Nothing for ages and then two singles in two months? I hate to suggest the band with the best name in funk and soul are in any way like public transport but in this respect they are – for here is another one. Happily it turns out that’s the only thing Shaolin Temple Defenders have in common with buses because for one thing, Snowboy doesn’t play congas on the buses (at least not last time I checked) but he does on this! ‘This’ being the new single – a deceptively soothing slice of gently chugging funky soul entitled All We Have Is Now. I say ‘deceptively soothing’ since it’s lyrical message is a ‘carpe diem’ one opening with a guru spouting some gubbins about not living your life in the moment due to eternally worrying about the future and accompanied about a video which opens with two small kids facing away from the viewer looking deep into a lovely woodland. So far, so hunky-dory, blink though and they’re suddenly older kids and some bastards have chopped a few trees down. Blink again and they’re adults and now there are hardly any trees left. Blink once more and she’s dead (statistically less likely than him being dead, I know) and he’s surrounded by darkness. The monkey’s reading of this is clear: humanity is on a train being driven towards a wall at top speed by super-rich sociopaths and they’re not stopping even though it’s clear much of humanity wants to get off. So, the only way we’re getting off is if we stop them. Serf’s up!
