Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

Perhaps not since Beck’s Loser has slide guitar been used so effectively as it is here on Cage The Elephant’s second single. Indeed, Beck is the key musical touchstone here, though there are nods to G Love And The Special Sauce too. The bass that anchors this tune is derived more from hip-hop than rock ‘n’ roll, and there is much in Matt Schultz’s vocal delivery that the aforementioned Hansen would surely be proud to have influenced. Though there’s not a hell of innovation here to knock your socks off, the song itself is such unashamedly enjoyable pop that this can’t possibly matter. [Neal Parsons]