The Singles Jukebox

In which No Doubt absorbs part of AFI, and Claire loses a bet…

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[6.89]

Thomas Inskeep: No Doubt minus Gwen Stefani plus Davey Havok (from AFI) equals something better than anything I’ve ever heard from No Doubt. This is note-perfect 1982 post-punk new wave that would slot in perfectly in between A Flock of Seagulls and Bow Wow Wow. I can happily play this on a loop for a long time. 
[10]

Will Adams: The last time I heard Davey Havok he was doing emo-infused dubstep, which is likely why “Kill for Candy” seems distant. It’s spot-on New Wave pastiche but a bit too simulated to give into completely.
[6]

Anthony Easton: Nothing is more American than nostalgia and winsome Anglophila. Nothing is more LA than precise and sort of useless simulacra of dead scenes. Zombie formalism at its very best. 
[5]

Alfred Soto: When men and women now in their thirties discovered New Order and Echo during Bush II’s first term and contemplated recording their own imitations, they might’ve sounded like this bauble by the dudes from No Doubt, no strangers themselves to reproductions of the crap from their childhood. But the clenched vocal recalls the worst of adenoidal Britfunk, and Jacques Lu Cont and the Killers beat them twelve years ago.
[4]

Claire Biddles: Oh my god, in what world was I NOT going to love an extremely unfashionable ’80s pastiche from a pop-punk-emo supergroup fronted by Davey from AFI!? No trendy Tango in the Night-synthwave-y 80s throwbacks for Dreamcar — they’ve gone straight for the high-bass arch Duran Duran sound that was popular in indie discos and the soundtrack of The OC and my teenage bedroom 12 years ago. I never thought I’d ever think about the 2005 The Bravery song “An Honest Mistake” again, but oh boy, “Kill for Candy” is taking me right back to those giddy heights of poundshop versions of The Killers that I used to dance to while wearing approximations of Karen O’s outfits in the clubs of my small town. I bet everyone will hate this, but I think it’s corny and self-serious and brilliant. 
[8]

Katie Gill: Depeche Mode run through a modern alternative rock filter–and based on the YouTube comments, I’m definitely not the only person who thinks so. I’m a sucker for anything new wave or new wave derived, and Dreamcar gives us a beautiful modern jam with enough throwback moments to scratch that sweet nostalgic spot.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: New Wave revivalism via “You’re Not The One.” “’80s remakes without the dated parts of ’80s production” is a concept that’s long lost its novelty (and is a tautology, anyway), but I guess it hasn’t lost its appeal yet.
[7]

Hannah Jocelyn: I never got into New Order via my parents’ record collection or anything like that — my dad was more of a Billy Joel stan — so I ended up getting into New Order and post-punk myself. Therefore, I am always up for modern-day NO-homaging pop, with flanged bass guitars and deadpan shouty singers, especially when it’s this well-done.
[7]

Edward Okulicz: Not so much a pastiche as an extrapolation from a graph using every data point from the 1980s. Big chorus, pop Cure baseline, riffs out of a Flock of Seagulls song (now I’m ‘wishing’ they had a synth riff too) and overly serious delivery are great hallmarks and well-executed too.
[9]