Music
The Songs We Can't Escape
5ingles
HEADLIGHTS
"Cherry Tulips"
To the band, this cute-as-a-polka-dot-button tune represents a romantic dream where the tulip presence is damn near overpowering, but couldn't this scenario just as easily become a Target television commercial in some visual designer's able hands?
THE ROSEBUDS
"Push It"
What Salt 'n' Pepa are up to these days: They've got a reality show I haven't bothered to watch and MySpace pages I'll never visit. As white appropriation of black popular standards goes (cf. Dynamite Hack's "Boys in the Hood"), this one's a rote snore that highlights how rudimentary and toast-ish the original raps were by 2008 standards; the rutting beat's got whatever iconic juice this single retains.
WHY?
"Good Friday"
When Yoni Wolf dejectedly spits out a zinger like "Sucking dick for drink tickets at the free bar at my cousin's bat mitzvah," it's unclear whether or not he's kidding—especially considering that a few verses later he's bragging about going down on new female fans. My take on it: Wolf's desperately trying to inject ribald life into a song he knows is melodically flaccid.
WYE OAK
"Warning"
This Baltimore duo just nabbed a Merge Records contract, and they certainly deserve it. Churny/twirly autumnal college rock that doesn't skimp on the postcard-pretty guitar feedback and politely threatens to leave orbit is always heartily embraced here at 5ingles HQ.
YIP-YIP
"Club Mummy"
Can we call a moratorium on fucking NES/Sega sonic-wallpapering acts already? Remember a couple years ago when your friends kept sending you emails with links to "Hamster dance" web pages and the like? This isn't dissimilar, but it's worse because these Floridians expect you to pay ducats for their "zany" 25-minute album. Sure, it comes with a DVD containing videos, but I get the feeling those would only compel me to hate this duo even more—if that's possible.