Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage (XL)
Biiiiiizarrrrrro! Like Arthur Lee jamming with Chic, this single is D.I.S.C.O kerrazzy! To be honest this scares the fuck out of me. Can you make them stop now please. I keep having those visions again....

Longview - Nowhere (East West)
Which is precisely where you are now....and precisely where you'll stay after playing this load of knackers to every bored student in the country. Away with you, peasants!!

Death in Vegas - Scorpio Rising (Concrete)
Quite why DiV have let that ageing fucker anywhere near their music is beyond me. His ridiculous drawl totally ruins what could be a dirty, sleazy rock 'n roll song. What we get is a third rate Oasis b-side. And first rate ones are bad enough. Can anyone save the singles pages this issue?

Badly Drawn Boy - Born Again (Twisted Nerve)
I think BDB holds the record for most reviews in tasty, and by god, I bet he 's chuffed about that. This is another very enjoyable single, which sees our scruffy hero still in search of some shower gel but also letting loose a bit more than usual. This sounds more urgent, and a little bit like late 60s West Coast US psychedelia. A good thing that, and so is this.

Valentine - Memories (Stone Cold Recordings) Ooh...dear...no...please. Are Valentine interested in sounding like something from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal from 1980 or what? This really is piss poor. All minor chord slabs or guitar. Sounds like Rock City on a very, very bad night. And there's plenty of 'em.....

The Reverse - Broken Roads demo
Aahh...that's better. The Reverse make some of the most soothing pop music don't you know. Not pop music in the traditional tasty sense, but pop music all the same. The sort of introverted stuff that would've had Echo & The Bunnymen fans all moist a couple of decades ago, and now pisses all over the likes of Coldplay and their ilk. 'Broken Roads' is a new song, and relies on the daintiest of keyboards and a musical backdrop that hardly exists, yet it seems such a *full* song. I think you really ought to find out about The Reverse, else there'll be trouble.

Contact Tel: 07771 687359 for more information.

Clearlake - Almost the Same (Domino)
Missing in action for some time, Clearlake return with a storming single. Like a sort of seed prog rock metal beast 'Almost the Same' fair rattles along and is the tale of unexpected lurrvee. See elsewhere for an interview with the long haired tykes, but for now let me tell you that you should own this single else you'll get boils.

Tempertwig - Brat-Pack Film Philosophy demo
And a new demo from the ever impressive Tempertwig too. I like the fact that although quite young, Tempertwig are incredibly cynical, and that's the only way to be really isn't it? And so, what we get here are two tracks of nastiness and exasperation, all in that incredibly attractive spoken word style of 'singing' and a more poppy Fugazi backdrop. Super stuff.

More info from Ben on 07752 163048.

The Lucksmiths - Midweek Midmorning (Matinee Records)
Tools you can trust - The Lucksmiths and Matinee Records. This is so gorgeously melancholy, just so perfect in that way that it evokes a certain feeling...whether it be wasting hours with a loved one, or that actual midweek, midmorning feeling you used to get when you'd bunked off school and there was nothing on the telly apart from...umm...schools programmes. Add in a little brass to the title track and what you have is a fragile gem. Skipping on to track three, 'Requiem for the Punters Club' - which features one of the best opening gambits ever - 'Have you been drinking, cos it's not too late to start', and we see The Lucksmiths doing what they do better than anyone else at the moment, namely the torch song. It even features the most wonderful harmonica solo I've heard since 'Still Ill'. I love this band dearly, so should you.

The Star Spangles - Which One of the Two of Us is Gonna Burn This Down (Parlophone)
I mean come on, are people really this stupid? They dress like the Strokes dressing like Blondie, and they sound so New York 1981 it's embarrassing. What is the point in all this, and why are record labels falling over themselves to sign useless bastards like this. Most depressing. The song? Crapola.

California Snow Storm - One Good Summer ep (Shelflife)
One can look at the sixties on two ways, it seems. On one hand we have those who'll rape and pillage every type of shitty Beatles riff, and on the other we have those quiet, less assuming types, such as The Liberty Ship, and yes, California Snow Storm, who'd rather pay their dues to the Byrds or Buffalo Springfield. This ep reminds me very much of The Liberty Ship's wonderful take on the 12 string oeuvre, with opening track 'The Only One That Matters' rocking in that gentlest of ways, whilst 'Summer Avenues' ups the tempo only slightly, but similarly precious and features the least funky bit of wah wah pedal I've heard. Hurrah for that! However, getting away from their distant influences for a while, 'Out of Time' takes equally from Belle and Sebastian and The Smiths and, as a centrepiece to an ep, it pretty much unsurpassable. 'Snow in Summer' is also prime time B&S, but there's nowt wrong with that, whilst closing track, 'Lovestrange' is barely there, with Anna Barek's cute yet classy vocals skirting an early Sundays-ish backdrop. A most gorgeous little ep.

Chumbawamba - Jacob's Ladder (Mutt Records)
Typical Chumbawamba fare really. 'An anti-war single' blasts the sleeve, which is all very good of course. The problem with the anti-war movement, is that its message gets lost under all the rhetoric. Against all war? Surely not? Against a war to rid the world of fascists? Against the class war? Mmm...well if not, say not. Don't just shout shite slogans. Anyway, I'm rambling. It's a pretty little single, but I can hardly see it sparking the insurrection of the masses. Shame.

The Eighties Matchbox B Line Disaster - Psychosis Safari (Island)
Daren't give these lot of scary buggers a bad review, I hear they eat 29 year old blondes, so, suffice to say that this is probably what hell sounds like on a good day. I'm sure they'll love me for saying that. Now, back to the fluffy stuff....

Chris TT - Eminem is Gay (Snowstorm)
Quite one of the best lyricists around today, Chris TT's new single rounds on the undercurrent of homophobia coursing through the music industry. On a par with 'Dreaming of Injured Pop Stars' in terms of being libellous, and will probably have everyone's favourite dungaree wearer all riled. Still, I' m sure Chris' beard can see off anything Eminem can throw at him. Superb.

Acarine - Blinder (Star Harbour)
Mad as mouldy cheese, the title track takes a loop from the Minder theme tune, and replaces the lyric with 'I could be so BAD to youuuuuu', and from there on in I'm lost. It's all about the modern breed of hooligan apparently, and, so the press release says, Acarine aren't adverse to a bit of dodgy dealing themselves. Sounds like Black Grape fronted by Jive Bunny. Which may sound bad...but....

Rock Stone - sampler
Rock Stone is Aug Stone. And Aug Stone is quite obviously in love with 80s indie pop. See, hear that drum machine. Groove to that Another Sunny Day bass line. And marvel at that voice, a sort of mid-Atlantic Bernard Sumner. Great tracks? Yes, we have some. 'When U Look Away' reminds me of Brighter or, more latterly, Lovejoy and is the most delicate of things. It even features a little Sumner yelp. Meanhwhile, over in broken heartsville, 'Song for a Girl' is almost Galaxie 500-like in its glacial sheen, or maybe even Screamadelica-era Primal Scream, and 'She Sobs Softly' makes for equally introspective listening. Beautiful all round really.

Contact Aug at aug@lifestyleland.com

Wilt - Understand (Mushroom)
More power chords than you could launch a frog at, 'Understands' floats along in a very polite REM kind of way. From 'Green' or something. And that, frankly, is about as much as I can think about writing about this worrying average single.

The Scaramanga Six - Are You One of the Family? (Wrath Records)
You can hardly say that the Wrath Records roster is run of the mill. Label mates of Farming Incident, The Scaramanga Six also make a right old racket, and are as frightening in their own way, but theirs is a much more mainstream rock beast. 'Are You One of the Family' is a nightmarish tale of escaping the clutches of your so-called loved ones and disappearing into your own world. It's very good in a sort of soaring rock song kind of way, with just enough weirdness thrown in to keep you amused. I would like to find out more.