Chew Lips

Attack of the drones

The London electro-pop trio have moved on massively from their first kitchen sink gig at a friend’s house in the spring of 2008, to being among the first slew of bands announced for next year’s SXSW festival. The band have been among the ‘ones to watch’ lists for some time. However, the limelight that shone on the majority of solo female electro acts (La Roux, Little Boots) in 2009 is set to radiate their way in 2010. Read more

Nate Campany

Scratch and Riff

“My name is Nate, and you can consider me your neon green plastic hand-shaped backscratcher”.

Nate Campany will scratch your back if you scratch his. He may even scratch it with a used CD of the Backstreet Boys song he once penned.

Nate refers to himself as having a “normal life”. He “has a beard, credit cards, and a job”.  That job is creating pop records, for the likes of The Backstreet Boys as previously mentioned, and others such as The Click Five and platinum selling Dutch artist Ilse Delange. However, he also manages to carefully intertwine his pop sensibilities with deeper roots in the homespun, heartfelt emotive values of Americana. Read more

Catherine A.D.

Waking the dead

“Kooky and spooky”, said one reviewer of this singer – and the Addams Family similarities don’t stop there. Catherine A.D. sings like a gothic mermaid version of the grim reaper, luring those who hear into her warm blanket of decay and beauty – before smashing them against the rocks Read more

Le Corps Mince de Francoise

They’re cool and bored

Imagine, if you can, a remote island, devoid of all human contact, except for the musical offerings of CSS, Yelle, Robots In Disguise, Chicks On Speed, Le Tigre, and… er, Daphne & Celeste. Now imagine it has a population of three and you’ll be somewhere in the sonic region of Le Corps Mince de Francoise’s The Thin Body Of Francoise. Read more

Lenka

Caught in the middle

“The sun is hot in the sky / Just like a giant spotlight,” sings Lenka as she takes her turn in the literal spotlight as a solo artist. Straddling a fine line between Fiest and Edie Brickell – and to a lesser, but comparable, extent, Katy Perry – Lenka is no stranger to music. Read more

CSS

Donkey

They might have lost their bassist, but the Brazilian band haven’t lost their mojo on their second album. Consistently one of the best live bands around, their electro party music is still intact (think of it as a polish to the first album rather than a sideways step). While nothing has quite the bounce of ‘Alala’, ‘Off The Hook’, or ‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’, there’s still more than enough vim here to see them bring their catsuited joy to festivals for years to come.

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Fly you to the moon

Back in the 1960s, the world was treated to a vision of the future, a helmeted man whizzing round the skies of Disneyland with a tinfoil flying device strapped to his back – which was supposed to be a jetpack. Read more

Foxboro Hot Tubs

Stop Drop & Roll!!!

Yes, it’s those pesky Green Day ’scamps’ operating under yet another pseudonym. In the wake of the massive global success of American Idiot, they’ve chosen to write a love letter to Sixties beat-pop rather than taking their cue from the post-Dickies US punk scene that has defined their day job. Read more

The Zutons

You Can Do Anything

Third album from the Liverpudlians and their first since Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse made ‘Valerie’ a radio playlist standard. Producer George Drakoulias adds extra ‘beef’ to their sound while the arrival of new guitarist Paul Molloy gives their sound more bite and the band a renewed purpose. Read more

The Dodos

Finger-pickin’ drumsticks

Somewhere back in the 17th Century, a squat, stocky, relatively useless (even for eating, by some accounts) lump of a bird popped its webbed clogs forever. Dead as. Here’s hoping the lifespan of San Francisco band The Dodos has Read more

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