A choppy riff similar to REM's cover of Wire's "Strange" opens the new Drugstore single, which then splays into that murky Drugstore sound.
Lyrically, "Injection" continues the themes explored on their debut album. Isabel Monteiro laments her naive illusions of well-being: "Once upon a time I was so small, I had a silver plane and it looke so perfect from a distance - but all the walls were closing in and I was living in between..." Reflecting on her misconceptions, she tries without succes to convince herself and the listener that "It was perfect for a day."
The B-sides are equally engaging. "Heart of Honey" is a noisy, fast, bittersweet ballad that would not be out of place on a Jesus & Mary Chain album. The cd also includes a cover of the Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly," a song that is particularly well-suited to Drugstore's strengths. The band is joined by members of the Flaming Lips for this rendition.
Finally, Terry Edwards successfully remakes "Gravity," from the album, as a string quartet.
REVIEW: Powder, "Deep-Fried" single (Parkway Europe)
- Tim Mohr
Joining the swelling ranks of Britpop bands fronted by women (Elastica, Sleeper, Echobelly, to name a few), Powder seem finally to have found an identity that distinguishes them from the rest of the field.
On their previous single, "Afrodisiac," Powder came across very similar to Elastica, except that the Powder single, at nearly four minutes, was twice as long as most of Elastica's. A barely audible organ added to the searing guitars, and Powder's unidentified female singer was both more breathy and huskier than Justine Elastica or Louise Sleeper. The B-sides were equally well put together, with "Shave Me" particularly worthy of attention. The careening bass on "Fever" and the relentless guitars on all three tracks showed Powder to be very professional, but the work, while very catchy, failed to expand much on the Britpop canon.
The latest single, however, sees Powder carving out a unique niche. "Deep-Fried" is introduced with a tense string part, starts with a jarring guitar riff, and then the band kicks into a quick song that nods to Joan Jett's early albums of no-nonsense rock. Powder's vocalist sounds very similar to Jett on this track, belting out her lyrics in an unrestrained growl. This can no longer be confused with other current bands, and the confidence evident on the single may signal that Powder themselves have realized this.
A further sign of independence comes with the B-sides: a dub- influenced cover of the Rolling Stones' obscurity "Memo From Turner" and an acoustic ballad, "Sold Out," that seems to equate consumerism with drug addiction. Since the Stones are not well regarded in the Britpop movement, which reveres the poppier and less blues- and American-influenced groups from the 60s over the Stones, and since the virtually unknown song has little commercial potential (when Oasis or Gene cover the Beatles they make their singles more attractive), Powder displays a newly-found disregard for the scene around them. Unfortunate, however, that in opting to concentrate on the fuzz bass of the Stones' version for a dubby effect, they jettison the slide guitar of the original.
