Band: Hadouken!
Release: Bad Signal (Single)
Release Date: Out Now
“You don’t really love me, you just keep me hanging on” – the standoff style lyrics may seem familiar because they’re taken from a song by 60s baby loves The Supremes. An odd pairing, but they’re also making the track stand proud again after it was used – sorry, abused – on Glee.
Sampling is always a gamble. When nailed it really works, becoming something bewildering, and thankfully this is the absolute case here with ‘Bad Signal’, the new single from Hadouken!. The innocence of the continuous chorus loop is heavily contrasted with James Smith’s angry verses about being a “drunken mess” and receiving a “bad signal”.
Hadouken! may be attempting to burst out of this ‘rave’ tag they picked up some five years ago by signing to Ministry of Sound and penning a clever track, but they haven’t abandoned all of their past. The social perils of everyday life are still remembered by the five-piece. The words about contact lists, voicemails and news feeds stand as proud as they did in ‘Crack It Up’ back on 2008’s ‘Music For An Accelerated Culture.’
The production fits in with what one would expect from a dance act right now. The usual ‘wubs’ of dubstep and a hard-hitting bassline are present and the rising intro has its similarities to that of Pendulum. Hadouken! are back, but won’t be well and truly back until this new album of theirs drops.
8.5/10
Reviewer: Hayley Fox
