Strix Vega - Drunken Sky

T: Huh? It doesn't mention Levon Helm anywhere in the blurb. Surely it should...

N: Great swooping guitar breaks and the gentle vocal of Colin Begell, who also introduces theremin to the proceedings, go together to replicate a Sunday afternoon snooze...

T: What I think you're trying to say, essentially, is that this is reminiscent of Mr. Young circa "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and that you ARE actually praising it, despite the way it's coming out of your mouth...

N: ...actually I was thinking that this "Drunken Sky" might be likened to Neil's "On The Beach", but basically, this album could be assimilated to a short, sharp storm in which the sound converges, some might say, "like a hurricane".

T: Damn you, you nicked my next line. All in all, this really is a bloody good album. 9/10

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Unexploded Shells - Hexthorpe 1

T: It might sound as though it was recorded in a train toilet, and sung through the resultant empty bog roll, but the quality of songwriting shines through here. Clearly taking their lead from Tom Verlaine, Unexploded Shells' rough around the edges style is easy to embrace. In fact, the absence of a producer (NB - I'm only presuming this, and if there WAS one, I'm also guessing that they have since shot him) makes me like it even more. Proper old school new wave, somehow managing not to sound outdated.

N: It's this quality in the music that makes it really hard to do as you've done, to sort the diamond from the rough is indeed a talent in itself. This is most certainly a collection of songs that would benefit from the ear of somebody like Verlaine at the controls.

T: But surely you can see the brilliance of the compositions here too?

N: Yes, but it's certainly helping to hear this through the imaginary veil I've constructed. Can you not hear this too?

T: Well, there are two schools of thought about that. One worries that the temptation to overproduce and make the whole thing sound too "clean", but then of course you could be right and Unexploded Shells could just turn out to be Britain's best kept secret.

N: A good visionary producer would not let the former happen. Let's stick with "best kept secret".

T: And who knows? Maybe even Britain's best new band. I like it. I really, really like it a LOT. 9/10

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Brasil - What You Need/You Can Talk To Me (SoundPeople Records) 05/05/2008

T: Remember not so long ago when the Gallaghers set up Sour Mash as an outlet for new talent? Well, they signed a band called Proud Mary, who did less than anticipated, and this band reminds me of a hybrid of that outfit and the Oasis boys themselves. An enjoyable, yet hardly scintillating record, though the Hammond organ gives it most of its appeal.

N: Barely inspiring, more a case of inspired by. A band from Leeds who are performing a very stereotypical sound reminiscent of an early nineties vibe as described by my colleague. Not nasty, just "nice". 6/10

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We Are The Physics - You Can Do Athletics (This Is Fake DIY) 21/04/2008

T: Despite sounding rather a lot like many of the bands we were complaining everybody else sounds like these days, there is something slightly odd and off the radar about We Are The Physics. Perhaps it is the unusual vocal phrasing of the chorus, or maybe it's the slightly screwy presentation, but it's holds a hell o a lot more appeal than any of those "king's new clothes" artists. I like it.

N: With a name like We Are The Physics, you might expect this band to be terribly organised and mathematical in nature, but this group of reprobates are more likely to be those who sat at the back of the class and while the teacher's back was turned, lit all the gas taps, just because they could. This is chaotic in nature, but because of this, offers something slightly different from those shiny metal boxes. 8/10

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Loqui - The Average White Boy

T: This is amusingly over the top, I have to say. Catchy enough to irritate the hell out of you, yet not quite annoying enough to spoil your evening, Loqui definitely have something. Whether I like it or not is difficult to gauge just yet.

N: It's a ska fuelled take on world music, but from Leeds. Now I'm not saying that there isn't anything to see or hear in this fair city, it's just that they may have kidnapped Paul Simon's rhythm section, and from this persuaded the horns from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to come along. These two tracks display great promise, and the after show party is bound to be a riot. 7/10

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Nozzle - Empires (Flowermountain) 07/05/2008

T: First things first - this band is bloody good at what it does. Sadly it does not necessarily follow that I will like their music, and consequently I am struggling to find anything of any great value to me within it. Fans of the more mainstream side of alternative rock (Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms and their ilk) will, I am sure, embrace this album with open arms, but it's just not for me. Having said that, I'd respect anyone who was a fan of this band, as they are clearly a talented bunch, despite my misgivings.

N: I know exactly where you're coming from. In a similar vain, I was hearing a band of Diesel Park West dimensions. A band full of the technical know-how, but perhaps a little leftfield to appeal TOO much to a mainstream audience. Picking up on their technical ability, the more I listen to this album, the more I hear the structure that has formulated this work. This really is shaping up as an album rather than a collection of miscellaneous songs. 7/10

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