Jeremy Warmsley - Dirty Blue Jeans
Choppy violins bolt their way out of the speakers, sprinkling themselves up in the air like an ADHD octopus throwing around hundreds and thousands in God's sweet shop. This 160 second single is stunning, a poisoned dart in the neck of ordinariness. The frenetic pace of scatty keyboard melodies, woven violin strings and pulsating drums is matched by Jeremy's beautiful, haunting accent, urging himself to "make a fortune in the big old world". He swoops up and down with the temerity of a drunk busker, yet he has the kind of skill of knowing how to put a song together you'd expect from decades of formal training. Simply gorgeous, this man will soar.

Review by Chris Field
www.jeremywarmsley.com

Fear of Music - We Are Not The Enemy
This feels exactly like another song and I'm not sure which one. It was out back in the mid-nineties perhaps, it might've been American. I think Fear Of Music know the song, as well, was it Placebo? I don't know. It features the lyric cut to commerical, that's all I know. As does this song. Once you shake that feeling of deja vu - or figure out the song, whichever comes first - you'll be left with a competent and impressive piece of indie rock from the band. The song that perhaps stops me thinking they're just a proto-brit pop cover act, which, after a good debut single, I was starting to suspect. I'm not completely sold yet but this goes a long way towards convincing.

Review by Aidienn Ellison
www.fearofmusic.com

Six Nation State - Where Are You Now?
Is it indie, is it ska, or is it the theme tune to cartoon King of the Hill? It’s Six Nation State’s new single…At the start of the track you can’t tell how it’s going to go, in keeping with the bands usual fashion. Vocally still so beautifully like Morrissey with a gravely voice at chorus time, and musically the hint of The Zutons remains with that hill-billy twist, perhaps slightly more pissed off than usual this time however. They have stuck to what they know and remained true to form, as with the two on the b-side. Be careful it doesn’t get too samey though kids…

Review by Nancy Roxx
www.sixnationstate.co.uk

Mad Staring Eyes - Talk Dirty
They’ve done it again! Mad Staring Eyes have captured that late 80’s sound. In just under three minutes we have something of a tight, fast paced, infectious anti-love song that we can sing our hearts out to (and perhaps even relate to). The melodic guitar riff is perfectly played out from an instrument that sounds like the strings haven’t been changed since 1987. Alex Jay’s voice adds impact to the subject matter by the way in which spiteful words are spat out during the to-the-point verses, yet sound so desperate during the chorus. This is tougher than tough love baby, and it’s all wrapped up in one brilliant single.

Review by Nancy Roxx
www.myspace.com/madstaringeyes

The Pigeon Detectives - Romantic Type
Leeds is the current hotbed of northern talent, bands are pouring out of West Yorkshire like pus from a septic wound, so you've got to be something a bit special to get noticed. Enter The Pigeon Detectives with 'Romantic Type'
released through the influential Dance To The Radio label. All the elements
that you would expect are here, a brief and radio friendly nugget of stompy cheeky northern chappiness. Lightweight but enjoyable enough, clearly aiming
their sights on the mantle of the Arctic Monkeys and getting closer than most. If they can follow it up effectively then you can expect big things.

There are three B-sides here, 'You're Just No Good For Me' is in a similar

vein, although with an added oasis guitar style that should deserves burnt at the stake shoe-horned into the middle eight. On 'Let's Go' and 'Mislead' they try and show more depth by slowing everything down believing that this equals an emotive track, they fall short on both counts, 'Let's Go' is little more than a dirge, and 'Mislead' could easily be an acoustic Rifles track, and that is no good thing.

None-the-less I expect the Pigeon Detectives to churn out a few more decent sized A-Sides before their fifteen minutes are up. Nothing spectacular but a decent effort.

Review by Johnny Chromosome
www.thepigeondetectives.com

Julius - Yearn EP
It does what it says on the tin. Being called ‘Yearn EP’ what could it possibly be about? Hmmm? Yearning for something presumably, another person perhaps? Oh boy you bet it is, Julius has got it bad and written some songs with medieval minstrels and folk music in mind.

Opening with ‘Longing Part I’ (and yeah, there’s a Part II at the end), this acoustic, mellow arrangement of strings that waxes and wanes all the time is pleasant; like discovering a warm sunny evening, and this remains throughout the six tracks (with the odd storm cloud here and there as you will discover).

Musically this arrangement is agreeable, though the lyrics are a tad over pronounced and sound a bit like they are being made up on the spot. In places he goes for that high note that unfortunately is just out of reach. Towards the end of ‘Tired’ some erratic strumming comes out of nowhere and feels like a bomb is being dropped on this sunny evening that you discovered. Similarly in ‘Untitled’ where Julius smashes on his strings every time he opens his mouth to do what singers do. Why? This peculiar little trick makes the songs feel disjoined. ‘Untitled’ is difficult to listen to right the way through because I don’t think even the artist really knows what he’s up to. That said, do not expect some Guillemots type of jam here, it remains close to the ground and errs heavily on the darker side of melancholy. I think he’s striving for the Jose Gonzales vibe…

‘Longing Part I’, ‘Wind And Bellows’ and ‘The Line’ are most coherent and cheer(ier) of the tracks, hinting that there may be some hope amongst all this longing and yearning that who ever made the artist lose his mind may put him out of his misery.

I do think it’s worth a listen; there may be some hope for Julius and his eccentric style of making music somewhere down the road.

Review by Nancy Roxx
www.juliusmusic.com

Lucky Soul - Ain't Never Been Cool
Lucky Soul. This is pop music. Heartache in C major. Pop music from the guts. Like romance, it's silly, shallow, ephemeral, but strikes deep. Any pop music can soundtrack the moments of a hundred missed trains and a thousand glances with cute waitresses. But Lucky Soul turn these everyday monochrome moments into glorious technicolour happenings. They make you catch that train. They make you take that waitress out rollerskating. You seize the day. And how could you not? Spector-esque, knee-wobbling, breath-skipping music that swells your heart-strings and snaps them like a room full of elastic bands. Ali Howard's velvet voice is a cross between Dusty Springfield and a year's supply of Swiss chocolate, backed by swooning chamber pop that

would make glass-eyed statues weep. Take a chance, open your ears, be lucky; you've nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Review by Chris Field
www.luckysoul.co.uk

Electric Spoon - You
I don't know if my speakers have just eaten a snake or if the massive hiss from both of these records is there by luck or by crook but, certainly, the ambient tape-recorder fuzz is appropriate for the this soul-drenched slice of acoustica. Almost by default your ability to enjoy these songs will depend on whether or not you can forgive earnestly heartfelt, twangy, folk-esque, hippy-fied indie. If you don't, the debut release by this London duo won't convert you. If you do, this will be a nice addition to your collection, if not really it's defining moment.

Review by Aidienn Ellison
www.myspace.com/electricspoonmusic

Sometree - Hands & Arrows
Head to the floor, Converse suitably scuffed, fringe set to asymmetrical and it is time to shoe gaze like its nineteen-ninety-Keane. German ‘post-hardcore’ has been posted over here and should be marked: Return to Sender. Sometree are going to receive one hell of a kick up their wet backside when they embark on a tour in March with Forward Russia and American Gods, Cursive. ‘Hands and Arrows’ is like Thirteen Senses trying to have an indie-off with Haven and the chubby rehab one from piano-rock megaliths Keane. Dreary, flat and about as post-hardcore as a soundtrack made for footage of kittens pushing wool.

Review by James Ainsworth
www.sometree.de