Singles Bar | OMR Reviews June 1st

Singles Bar – this week, releases from Skepta and Gaslight Anthem.

Two more latest singles are picked apart for the creative squad of One More Robot magazine (new issue in shops now!).

Skepta – ‘Make Peace Not War’
(3 Beat/All Around the World)
★★★☆☆
First and foremost, judge Skepta not on this tune alone. The MC is part of London-based posse of grime pioneers and entrepreneurs better known as Boy Better Know or BBK, which contains the enigmatic godfather of grime, Wiley. If you zip through Skepta’s grimier back catalogue, the radio-friendly ‘Make Peace Not War’ will feel like a bit of a departure but such is the route that the grime MC must take to get radio play – see Dizzee, Tinchy, Tinie, Chipmunk and even Wiley.

So with all that background, to the tune itself. It heavily samples C+C Music Factory’s ‘Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’ so there’s a degree of certainty the song is likely to be welcome to your ears. In the cold, sober light of day, there may be a lyric or two that will make you cringe (“Me, I rock and roll like Noel Gallagher”) but mix it up with a little rum, play it in the club and I imagine its destiny as certified banger will be more than realised. – Trisha Doyle

Gaslight Anthem – ‘45’
(Mercury)
★★★★☆
‘45’, the lead single from Gaslight Anthem’s upcoming album Handwritten, is business as usual for the New Jersey band. An up-tempo, energetic rocker, the verses are propelled by a catchy lead guitar riff before launching into one of the band’s trademark huge choruses. It could be argued that the Gaslight Anthem’s songs aren’t very distinctive; you could shuffle their songs from album to album and you wouldn’t really notice. Still, placed on any of their previous albums and ‘45’ would definitely be a standout. For fans of uplifting, arena-ready rock. – Jesse Melia