JUNK STAR- Arcade Fire mixed with Placebo. Good band, very catchy tunes. All their reviews are glowing accordingly…

WHITE CIRCUS FEVER- Sheffield based 3 piece outfit presenting a Beatles meet Sex Pistols catchy alt rock front. Massive melodies with some political forthrightness to go.WCF sound like fun mind you, music you can dance to and enjoy whilst decrying da system….

CEDAR FALLS- Liverpool band with a big bright sound… all that post Doves/Snow Patrol type doings with a big dose of Feeder and U2… A big passionate performance with sonic savvy assured.

KID CHAMPION- Catchy indie rock pop…somehow a combination of The Kooks and The Strokes? It really shouldn't work you say, but they pull it off most championly.

THE DUCKWORTHS-A rare enough glimpse of a fantastic act oft described as being akin to the work of Barry Adamson writ large. Produced excellently by Jim Barr of Portishead, The Duckworths are unleashing their Summer braincell domination plan with this DC show. Classical, jazz and soundtrack blend into an exotic pop whole most beautifully. Inspiring stuff, check out their ‘Moonshine’ album on I Tunes etc…

THREE CHORDS -Punk rock de garage.

THE BUTTERSCOTCH BANDITS -Stripped down bluesy indie rock.

MENDOZA - Harmony rich heavy rock.

ARNO CORPS- Aaah, the triumphant return of the superb Arnocorps…The US based hardcore metal/rocknroll band…a beefed up Turbo Negro with a metal frisson…or The Slickee Boys via Sham 69! Suicidal Tendencies, Black Sabbath, Rollins....’Action adventure hardcore rock and roll’...exactly!

THIRTEEN WOLVES- A meat and more meat [and maybe some veg once you’ve cabbaged yerself rocking out] homegrown nasty Rock and Roll happening ideal for gracing the stage prior to Arnocorps! Motorhead/Tank/The MC5…..

DAGOBAH- ultra punk uber rock, the beginnings of a perfect punk rock and roll evening.

SUSAN GEORGE BOOTH- A private booth in a public house dedicated to the b list 60s English rose actress ….and yet also an arthouse punk rock experience. She may well be hopping up onstage with them tonite to coalesce on an early Husker Du-esque reading of ‘Girls On Film’…

BLACKFRIARS- Muse via Mogwai via The Verve.... lots of those layered vox arrangements and all in all very anthemic.

RAY BROWER - Art punk squaliness with bits of PIL, Jesus And Mary Chain. All around uber cool wasted post punk feel.

CUCKOO SAVANTE - Church organ , a waltztime riddim and a dandy boho vocal! 'House of ill repute' is the song and it is The Animals similarly titled tune meets The Doors' version of Alabama Song.The Doors gone post modern.

AUGUSTINE - Catchy synth rock style.

WHISKY BLITZ- Folky vibes with Claptonesque strat wringing. Jethro Tull style songs. .Little whisky or blitz evident…should be called Mead Bundle! A pretty convincing old school rock lead guitar wigout at the end of 'The Highwayman' mind you and I’m beginning to see the blitzen factor...A fine mingling of folk psych and classic rock.

TIM ALLEN- From the Northwest, Tim Allen plays with a full band and embraces all manner of typical Brit-pop rock fine fare.   Pretty mellow, but still rocks the house. 

JACK GREEN - Very Housemartins with a touch of Libs and dollop of Dylanesque harmonica and some other interesting sounds here and there. Classy and very good.

LITTLE THIEF – 100,000 hits on yer myspace is something to shout about. Vampire Weekend style new indie pop influences. One of those annoyingly catchy chorus-riff Kaiser Chief-esque bands. But don’t be annoyed coz they am a whole bucket of laughs live.

LIL ROCK - Funky, bluesy, more old school funk. Stevie Wonder bass lines and obviously the wah guitar.

STAR 27- Jerky quirk pop in hoc to The Cardiacs (deeply) and Arcade Fire (slightly) …goodly end of the whacked out"wacky" wave.

GREGORYZ GIRLZ - M.O.R indie pop. Cranberries via REM for jangliness and Americana edge

NATIONS OF FIRE- Excellent blues rocking altness recorded by Steve Albini no less. Bits of Zep and Beefheart colliding v nicely. The dissonant bits get a hippy rock flourish that brings them round to far warmer waters than all that math rock. Heavy gear....a bit proggy too, Mars Volta wise I guess...This very fine headfuck material.

ALSO- Lloyd Cole-esque umpassioned pop from CA. Shades of Lou Reed and a smidge of Jeff Buckley.

HELLO HALLELUJAH- Chilled out progressively hewn indie rock in the same vein as Elbow, but with a jazzier drummer and a cello in place of bass, whilst the vocals are of the louche slightly stoned variety, a bit Jason pierce. The influence of Tim Buckley may also be discerned and a lckle bit of that Arcade Fire.

PRIVATE PARTY

SHOOT THE MOON- STM play a frantic punky ska with brass . Impassioned and up for it with a genuinely frantic sound, they have played with Madness [Suggs sez they 'Kick bollox]', but have more in common with The Specials via Rancid and a bit of the inevitable Libertenes. A storming live band for sure. From Zummerzet.

JUNCTION 27- Also from Burnham on Sea in Somerset. Bog eyed punky pop emo ska indie...yes,  a bit schizophrenic musically, but mashes up the stage perfectly. The voice is Richie Manics, Nirvana dynamics meet ska riddims and new new wave chords thru some heavy rock passages complete with hammering on guitarist! Yes, this band have it all!

TINY TIGERS- Girls to the fore punk informed artpop with some throbbing grunged out passages verging on the psychedelic.

THIEVES BY NUMBER - Catchy emo pop, sounds like fall out boy by way of the pixies.

DE SHAMONIX- Primal Scream, BRMC, Rolling Stones…all good and fine in the swaggering testosterone as a way of life rocknroll hinterland.

THE FUCKING PROSTITUTES - psychedelic bliss out kit taking in War, Santana and The Doors...lots of slinky jazz chords and funked up slick licks. Nice rough hewn vocal too- the song being 'Love'...intones that word repeatedly and it's very effective. 'Summer in Spain' demonstrates a nifty homegrown [Brazilian] Tropicalia vibe..that's psychedleic bossa to you. And 'Freedom' rocks like a mother, a dirty bass riff and a Led Zep go blissed out garage rock vibe. I love it!

DOLL SET TONES- Arthur Lee and Justin Hayward may be detected in the vocalizing, then it's all out for Floydy bliss out lead git and noodley riddim section. Led Zep in their quieter/ballady mode too, but they do it very professionally and with some nice touches a la song structure, chord changes etc. From the Essex Coast somewhere...where studying the Thames Estuary will always lend you a v soulful aspect for psychedelic excursions beyond the pop coast [!!].

THE ADVANCED - Space aged synth electronica, kind of like in sci-fi films and the like.

THE REALITY CHEQUES - Rawk funky metal but with a Zappa fuelled playfully experimental and jazzbo edge.

GREGORIAN- Arthouse dark rumblings a la Sunn or maybe Swans. A fine cerebellum bruising blend of sound FX , monster metal and surgical procedures made music. Marvelous!

ANATOMY OF ME- Youthful hardcore metal, the usual indechipherable vocals and doomy Tony iommi riffage y’ might say, but there's something most effective occurring in the prog passages that lift things into a pleasing Wagnerian dynamic…Wooooahhhhh...hardcore rip roaring screamo shit! From Sailsbury, where the Dark Lord doth prowl as a matter of course….

FORLORN-Death-trash-grind metal very 'ardcore, from the midlands (where they're good at this sort of thing) reminds one of early death metal pioneers Venom, guitars are a-la Slayers early stuff (ie a bit widdly widdly/screechy) one track features the now requisite prog-breakdown in the middle 8, but we'll let it lie..Aaah bountiful extreme metal bill.

DUKE RAOUL- Fresh, this lot from Brighton have something, something different. It's a mix of alternative indie with some punk thrown in that gives it edge, Maximo Park can be heard on 'Escape', a bit futureheads too. 3 songs in and you is hooked, energetic, catchy riffs, great vocals from the lead singer too. Great little packaged band that will go onwards and upwards for sure.

SPECTRUM 7- Fast paced electronica , then we’re on a restless hunt for the choicest of American pop punk riffings with a few electronica fills to flavour you up a tad.

PLAYING NERVOUS- Indie-electro three piece fusing electronica and classic British pop. Sound a bit like Zero 7 with the psychedelia of MGMT.

ALLEGRO- popped out funk tinged indo rockings.

CINE- Melodic indie Travis-a-likes.

AVANGAAD- Indie rockers from up North and an interesting sound for sure in that it doesn't sound like anyone contemporary or...er...indie! I'm thinking The Real People but I'm also thinking a Brit versh of The Hold Steady! Great and difficult to pigeonhole (a good thing).

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE- Dark and dangerous hiphop with a wrought iron rock undercurrent pitching this ace act somewhere between Public Enemy and AC/DC thru Tackhead…a searing sound you just can’t turn away from.

PHANTOM SOUND- Darkish  post-rock and beat-full indie with a Maroon 5 pop element thru a lickle Police like skanking rocknroll.

TORTOISE SHOUT- On a more traditionally English indie pop tip-elements such as The Sundays, Sara Records and The Beautiful South merged beautifully with a cotton print dress fulla ace acerbic tunes and a DM shoe laced up with harmonic bubblegum wit

EDISON- Punchy melodious rock someways between Weller and Ryan Adams.

CZEDUCE- Sassy femme fronted indie with a PJ Harvey like artful edge.

DANDELION KILLERS- From Ross on Wye, a jollied up bunch of post grunge semi hairies with a cheeky powerpop sound that recalls The Small Faces and Supergrass. Can’t be bad...proper songwriting talent and groovy playing.  This is a clever band. Great Brit rock a boogoie..The Kinks, Slade even a touch of Suede on ‘Bad Saturday’ [via Dexys]...Happening!!

GRAND CENTRAL- They say not who but apparently a couple of these people were in signed/top 40 acts.CSN & Y type stuff, through Glen Campbell, Donovan, Nick Drake etc…for a more accomplished Radio 2 type take on The Coral checkout ‘The Score’. …it’s very good actually. They have given their myspace an antiquated film feel, which is nice.

RED TRACK- Charismatic young band pursuing a polished alterna-rock.  Catchy tunes abound, can hear The Enemy in there.  Some songs very poppy, like the Kooks. 

THE BLOOM- Funky pop with inventive synth colour…somewhere between The Blockheads and The JBs via a little Super Furries style louche experimentation.

ALL THE KING’S MEN- Norwegian band augmented by swinging brass section specializing in a low slung 70’s rock swagger popped up for the noughties, a bit of Stones, some Aerosmith and some snappy soul.

DEAD LIKE HEROES- Up for a bit-nay a lot-hard riffin’ RNR band from The Midlands chock fulla attitude.

BABY’OUL- Rock. Reggae. Hip hop. Acoustic.  Unique sound.  A magnificently catchy and thought provoking bunch of songs.

THE WHEELS- Funk and soul textures explored...Ocan Colour Scene and solo Weller via Curtis Mayfield and the like...

KRISHNA BLACK EAGLE- A half cherokkee half Danish singer songwriter dude with a dark brown voice and a John Cougar Mellencamp like disposition. From New York,  he sure looks the part…head gear, bullet belt over shoulder, head to toe in black leather. Something of Jim Morrison here too …On ‘Phoenix rising’ he straddles a river as he strums his guitar and Native American chants compliment the Toto like riffology, very stirring.

GESTIR- From the Faroe Islands no less where there’s clearly a good supply of Sigor Ros and Radiohead records, cos betwixt these two is where they’re at, good though, very haunting, like Radiohead at their darkest with some nice widscreen atmospherics then the oblgatory LOUD bit which recalls Muse.

AUTOHYPE- Anthemic indie rock in the vein of Bloc Party, with Hard-Fi in the mix for pop friendly passages.

THE LEGION- Large elements of Arctic Monkeys but a bit darker and more melancholy vocals like Ade from Clinic’s little brother - lyrically strong, hints of Joy Division and Libertines - but doing their own thing too!  Punchy, youthful, vigorous, eclectically proggy indie – well worth watching out for.

NO KILTER- Emo from Scotland... At the Drive-in and The Mars Volta through Fugasi...Basically, it’s the best kind of emo around, none of that whiey nonsense… signed to lockjaw...probably more Math rock really… driving Fugazi like grooves with an angular post punk element, Gang of 4 stylee

EIGHTH RULE- Post-punk pop band, the lads have played some of London’s decent venues and have supported the likes of Good Shoes. The songs are catchy, contemporary indie-rock and will certainly force a weary crowd into some impromptu leg shaking.

THE HIDEAWAYS- Libertines meets the Beatles...Bob Dylan and Razorlight also in the picture.

JACK LADDER- Oz singer songwritings with a strangely casual unassuminganti anti vocal/mumble. Interesting piano touches and pleasant Leonard Cohen thru Lambchop sort of feel. Nice. Loads of mysnook plays and highly enjoyable. I detect something of John Cale here too, something dark, foreboding and Celtic

STORY OF HAIR- Alt shoegaze thrash?? It says this much on their myspace …a rousingly abrasive anti pop happening from Ireland...sound like Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead, The Fall. All good.

CAPTAINS OF CITADEL- The band are an indie rock through grunge band, and do have a Nirvana like ring to them.

THE CUTAWAY - Youthful take on post-Nirvana though they take a less grunge and more classic rock approach.

SATURDAY SUNDAY- Dark tinged classically British indie pop a la The Enemy.

REVOLUTION- superb anthems pitched ina cerebral scally setting somewhere between The Bunnymen and The Roses, ace…

THE WASP FACTORY - Breezy pop with a warm psych/folk acoustic feel..

MENDOZA- A post rock Mogwai-ish type combo.

DADDY THOSE MEN SCARE ME - punk pop old style..Squueeze, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks etc…very fine.

THE DIRTY TRICKS- Hard hitting Zep shaped blues escpades into head music with a hip swinging certainty.

SCREAMING VIOLETS - Punk metal with a Poly Styrene soundalike on vocals..nowt like X Ray Spex musically though. More a squalling metallic thing nearer to Hanoi Rocks...

ROCKNROLL CABARET FEATURING

KITTY BANG BANG + JOANNA AND THE WOLF + ATTACK SWITCH ATTACK + BANG BANGS + EDDY

Where Burlesque meets the power chord and a lot more beside.

THE HULAS- All female band, with a uniquely pulsing twist on Le Rock.
 
HOLIDAY ROMANCE- Spacey female fronted electro pop, somewhat in the My Bloody Valentine or early Lush mode…though the manner in which the guitars are spanked is decidedly more Sonic Youth, and all pretty darned involving.

KING WITH NO THRONE- Swiss-aussie duo! Kicks off very Pink Floyd (at their darkest) and has a very cinematic approach..  with lots of Mogwai touches and the reassuring touch of a David Bowie influence.

STERLING- A sure footed pop approach to the post Oasis Britpop stance.

HAKUNA PASA- Hot on the South Coast , a ska / reggae band featuring a Madness go roots rock reggae sound / vibe. Some hip soul touches too. The singer is a tad Kevin Rowland esque...My, this multi national bunch do it really well.

DEBASERS- London/SouthEast based funkateers hit their stride thru baggy and a psychedelic smattering of 60s twee pop. Their beat baroque vibe meets Stone Roses razzle is very charming.

MY ECHO- Plaintive croonings that remind a bit of Mark Eitzel/American Music Club, but then maybe Crashroom Dummes...the music has a fruity prog aspect too...all quite pleasing on the lugs. A sort of understated progadelik grunge pop supreme.

BULLITT- Rousingly hot rock band from Dublin... a bit like The Who, a bit Velvet Underground …melodic guitar driven power chords. Got a real psych 70s rock n roll punch to their sound...goodly.

THE POPPY SEEDS - 60s pop mature pop.

THE SPECIAL Ks -Funky rock pop a la Jack Johnson, Maroon5 and Beatles.