24 March 2008

by Rob McCrae

The Long Blondes, Sam Isaac, Kate Nash, Reel People featuring Darien, Paige, Panic At The Disco, FrYars, Computer Club, Reverend & The Makers, The Indelicates, Outl4w

"Computer Club sound eerily similar to Editors, like a professional mimic doing an impression of you through a sheet of glass so the sound is marginally refracted. They also have similar skyscraping potential."

The Long Blondes – Century
Like Saint Etienne before them the band make sharp, female-fronted pop abetted by the formidable lead-snapping singer Kate Jackson who isn’t someone you’d get into an argument with. This will get them back on the radar.

Sam Isaac – Fire Fire
To up the anticipation, Sam promises that on his next tour he might even play in fans’ bedrooms… Wow! Beyond the sound of Tom Vek pushing out something painful this giddy thought hangs over proceedings like an enormous silhouette of heart-thumping possibility.

Kate Nash – Merry Happy
There are some lyrics that Nash will look back on and grimly chew over as she looks down from the top of the city car park and think about how many people have listened to her excruciating couplets and the guffaws that have followed.

Reel People feat. Darien – Alibi
This is the music to a Dating Direct advert encouraging people to hit the clubs to find that special someone, gently cajoling light dance-funk sprinkled with gym-fresh vocals to pep your step and get your fucking act together.

Paige – If You Say So
As derivative as someone accidentally sitting on the Copy button, of an industrial photocopier, and thinking the metaphorical swoop of plain paper (it’s like seen and heard many times) is simply the sound of someone moving filing cabinets in another room.

Panic At The Disco – Nine In The Afternoon
Considering PATD have the requisite body parts skewered by bits of broken pipe it seems odd that this sounds as safe as Tom Petty and awash with lyrics by some prog rock throwbacks. Trend seekers will declare this a defiant backward step.

FrYars – The Perfidy EP
FrYars is a 19 year musical savant in the shape of Ben Garret who includes elements of Patrick Wolf and the mercurial flamboyance of Rufus Wainwright so you would have thought he would have had the nous to call his band by a name that isn’t immediately wall punchingly irritating.

Computer Club – Electrons & Particles
There must be something in the shimmering Birmingham air because Computer Club sound eerily similar to  Editors, like a professional mimic doing an impression of you through a sheet of glass so the sound is marginally refracted. They also have similar skyscraping potential.

Reverend & The Makers – Sundown On The Empire
Best idea the Reverend had was to get on the recent Damon Albarn African express and second best was inserting his pie and chips rhymes in Adrian Sherwood’s deep pile palace. If he can keep reinventing himself on a weekly basis he may last until the end of the year.

The Indelicates – America
Formed by brother and sister one of whom won a poetry slam and subsequently decided to put the finely honed soliloquies to some rustic harpsichords throwing in mentions of Hitler and America and hoping that the tampering would work if the whole audience were distracted by something else.

Outl4w – Nothing Else To Say
For a band in their mid teens and with 300 shows already behind them, there’s a danger that they might just be spurting out material to break some sort of pre-pubescent record or something. This is as raw as a puck of beef in a butcher’s hand but will inevitably become more refined over time.

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