Electrelane

During a staid period, it’s never a bad idea to release whatever you have kicking around in the attic. Brighton’s Electrelane have only released three albums in their six years, but those recordings were clearly fruitful enough to result in overflow, thus Singles, B-Sides & Live is born. No real surprises come with this leftovers compilation; it serves its purpose as a gathering of exactly what is listed in the title. As dull as that sounds, there are some real stand-out moments to make this worthwhile. Non-album single "I Want to Be the President” is one of the band’s finest statements, largely because of its lackadaisical personality, which in contrast with their often intense sonic brooding does a nice job showing they’re more than just the band that worshipped Stereolab in 1992. And if "I’ve Been Your Fan Since Yesterday” was an indication of where they are headed, I may just have fallen in love. Evoking an early Jesus & Mary Chain snail-paced spirit, with drums even more rudimentary than Bobby Gillespie, the tempo picks up and snowballs into a shoegazing blur that fades into the loveliest girl group homage. Of course, some dreadful live cuts are tacked onto the end, which really kills the romance, but for a good chunk in the middle, Electrelane show some of their best work was left for this comp.