STUNT: I’ll Be There.Sounds like she’s on helium for this splash dash euro disco roller.
MASTODON: Oblivion.And it sure is with this metallic prog rock meandering off on a course only they can follow. It’s full of complicated musical right turns.
PIXIE LOTT: Mama Do.The fact that she sounds along the lines of Amy Winehouse – but in teen form – means that after this debut we may not see her for pixie dust. Hard to think the 18-year-old from Essex was at the centre of a record company bidding war for her services.
THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT: Happiness Is Overrated.A slug-it-out guitar pop slide that captures the very essence of indie upstart quality. Sets off in 50s troubadouring style, but as soon as it sets off it leaps forward five decades.
WAVE MACHINES: I Go I Go I Go.You just wait and wait and wait for this twinkling electro musing to get into its stride, but its shoelaces seem tied together and it all ends up quaintly static and vaguely frustrating. Just go, go go.
SEVEN YEAR KISMET: Not Without Incident.Thrash and growl – kind of a monster and rabid dog all rolled into one – and with all the panache of someone being violently ill. Absolutely hilarious for seven seconds or so unless, of course, your teenage offspring takes it seriously and then it’s far from funny. Music’s nemesis.
TOM ALLALONE AND THE 78s: Major Sins Part 1.An impeccably-dressed troupe hailing from Kent playing blistering rock n’ roll that’ll send today’s generation scurrying to their computers to Google the likes of Billy Fury, Eddie Cochran and even the Stray Cats. Teenage Crush drags the Everly Brothers into a blender and spits out a thoroughly modern-sounding West Side Storyish anthem of unfulfilled love.
LIVID: One.One of those that you could easily think was a spoof with vocals ranging from full-on to hysterical high-pitched scream. Mind you, the singer is called Psy Ward – make of that what you will. Full on ballsy 70s-inspired raw rock, yet you can’t help feeling an 80s melodic spirit is rattling its cage trying to get out.
