wants’ a lot and could come across as sounding a little bit needy… but I’ll let her off, what with ‘1 Thing’.”
Related: *Just One Song: '1 Thing'*
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*DJ Mustard** – ‘Down On Me’*
“This might appear at first to be a typical hip-hop song as it drops the N-bomb, bitches and ass-titty combos pretty much from the word go. But, then it throws a total 360 curve ball at you and opens up a genuine heartfelt story about the struggle a young male has with his addiction to marijuana and the need to earn a decent amount of money to get by in this tough world. Employment issues are just a segment of his worries, though. The unfortunate overuse of marijuana has led him to become a victim of ‘nymphoticy’ where he cannot function as a rational human being and craves sexual attention – even though all he really wants to do is to find love and start a family of his own. The beats in this track are a classic example of the heights you can reach in GarageBand.”
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*Jonathan Boulet** – ‘Hold It Down’*
“This is pretty cool. I'm digging the fight between the twangy reverb guitars and that awesome fuzzed-up guitar. It sounds like he has got his tones from mic’ing up a burrito and getting Josh Homme to swallow it using the aid of tequila. I think it is played in dropped D and the D stands for destruction. I hadn't heard of Jonathan Boulet before this but will definitely do some more research into him.”
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*G.R.L.** – ‘Ugly Heart’*
“Mumford & Sons take lethal dosages of ecstasy and invite numerous generic female pop icons to a plum wine barn dance in the catacombs of Hell. With the help of Satan they resurrect the possessed and slightly charred remains of ’90s Irish pop queens B*Witched and sit back nervously as they watch the room fill with black tar. The tar preserves every body in its struggling state and is re-discovered one million years later and made into clay sculptures that are put on display to the public in a similar way to the bodies that were discovered in Pompeii after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.”
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*The Rails** – ‘Habit’*
“This song is produced by Bernard Butler, the guitarist who used to be in *Suede*. I remember the first time I watched the video for Suede’s *‘Animal Nitrate’* – I instantly fell in love with their slightly masculine but cute female singer, only to then find out she was called Brett Anderson.
“This song isn't really my cup o’ joe but it makes me wish I was in a run-down, Twin Peaks-style American diner eating cherry pie and drinking thick black coffee with this song as the music playing from the jukebox at the end of the room. It makes me feel lonely yet mysterious.”
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*T.I.** – ‘No Mediocre’*
“This song is about not wanting anything that is mediocre, which I guess is quite an upbeat attitude to have. Nobody wants a boring life. T.I. drives this point pretty hard, referring to his trouble with female dogs. Luckily, *Iggy Azalea* gives him a good run for his money – but as she is only featured in this track in one small verse she doesn't really have a leg to stand on.
“Again, we have another track where the inspiring Monkey Island theme creeps back in, conjuring visions of ghost pirates and the frustration of having an item that needs to be combined with another (hard to find) item in order to progress to the next level. The track has a carefree, mellow groove to it. If I heard this in a club I would dance to it by doing a cool, shrugging motion – as if I was not bothered by anything, but would be still very self aware and slightly perplexed by my surroundings.”
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Words: *Tom Hudson*
Photo: *Steve Gullick*
Pulled Apart By Horses play a load of UK shows, listed below, and *live on the internet here*.
*August*
18^th – Kasbah, Coventry
19^th – Bodega, Nottingham
20^th – East Village Arts Club, Liverpool
23^rd – Reading Festival
24^th – Leeds Festival
29^th – Brudenell Social, Leeds (winners-only acoustic set to launch their ale)
*September*
20^th – Southsea Festival, Portsmouth
Just announced: *November dates*.
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