SUMMERTIME

New Kids on the Block

I told you, didn't I? All these bands you thought had been consigned to the dumper forever have managed to crawl back out, just like Lando Calrissian in Return Of The Jedi. It's enough to make you wonder who's next – I'm going for Ned's Atomic Dustbin myself. No other reason than the name. Now then, for a band that had their first hit in 1989, surely it's pushing the borders of reality to breaking point for them to be referring themselves not only as New, but also Kids. Mind you, I doubt they ever thought they'd still be recording together today, and unfortunately, considering how pedestrian this comeback effort is, I'm wondering myself why they're still recording today. It's pleasant enough, but that's all it is. This song is the musical equivalent of having a puppy lick your face in perpetuity. It's nice to begin with, but rapidly loses its appeal. I'm hoping they've got better songs in the locker, but if the Backstreet Boys comeback is anything to go by you've got to fear for them, haven't you?

21ST CENTURY LIFE

Sam Sparro

Perhaps I read too much into what people are singing about. See what you reckon. Sam Sparro starts off by singing about how, when he was a boy "living in the last century", he dreamed about living in the future, and then sings "I turned around and the future was now". Hang on, sorry – WHAT? How long does it take Sam Sparro to turn round? At least eight years, by the sound of things – there are fully-laden oil tankers that have a faster turning circle than Mr Sparro! But, as is the norm for me, I digress. Apparently, the future for Sam has turned out to be nothing like he imagined. "It was nothing like I imagined," he says. It confounded him too, not just slightly, but totally. "It was totally confounding," says our humble narrator. Well, it would be, wouldn't it? Before he decided to re-orientate himself a mobile phone would make phone calls, do text messages and if you had a colour screen you were well off. Now look at us, we're living in a technological wonderland compared to the dark ages of the twentieth century. Dot matrix printers, video cassette recorders, Juliet Bravo - the prosecution rests. On top of all this, he's also complaining that he's got 21,000 things that have to be done today – stands to reason really, if you've not bothered doing anything for the business end of a decade you're going to have something of a backlog of jobs to sort out. For one thing, I wouldn't want to have to clean out his fridge after that period of time. No sympathy from me on that score. Anyway, believe it or not, there is actually a tune to accompany this, and it's actually not bad. Considering its title, it sounds a bit nineties funk to me, but to be fair to Sam Sparro, yesterday for him it probably was the nineties. Daft thing is, I actually prefer this to Black And Gold. It's a bit ridiculous as well it should be, but it's not going to harm anyone. After all that, I like this one.

MERCURY

Bloc Party

Looks like Flux wasn't a one-off, then. There's a dancey feel to this one too, although this time it's far less pronounced. It sounds like something Adam and the Ants might have put together if the equipment to do it existed in 1981. It's driven by the vocals (which get slowed down in places for effect) and the drums and not a great deal else, at least not until the very end when a bloke with a trumpet's given a few bars to show what he can do. If you remember The Prayer, then this is that after a night out clubbing. I liked The Prayer, and I don't know about you, but in my opinion Bloc Party are actually getting better as time goes by. This is great, it really is. It may be minimal, but it works.