Noisettes - Don't Give Up
If you went to see Muse recently at some enormous, jam-packed venue and witnessed a trio of unbeknown, raucous funk-punksters support them, you'd have been watching The Noisettes.

One shaggy haired, bearded dude; a long-haired skinny dude, and a lithe black dudette with vocal pipes straight from the Arethra Franklin/Donna Summers school of soulfulness have created a relentlessly enjoyable attack
on the senses.

The drums are all tom-tom heavy and tribal-like, lying beneath a repetitive Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Be Your Own Pet-esque hard funk-rock riff, atop of which lies Shingai Shoniwa's soulful shreak that makes this shit fresh - and I love it.

Review by Tom Howard
www.thenoisettes.com

586 - Money Is The Drug
You thought you had 586 pegged didn't you? I must admit, so did I at first - debut single 'We Got Bored' was a day-glo strop of a pop song, fuelled by e-numbers and too much time spent watching cartoons. So they were destined to spend the rest of their days creating infectious, but ultimately short-lived shouty pop before imploding and disappearing off the musical map forever, right?

Well, no actually. As anyone who's been to their chaotic live performances will testify, 586 have more than one string to their bow, as is perfectly demonstrated by the two tracks on offer on their second release for Tigertrap.

Lead track 'Money is the Drug' features a wonderfully squelchy bass-line and high speed lyrics delivered with impressive vocal dexterity, before lurching into a catchy chorus, and dropping away again to some great vocal harmonies.

B-side 'Saying My Name' is even better, a lackadaisical reggae tinged semi-dirge that's as far removed from the hi-sugar thrills of their debut as possible, while still retaining the charm that attracted me to them in the first place.

Review by Paul Madden
www.myspace.com/586

Beck - Cell Phone's Dead
Can Beck do no wrong? To other’s maybe, but to myself never. This is probably the reason why I have been listening to Cell Phone’s Dead on repeat for quite some time now. This pared down electro number represents another chameleonic adaptation from the Scientologist who deserves far more credit for being a legend than he currently receives. For those who do find that Beck can do wrong occasionally, this probably won’t rock your world, but for people like me, you’ll be hungry to find out what’s in store from the new album.

Review by Holly Wild
www.beck.com

Theoretical Girl - Red Mist
Despite hosting her forum on Maps, I actually know very little about the mysterious Theoretical Girl and her intriguingly angular music, but I'm delighted to have the opportunity to get better aquainted through the medium of her new single 'Red Mist', released through Half Machine Records.

'Red Mist' is her fullest sounding recording yet, replacing the minimalist beatboxes of her debut with coils of snaking guitar and electronics that weave and echo around one another seemlessly, while the stark vocals produce a beautifully still centre for the instrumentation to wrap itself around.

B-side 'Dancehall Deceit' is more akin to the tracks on her previous single 'It's All Too Much', comprising of a simple beat, and looping guitar, allowing for the reverberant vocals to take the lead.

Review by Paul Madden
www.myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl

iForward Russia! - Nineteen
I’m going to honest now. I love iForward, Russia!.

Yet, people who have the album may be as surprised as me regarding the release of Nineteen. iForward, Russia! give us a change from their art-punk-noise that is so dominant on the album. Nineteen is a more sentimental song, even though it retains the eclectic effects, stomping guitar and bass and desperate vocals. The only difference is that the tempo is slower. It allows Tom to sing with even more emotion. It allows for you to consume every element of the song to it’s full effect. Yet, it’s not the best song on the album and due to the content of the album, is somewhat unfairly remarked as the filler track. It's more

than a filler, but doesn’t excite the way a single should.

It’s that fine line between creating something slow and emotive that will sell or that will be forgotten. The latter applies to Nineteen. Although to fans it will remain an example of how beautiful iForward Russia! can be, it won’t impress a listener split down the middle who wants to hear more songs like Nine, Eleven or any other song on the album for that matter. A brilliant song, but not for a single.

The B-Side Ten however, displays that energy that Forward Russia need to exhibit in order persuade the undecided listener. And from this evidence it seems the song was unlucky to be left off the album.

But nevertheless, iForward, Russia! should be content that their album is sensational and those who haven’t been converted, are simply missing out.

Review by Joe Amos
www.forwardrussia.com

Watch the video for 'Nineteen'

Simple Kid - The Ballad of Elton John / Serotonin
Simple Kid has been called this and that as far as I’m aware (my knowledge on this topic is something left to be desired). I do know that he has been applauded by critics however. Yet, I remain unconvinced.

Simple Kid is talented no doubt. His songs are easily memorable and display a song writing prowess that many young solo artists fail to have nowadays. Yet it just seems bland. 'The Ballad of Elton John' is an example for me of how songs can exude the feeling of laziness. It plods along with no real emotion

and fails to impress. It’s not a memorable song. It does however contains a certain cheekiness and a nice Beatles-esque tinge, but it’s not enough to persuade this horribly critical ‘journalist’.

However, my opinions change of Simple Kid thanks to the B-Side ‘Serotonin’. It’s slow, yet has something that the first offering didn’t, sentiment. It’s a beautiful culmination of different sounds, acoustic guitar, harmonica and violins. The song seems to glide along a slippery surface and provides a wonderful backing track for a cold and empty London. It all subtly crescendos into this electronic wall of sound that is impossible not to admire.

Simple Kid exhibits two sides of his act. A cheeky yet bland songwriter. And a King of Electronics.

’The British Beck’? Even better…perhaps.

Review by Joe Amos
www.simplekid.com

The Grates - Science Is Golden
Aussies The Grates have brought 'Science Is Golden' to the omnipresent New Wave party. It sounds like something familiar, with hand clapping, scratchy guitars and a catchy drum beat, sung with the voice of a hard night previously spent. Are you getting an image of cardigans and skinny jeans too? There’s nowt fresh or particularly inspiring about this track, you are forgiven for expecting something that sounds obsolete amid the fleeting present music scene, but in fact it’s not half bad. Overall, the simplicity of the song doesn’t inhibit a desire to dance as it’s quite cute. It’s dubious whether The Grates will live up to their name and become musical icons forever more, but 'Science Is Golden' is destined to get at least a few plays down the indie joints in town.

Review by Nancy Roxx
www.thegrates.com

The Maccabees - First Love
The Maccabees eh? Another member of the post-Libertine, perhaps post-Bloc Party clan doing the rounds at the minute, with a tune that starts softly, picks up gradually, has some gently-mocking-of-love lyrics before dropping down and picking up again into a bass driven poppy, art-punky number that is unremarkable but easily absorbed and has a proper, soulful cockney feel to
it - sweet.

Review by Tom Howard
www.themaccabees.co.uk

Johnny Foreigner - Sometimes In The Bullring
My band are trying to promote ourselves at the moment. We’ve got the CD recorded, got the Myspace, got 1000 or so ‘friends’. We found this web page that says what to include when sending your CD to the companies, magazines etc. I’m sure if Johnny Foreigner had read the same page they would’ve merely stated ‘Fuck it’.

I’ve had seven reviews to do the last few weeks. I can’t explain to you how excited I was to review this one. I’d never heard of the band. It was another one of those where I chose it for they had a funny name. I get the CD through the post with a bunch of others. It’s packaged in a paper CD sleeve with no track

listing, no name, no date, no record label. It merely says ‘Johnny Foreigner’ on the CD. Whether ‘Johnny Foreigner’ were trying to state something before I’d listened to them was irrelevant: they’re fucking amazing.

The first track merely stated on my CD player as ‘Track 3’. It’s a fusion of disjointed, distorted guitar, frantic drumming, pounding bass and distressed vocals. Yet beneath all this, there’s a melody that is purely amazing. It’s something very few bands can do, produce a ‘song’ underneath what is noise. SonicYouth maybe the masters, but Johnny Foreigner are different. They’re punk at it’s most basic. They’re melodramatic pop at it’s most basic. The two are a hybrid that is unique and ingenious. The mix of male and female vocals, disorganized guitar solo and physical breakdown of the song at the end emphasise a song that is simply first-class.

I’m not sure how many tracks there are to this CD. Like I said, no track listing. This turns out to be the last one though. However, it does produce a name on my CD player. ‘Camp Kelly Calm’ is just as eccentric and frenetic as it’s predecessor but shows more musical ability with it’s jerky, spiky guitars that are reminiscent of Hot Club de Paris. Again, the melody is prominent in the chorus and after the second chorus it simply stops. It leaves me disappointed, but for the joy I had over ‘Track 3’ it seems unnecessary. ‘Camp Kelly Calm’ is a good song, but no comparison to ‘Track 3’.

There’s an anger within the first song that tries to be concealed throughout and we’re only allowed to hear glimpses of this anger at impromptu moments. At the end, the anger is released, releasing with it a cacophony of noise. The song is a beauty to hear if you’re fans of any sort of rock music.

They’re one of the few bands I’ve looked up after reviewing them. They’ve gained a fan. And they’ll continue to gain more if they carry on with this music.
Listen to them. Now.

Review by Joe Amos
www.johnny-foreigner.tk

From the first chords there’s an instant energy about the song which never deteriorates. The vocals are precise, coherent, witty and memorable. The bass is advanced and catchy. The guitar seems to be the calming influence on the song as it gently bristles along the chords. It all erodes into this magnificent chorus at the end with a disco beat and a heavy breakdown of distorted guitars and crash cymbals.

It’s perfect indie-pop

The B-Side ‘Party in a Forest’ is equally as good, if more bizarre. One fault for me would be the song resembles a more laid back Fratellis, but hey, it’s a B-Side and still is as sing-a-long-able as ‘Moving To New York’.

Overall, it’s an impressive and inspired attempt by these three boys from Liverpool. They give us what’s popular at the moment but allow themselves not to be constrained by stereotypes; a talent that is just as unique as it is impressive.

Review by Joe Amos
www.thewombats.co.uk