Imagine then that you are 19 years old, you never went through the whole Madchester thing first time around and you decide to write music. Whether it is the production, the song writing or the masses of wah-ing guitars, keyboards and big cymbals - Visionstate sound like they could be veterans of the early 90's. And good for them - this mini demo could be the record that Ian Brown never made when he left the Stone Roses. All in all a swirling cloud of youthful exuberance - well worth keeping an eye to see how they develop next.

Shane Blanchard

Ieuan Jones

David Kitt – Dancing In The Moonlight (Rough Trade)
Yes…a cover of the Thin Lizzy song. Can you feel the force? No, me neither. Kitt takes the raw, gritty energy of the original and strips it down to a watery folky mush, that sounds half Coldplay, half Bob Dylan impersonation. Not a good combination, I’m sure you’ll agree….

Sam Metcalf

This has got a real DIY sound to it (read into that what you will). I could go as far as to say the drummer sounds like he is playing on a completely different track from the rest of the band on 'Exposed/Reload' but I've seen photos of him and he's bloody massive, so that would be stupid.

The first couple of songs suffer from being a bit loose at times, even though there is the inklings of some Black Flag beginning to come through during 'I.F.H.Y.'. But by final track, 'Breakdown' everything has come together nicely - the killer riffs chugging along with some serious percussion. Some bloody gruesome album artwork though - very Geiger...

Shane Blanchard

The Bravery – An Honest Mistake (Loog)
The current soup de jour of the chattering classes, The Bravery sound so 1982 that they may as well get themselves silly haircuts and wear make-up…oh hang on a moment…

‘An Honest Mistake’ is so ridiculously over produced that it sounds like the music from a car commercial. And The Cure’s ‘The Walk’ at the same time. Quite frankly, if it was any more vogueish it’d dress itself up as Nathan Barley and claim it was comedy. Poor beyond reason.

Sam Metcalf

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Stars Spill Out of Cups / God in the Details / Atlantis
I really don’t even know where to start with this one, but what I will say is that it is by quite a margin the best single I have heard this year, and unless someone pulls something pretty damn special out of the bag in the coming ten months, I have a feeling it may well be firmly lodged in mine (and I can only hope many more) end of year lists.

It is difficult to describe in words just how beautiful ‘Stars Spill out of Cups’ really is, from starting with softly picked banjo, the song builds to somewhat of a landslide of emotions, both elation and sadness in equal measures. ‘God in the Details’ lurches from sounding something close to eastern European folk to again something that is truly devastatingly beautiful. ‘Atlantis’ is again an exceptional song, and the track that amongst the three the electronic influence can be heard most prominently, with loops and samples again building to a crushing ending to a superb release.

Drew Millward

The second track has a bit more urgency and a stricter guitar part but there is still time for plenty of string bending and falsetto singing. Atmospheric, professional, disturbing - much like a conference on climate change, but in a good way.

Shane Blanchard

Dive – Unfortunately Dead
The is rather splendid, yes. Dive make The Bravery look like lumbering old lorry drivers in the epic pop stakes.  ‘Alive’ sounds a little like Suede and The Cardiacs, whilst ‘Precious Things’ is a fragile little gem which rocks in fits and starts…well, I say rock…chimes would be a more apt word. Ok, the singer can’t sing for toffee, but I don’t really mind, you know. Atmospheric pop at its best.

Sam Metcalf

Not sure I could manage a whole album at this intensity but definitely a promising start. And with a guitarist named David Pott-Negrine, how can RCGF fail?

Shane Blanchard

My Favourite – The Happiest Days Of My Life (Hungry Audio Records)
It’s so very hard to believe that My Favourite are from new York, when their sound is more Essex, 1986. They have a song called ‘The Suburbs Are Killing Us’, for heaven’s sake. They are also very ace indeed. Taking their cue from late C86 bands – and there were a few good ones that came late to the party, lest we forget – ‘The Happiest Days Of My Life’ is a romping indie pop stomper that brings to mind The Darling Buds, of The Primitives, or…gulp…maybe even Echobelly. Anyway, it’s ace and you should buy it immediately.

Sam Metcalf

Nine Black Alps – Shot Down (Island)
This ROCKS! But not in a bad down…for underneath the layers of crooked guitars lies the beating heart of a pop song, methinks. I meant to go and see this band in Leicester not long ago, but I couldn’t because I was working late. I wish I had now, because ‘Shot Down’ is most enjoyable. I feel like putting a plaid shirt on and growing my hair.

Sam Metcalf

Rock and Roll fans fear not as your saviours are here by the name of Yankee Nine Niner. And it's not only their name which sounds American, vocalist Henry Rundell could appear on Stars in their Eyes as a dead ringer for Steven Tyler and lead guitar could be by that great wizened rock behemoth himself, Slash.

Blimey, the second release of the month harking back to yesteryear without the band even knowing it. Where's my pipe and slippers....

Shane Blanchard

Chuck - Umm Na Nagay / We Got Squeezed (inside their machines) (Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation)
And so, once again, we are treated to yet another dose of lunacy from the nation’s leading indie-surf-punk-rock n’ roll combo; I know some may say it’s a niche market, but I for one believe that it is one that is well worth filling. As with previous offerings from Chuck it is best to just open your ears and let the whole raucous experience have its wicked way with you…..don’t try and fathom it out, it’s simply not worth it.

The first track is what I would imagine would be the meeting of minds between The Shadows, The Moody Blues and a Ukrainian Folk act…..in 1977. Trust me; it is some seriously good shit!

Although the second track on offer is very different from the first, ‘We Got Squeezed’ is again of a bloody high standard, but this time laced with electronics and enough bile and hatred to power a small town.

Yet another brilliant release from SPC.

Drew Millward

Agent Blue – Children’s Children (Universal)
Agent Blue are an odd lot. They can’t seem to make up their minds whether they’re a metal band, or a mid-80s US College Rock band that would, no doubt, make their name by contributing a track to a Brat Pack film. ‘Children’s Children’ is very 80s alternative rock, and in some ways that makes it quite appealing to the 11 year old in me (steady!). But now I’m as confused as Agent Blue. Oh dear.

Sam Metcalf

The Explosion - Here I Am (Tarantula/Virgin)
‘Here I Am’ is a catchy little pop punk tune with more balls then a lot of its contemporaries but that suffers from over production and a lack of originality. While it may be rather catchy and get you humming it all morning that can prove to be more of an annoyance than a blessing. A decidedly average little rocker that the kids will buy in droves.

Luke Drozd

The Black Velvets – 3345 (Vertigo)
Another rifftastic single. But this time we have MELODY! Woo! This is great in a Teenage Fanclub kinda way, however, I don’t imagine Black Velvet will be very chuffed with that comparison, because they clearly see themselves as the last leather-clad saviours of rawk. Bless them. I just lumped them in with a Creation band. They’ll probably kill me. They don’t sound like Teenage Fanclub, honest.

Sam Metcalf

Shane Blanchard

Idlewild – Love Steals Us From Loneliness (Parlophone)
On on they go. Way beyond their sell by date, Idlewild are still selling enough records to warrant dull as fuck singles like this. Is this really single material? It plods on, still sounding a little bit like REM, without ever going anywhere. And do you know what? I reckon those guitars are starting to sound a little bit like Keane. They really should be ashamed of themselves.

Sam Metcalf

Shane Blanchard

Lovejoy – Someone To Share My Life With
In a pretty average month for singles, this luscious little beauty stands out a mile. As delicate as ever, Dick manages to sound like the most fragile man in the world, and makes me want to give him a great big hug. With doleful piano and strumming guitar, Lovejoy manage to some up the whole world in four and half minutes, and that, my friends is the BEAUTY of pop music. A masterpiece.

Sam Metcalf

El Shake rumbles into existence with Luke's pyrotechnic drumming scarcely disguised under Wes' boyish vocals and flies through about 3 minutes of sheer pop genius. This is the future comrades!

CD fillers 'Lazey Belay' and 'Sweet Girl' demonstrate further strings to mama Scuba's seriously overburdened bow with elements of cutesey electro and walls of swirling psychedelic noise in equal parts. They're great - if you don't take my word for it you're a damn fool!

Shane Blanchard

'Megatron Hair' aside from being a damn cool name for a song, has a groovy fuzzed up bass line that keeps the song fair bobbing along. Which is a good thing, because at times on this CD everything is in danger of drowning under the distortion. But then this gives it that underground feel so you can't really complain. I'm off to record my local moggy...

Shane Blanchard

Weirdo disembodied vocals and a sound like British Sea Power gone through a liquidiser. Then at a moment's notice the tender change of pace that is 'Little Lost Causes'. Hold on - then there is the rockabilly synth madness of 'Warning: Robots' which definitely doffs a cap to Nottingham's Hellset Orchestra. There must be something in the water in the East Midlands at the moment but it sure is making things sound good.

Shane Blanchard

Having got over this initial aberration, I actually like the B-side 'Say Something Else' which bobs along at a cracking pace on the back of a bubbling bass riff. Now try saying that while unbuckling those dungarees...

Shane Blanchard

First thing that struck me about 'Mind the Sprawl' was how much 'Song of a Page' sounded like vintage Hunky Dory-era Bowie, right down to vocal style. This, in my book can not be a bad thing. Then just to prove that they are not some tribute band copyists, the eerily delicate 'Paper Doll' follows up with such fragile vocals it sounds like the lyrics are being whispered in a padded cell. That is until they break up into what must be nearly a ten bar sustained note out of the blue. This is powerful stuff indeed but gentle at the same time. This is a great ep that mixes up just enough hope, despair, joy and pain within 5 songs to promise truly great things from the future releases of Hush the Many.

Shane Blanchard

The Tailors - A New Hairdo / Backslap Club (Trash Aesthetics)
This is a record that doesn’t sound like it has been released this week, nor does it have the sound of a band formed in the sprawling metropolis of London…….more a truck stop just outside Arkansas…..in 1978.

In most cases when describing a very ‘American’ type of music played by acts from the UK, you can usually find phrases like ‘….while remaining resolutely English’ or ‘Anglicana’, but with Killip and his merry band of men, this simply isn’t the case. The sound is so well rounded and the songs of such a high standard, there is no indication that they are not from Arkansas (or indeed from 1979). It is genuinely great to hear music of this sort played and written this well, without a lingering feeling of irony hanging around.

Do yourself a favor and go and get a copy, and if you get the chance to see them live, don’t pass it up.

Drew Millward

Easy comparisons would be Chemical Brothers meets Death in Vegas in some kind of bar brawl resulting in a stand-off and duel by Korg. Actually, that is not such an easy comparison is it but this is the kind of unholy electonica-laden row that would ensue and I for one like it very much.

Shane Blanchard