These New Puritans - Now! Pluvial EP
Let me begin by stating this- Now Pluvial! By these new puritans is the most electrifying 11 minutes of music I have heard this century. Forget what you have read about the Southend scene- These New Puritans render the hype surrounding the Essex seaside town completely irrelevant by the time Jack Barnett sings ‘We're being watched by experts/ I cant find the words’ 30 seconds into first track ‘Elvis’. He can’t find the words but I’m speechless. It’s the most conventional song on the EP in that it actually has a verse and a chorus but that’s the only thing about it that is standard. It's like ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ for the noughties generation- such is its power. I’m listening to it now. The hair on my neck is standing on end. This is the one-millionth time I have heard it.

‘En Papier’ is built around an addictive, crushing bass riff with punchbag drums. Again Jack sounds possessed. What is he singing about? I don’t know. But when I first saw this song played live I found myself screaming along without knowing the words. It’s that same sentiment now. It ends with what seems to be the whole of southend FC’s home stand chanting ‘EN PAPIER! EN PAPIER!’ over the band attacking them with their instruments. It’s fucking brilliant.

TNP seems to take to playing washing machines and dustbins for final track ‘C16’. I think it might be a song about the 16th Century. This is not Ladyfuzz we have here. Again. Questioning. Who. Wrote. All. Of. The. Numbers. In. Your. Body. The band is summoning you to the dance floor. For a fight. It’s the most danceable clang I have ever heard. We were right.

Music shouldn’t be about scenes. Context. Comparisons. All music should be soul music. These New Puritans understand this. They personify this. They are thinking outside the box. In fact, there is no box. Only ideas and heart and soul. You should buy this EP and learn to be alive.

Review by Andrew Moran
www.thesenewpuritans.com

The Young Knives - The Decision
A highly-welcome re-release from the heir-apparents to the geek-rock throne. Hopefully all of you already own the sublime Young Knives debut album … if not, The Decision offers a crash-course in exactly how this band has caused a right royal rumpus with their spiky, corduroy-clad oddball-rock. Kitchen sink dramas don’t get much more surreal than this - an improbable tribute of sorts to the Prince of Wales – sung by their improbably-named bassist The House of Lords! Honestly, eccentricity has never sounded quite so appealing. A spokesman for Prince Charles himself reportedly refused to comment…
8/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.theyoungknives.com
Watch the video on our Downloads Page

The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control
The Gossip are my opinion are one of the best band’s in the world and I’m glad to see that after years of holding it down and keeping it real in the underground they are finally starting to get their props from the mainstream on their own terms. This isn’t their best song by a long shot but still has enough of Beth Ditto’s startling vocal range to make it a winner at the local indie Disco. Throw a nice PIL-esque guitar line and four the floor beat and some fine production work from Guy ‘I invented Punk Rock’ Picciotto (Fugazi/Rites of Spring Vocalist) and it’s a four star single in my book. Also some nice remix’s from Le Tigre amongst others on the B-sides make it a decent purchase.

Review by Andrew Moran
www.gossipyouth.net

Rose Kemp - Violence
This is one of the best singles I’ve heard all year, from the quiet, delicate passages to the ear splittingly overdriven choruses of ‘Violence’, to the heartfelt orchestra backed ‘Morning Music’ and the beautiful harmonies on ‘Tiny Flower’, an amazing single that shows the brilliant diverse talent of a promising artist.

Review by Chris Chinchilla
www.rosekemp.co.uk

Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away
'Don't Take My Sunshine Away' is a cute, sweet, subversive effort at a love song that works pretty well on the whole with the simple declaration that "Baby you are my sunshine/Please don't take my sunshine away" ruling the chorus and a well disguised 'Heart-Shaped Box' moment two and a half minutes involving a heavily distorted guitar solo ripping through the absent serenity that the majority of the track creates.

Whether this signifies a corruption of the love that Mark Linkous seems to be battling so hard to retain, or if he just thinks it sounds cool, I know not. I suspect the latter, and you know what? It does sound cool.

'Ghost In The Sky (2006 version)' and 'Knives Of Sumertime' are further confirmation that Linkous is a one-man, good mood construction machine. Like perhaps a snow machine at a particularly sparce Winter Olympics, he can pump out spring and summertime, on demand, like they're the only seasons that exist. "You need summer? I've got summer," is the kind of thing he'd say before blasting you with warm, glowing, relaxed sonic waves that make me think of gleeful spring-stepped children running in hay fields. He makes me feel like I'm getting a sun-tan in my cold room, in my bad chair, with a bowl or warm soup - and I cherish him for that.

Clearly he must live in his own world of niceness and joy, a different world to mine for sure, but whatever world that may be, I am certain that they are fully aware how talented he is.

Review by Tom Howard
www.sparklehorse.com

The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!
Slacker-rock for people who are old enough to know better! ‘Chips Ahoy!’ is a joyous slacker-hymn that mixes The Replacements’ swagger with Bukowski world-weariness and drive-time melodies. For fans of bar-room philosophy, dysfunctional relationships and the US underground. As crazy as it sounds, The Hold Steady are very possibly the missing-link between Guided By Voices and Bruce Springsteen. This is undoubtedly one of my favourite singles of the year so far. America’s best-kept secret, but for how long? 9/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.theholdsteady.com

Voicst - Acts of Fire
Dutch trio Voicst – whose strange name actually means “manic energy” in South African slang once tried to pinpoint their music as “somewhere between Beyonce and The Melvins” – which unfortunately isn’t quite true! Fortunately their music is equally intriguing... They essentially play alt.rock, but with a delicious pop-crunch. Imagine, if you will the missing link between The Pixies and We Are Scientists. It’s kind of like garage rock that has been bent out of shape so that it now has more in common with mid-90s slacker-rock. Their record was produced by ex-Girls Against Boys bassist Eli Janney – who has

recently worked with the likes of The Rapture and Secret Machines and definitely knows a good thing when he’s onto it. File under: surprisingly-impressive groove-grunge. One to watch. 8/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.myspace.com/voicst

Shuffle - My Friend's Girlfriend
Quirky bounce-along freak-pop from hectic, eclectic 7-piece London collective Shuffle. Shuffle deal in gloriously unpredictable mash-ups that sound like The Go! Team coaxing the Scissor Sisters into a disco-bloodbath in South London! Highly recommended for fans of offbeat beats and manic samples. 8/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.shuffle.info

David Potts - I'm the Greatest
Pitch-perfect retro-pop from ex-Monaco Peter Hook-associate David ‘Pottsy’ Potts. While Monaco’s ‘What Do You Want From Me’ was undoubtedly a cracking single, it would be a shame if Potts’s current work was completely overlooked. Entirely self-produced, part of the charm for me is the sonic playfulness he manages to add to the retro-brew. Tongue-in-cheek self-obsessed rock-star opener ‘I’m The Greatest’ is a sweet pop-rock knock-off that tries to bridge the gap between Britpop and the Beach Boys with impressive skill. ‘Stop and Wonder’ is wide-eyed 70s John Lennon and

‘Different Planet’ is a gently trippy Beatle-esque slice of wooziness. Final track ‘For Your Love’ is Oasis gone sci-fi soul. ‘Derivative’ or ‘timeless’ – you decide, but this is far from unimaginative. 7/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.david-potts.com

Babyshambles & Friends - Janie Jones (Strummerville)
Babyshambles are still going, up to a point, and given their strife recently, this offering will do nicely in keeping interest and awareness in the music buying public - and it's for a good cause too, splendid.

It's not just them though, members of Test Icicles and The Paddingtons (among others) are reportedly on the track - not that you'd notice, given that the only people you can hear are Pete Doherty and.Carl Barat. Hearing Pete and Carl vocally spar again (sort of, they recorded their parts separately) won't fail to

bring out any Libertines sentiment that may be sitting in your soul, and the track sounds great.

Pete is a bloody mess, no doubt, but for anyone still holding a torch for the little scamp this will be a joy. He was born to cover The Clash, he's probably been doing it since his blood ran clean and free. Let's just hope that cover versions aren't what it's come too.

Review by Tom Howard
www.strummerville.com

Dananananaykroyd - Some Dresses
Follow up single to September’s ‘Totally Bone’ debut from raucous six-piece Glaswegian mob Dananananaykroyd. On first listen I was keen to dismiss it as a ropey, unwieldy art-mess, but repeated listens ensured that it burrowed its way into my skull where it proceeded to rattle around in a joyful off-kilter way. Appealingly difficult to pin down – I would describe them as sounding like Pavement toppling down a stair-case and then getting rogered by Black Flag! (Not that Henry Rollins would do that kind of thing, obviously…) So – yeah – while the impressive A-side treads the thin line between noisy mess and inspired chaos with aplomb, the B-side is less convincing. I’m not sure if my head could handle an entire album, but, for now, this is a cool single. 7/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.myspace.com/dananananaykroyd