
I played him this, however, and he shrugged - it’s too bro-y and simple for his taste and mine, and the melody and lyrics are so unmemorable that now I just want to start talking about “Square Hammer” again instead. Hannah Jocelyn: One of my dad’s favorite songs at the moment is Ghost’s “Square Hammer”, which I introduced him to after I gave the song a. I just want this song to make me do a double-take, and as it is, I’m straining. “My eyes are still burning red” has promising menace, but every element stays quietly at the back of the room instead of forcing its way to the front, from the ok-guitar to the ok-vocals. This is the Ollie’s Discount Outlet version of that, with very little drive or distinction to pull it out of the background. Lilly Gray: I remember hearing Foals’ “Inhaler” for the first time and replaying it over and over until the chorus buildup stopped giving me a headrush and I was finally tired of it. Royal Blood’s rock doesn’t do much new, but the focused energy of their stripped down approach gets them right to the point and means that the wilder bits of guitar aren’t just hemmed in details. Making the most of constraints goes for the song, too.

Iain Mew: Well done on the video, which takes the vague lyrics (“stuck in the ground,” “through the walls,” “skin tight,” “burning red”) and faithfully turns them into an uncanny Doctor Who concept. Rock is dead, saith the critics, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still convulsing. Will Rivitz: The song is ostensibly about getting high after an erstwhile hook-up walks out the door, which feels appropriate given the massive testosterone rush its avalanches of bass trigger. Pharrell WilliamsĪlfred Soto: A market exists for this sort of thing, I suppose *gets up to make a smoothie*. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment.

