Possibly the greatest show on earth... The Junipers and John Stammers - Live! Tonight!

If you're in Manchester tonight, better get yourself down to the greatest show on Earth. Seriously. At Lee Gorton's (of Alfie fame) Down At The Redbricks night, tonight, you'll get the incredible sunshine popsike of The Junipers, promoting their new 'Cut Your Key' album (the album of 2008), as well as the pastoral jazz-folk of John Stammers, playing with full band (more here).

It starts at 8pm and Manchester's gorgeous and newest venue, The Deaf Institute on Grosvenor Street. [pic: Bob Stuart]

Pre-order The Last People On Earth LP right now!

The release of The Last People On Earth's 'Electric Angel' saw this writer speculating that the earthquake we had a few months ago, was actually the fault of this very band. Psychedelic tremors sent from melting speakers pointing into the earth saw us all shaking in our beds and The Last People On Earth giggling at the thought of their next stunt.

Anyway, their LP left me stunned into submission. I said 'it's one of the best albums I've heard - period' and I still think that now. The band have created a psych-prog masterpiece and everyone needs to get aboard their cosmic bus to be taken on a trip somewhere very fuggin' weird indeed. If you need refreshing, click here for review or, if you've been waiting for its release click here to pre-order Electric Angel.

Review - Ubyk 'Matryoshka'

Last time around, a spelling mistake nearly scuppered the sentiment of Ubyk. Click here to see the fine margin between 'in' and 'is'. Anyway, scrap all that. The brilliant Ubyk have a new EP out called 'Matryoshka' and what a strange creature it is.

Kicking off with the psych-folk of the title track, Ubyk make an impressive sonic weave with only two people. Delicate and spooky guitars tell you that the sixties are over, they're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths and that, the drugs clearly failed to boot down the doors of perception. Harmonies drift in and out, gently tugging at your collar telling you that "everything is going to be alright", before spinning you 'round and making you feel all creeped out. I like it.

LP Review - Rusty Springfield 'Please Don't Dance Whilst Holding Drinks'

I don't know a damn thing about Rusty Springfield and their new LP, 'Please Don't Dance Whilst Holding Drinks' isn't telling me much more apart from the fact that they've clearly got a sense of humour (I mean, come on, look at that sleeve) and that the band members are called Wolfman, Birdie and The Butcher. So what's in store?

A quick check of the tracklisting before playing reveals things called 'Gorilla', 'Andy Warhol Hair' and 'Werewolf'. We're gonna have some fun here eh?

Well, fun seems to be the name of this band's game... but what kind of fun? The kind of fun that ends in slight injuries, beer, loud rock 'n' roll music and punching the ceiling. That's the kinda fun I like best.

Review - Howl Griff... and the LP, Howl Griff.

I'm pretty sure that, as an outfit, Howl Griff are pretty sick of talking about beekeeping, Los Galacticos, Super Furry Animals and jus'whatisthatonthecover? Well, to get it out of the way, Howl Griff is headed by a Welsh singing beekeeper, the band are from all over the place (both in geography and mental wellbeing) and... well... they don't know for sure what the beast on the cover is... but he comes in peace, so that'll do for now.

Of course, so many album review get caught up in pointless trivia, like, I could tell you that this LP has links to newest pop-topper Duffy and links to Spiritualized... but all this pointless trivia talk so far does (for once) go some way to explaining what Howl Griff is... are... going to be...

Keef - vinyl man and music hater

Keef.

Like a Brazilian footballer, he only needs one name. He's a riff behemoth. He's a parody of himself. He's a fool. He's brilliant. On top of all that, Keef hates modern bands and digs VINYL! Keith Richards (hell, we've gotta put his real name in at some point because people look for it in search engines y'know? We're not patronising you honest!) refuses to listen to modern bands and doesn't dig the digital format.

He told Uncut, "I don't listen to what's going on. "I don't like CDs, quite honestly. They sound tinny to me. I've not even heard the Arctic Monkeys. I know of them but I don't know anything they've done. I didn't like Oasis, I didn't like the Sex Pistols, I don't like any of those English rock n' roll bands. They're all crap."

Fancy a job writing for ElectricRoulette Keef? You'd be perfect.

The Cubical

Hey kids! Do you like Captain Beefheart, Howlin' Wolf, The 13th Floor Elevators and cult 90s RnB / Garage legends The Stairs? Can you see yourself digging a demented shamanistic frontman wigging out like a deep South preacher who's necked all the Communion wine? Are you hep to sea-shanty 'woah-woah' backing vox, horny harmonica howlin' and bad-ass heavy-blues stompolla? Do you like bands from Liverpool who sound exactly like they come from Liverpool in the best possible way? Well, if your answer to some of those questions was "Yeah, but don't pigeon hole me dude, I'm into all sortsa stuff, like I'm really feeling the post-Crunk scene at the moment," then you might wanna check out the myspace of all hollerin', all stompin' Merseyside acid-blues outfit The Cubicle. We had 'em down at my club night last Saturday and they blew the roof off the muvva, just really tore the place apart...the records are pretty great but live they're just something else, a real-deal voodoo rock 'n' roll medicine show. Catch 'em at a psychedelic dungeon near you soon and Support This Band. (PF)

Fancy watching Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for free?

Have you heard of iTunes Live: The London Sessions? Me neither. That's because I hate Apple and I hate London even more. Anyway, just because I'm a moaning git, doesn't mean you lot are, which is why you might be interested in some free gigs.

iTunes Live: The London Sessions kicked off this week at Air recording studios. Charlene Soraia, Jose Gonzalez, Julian Velard and Stephanie Dosen all played the first night of the two-week run of shows. The full line-up looks like this: 22 Feb (Nizlopi, Soweto Kinch) 23 Feb (Alphabeat, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong) 24 Feb (Billy Bragg, KT Tunstall, Foy Vance, Leo Abrahams) 25 Feb (Daniel Merriweather, Estelle, Tawiah) 26 Feb (Charlie Winston, Natalie Clein, Tom Baxter) 27 Feb (Laura Marling, Mystery Jets) 28 Feb (Jason Mraz, Ron Sexsmith) 29 Feb (TBC) 1 Mar (Roisin Murphy, Tony Christie) 2 Mar (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Spiritualized)

Entry is free of charge for competition winners only. Head to www.ituneslive.co.uk for more.

Courteeners LP coming out... so they're touring as well... hype to follow

The Courteeners are pretty popular in certain sections of the Electric Roulette office, making normally sane sombre blokes pull at their clothes and start drinkin' Stella Artois again. Well, good news for them as the group have a new LP coming out and a tour to boot.

On April 7th The Courteeners release their debut long player which is called 'St.Jude'. Who is this St Jude dolt? I don't believe in all that superstition hokum! Well, according to the press release Jude is the patron saint of lost causes...

...This buncha lost causes have singles called What Took You So Long and Fallowfield Hillbilly and on them, you can hear singing, guitars of various frequency and drums. What's this about a tour? Read over...

New Band: The Goldoolins

It's easy to fall for the ol' 'this band makes music from a weird place so it must be slightly better than a band that makes weird music from Chorley' rule. This is why people like Andy Votel hang around other people's record boxes whilst they're trying to DJ with little notepads, looking at all the Turk LPs you gambled on. So if we all like taking a chance on Lebanese garage from the 60s and 70s... how about taking a punt on an Israeli acid-folk outfit that are right here and now?

Yeah. I ain't goin' to WOMAD so I'll never kno... Lemme stop you right there... I'm about to introduce you to a band that mixes the blissful three part harmonies of CSN as well as the modal shivers of Pentangle... as well as mixing up weird Middle East chords and scales. Ladies and Gents (most likely just Gents if we're being honest) I give you The Goldoolins.

WOLF PEOPLE: LIVE!LIVE!LIVE!

Hey kids! Do you like Captain Beefheart flavoured mutant-blues rock? Yeah? Well, do you like flute-powered wierdy beardy folksploitation? Oh, ya do, do ya? How about Vertigo Records styled late 60s super-heavy prog? Plenty, huh? Breakbeats and  basslines so fat Ghostface Killah should be riding them? Acid-fuzz guitar, backwards masked sfx and the hiss and crackle of warm analogue anti-production? Well, heck, why didn't you say so? I woulda told you 'bout Wolf People already! Yeah! Wolf People! They're pretty much my fave band in the whole damn country! They record on an authentic 60s reel-to-reel tape machine! They're funky as a mule! And they're playing the City Screen Basement in York tomorrow night! If you're in the area, this is an absolute must-see. (I'm DJing...say hello if you make it down!) Check out their myspace for more details, and I'll have a live review for y'all next week...

Review - The Surgens' Misadventures of a Broken Man

Jus' look at that cover man. One peek at that saucy set up and you know you're in trouble with this group. I mean... c'mon... ain't that a bit sexist? It's jus' short of having a glove forced in her face! Lissen you. Shut-up. The Surgens are bringing sexy back... and it doesn't mean a bronze woman in a bikini singin' about earning her own... this is four blokes from whocares? bringing back good wholesome sleaze! And besides... it can't be sexist... the woman adorning the cover of Misadventures of a Broken Man could clearly kick all of our arses at the same time. The band even sing "a wicked girl will always shut the door on a nice boy like me..." Now scat.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what this LP sounds like? I don't blame ya really. That's why you're hear ainnit? Okay, hold my hand... we'll go over the jump and take a leap into the wrong frazzled world of The Surgens.

Will Sunny Day Sets Fire kickstart a 60s psych pop revival?

If we receive a press release here at Electric Roulette, we always reach for the sack of salt next to desk, just so we can take a large pinch of the stuff whilst reading it. Best claim of the day so far is from the PR company behind Sunny Day Sets Fire, claiming the band are are set to 'kickstart the 60s psych pop revival'. Will they? Of course not. Are the band any good? Well, actually they are.

In fact, the PR's claim isn't a million miles from the truth - they do play a tasty brand of 60s-style psych pop at times (judging by the band's mySpace selection), but it's unlikely to get the kids wearing flowers in their hair. In fact, it's more like old-style quirky indie pop than 60s revival - no bad thing in my book.

This multinational band (five members from four countries) already have a couple of singles on the market, with an album due in April. If you can't wait that long, you can catch them at London's Luminaire on 3rd March. Or you can just follow the link below to listen to some tunes.

Sunny Day Sets Fire MySpace page

The Federal Bureau Of Investigation Ragtime Jazz Band

"Ladies and gentlemen. The story you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."

Which band were the hippest band ever? The Velvet Underground circa 1966? The Miles Davis Quintet circa 1955? The Rolling Stones circa Exile On Mainstreet? Fergeddaboudit. The hippest band ever were The Federal Bureau Of Investigation Ragtime Jazz Band. That's right, pal. Dig: it's a cold-ass February in New York City, 1944 - war time - and the Feds have got word that an important communist pow-wow is gonna go down at a recording studio in mid-town Manhattan. Seems like Communist Party of the United States are having some internal dispute about whether they're gonna support the war effort or not, and Head Reds William Z. Foster and Earl Browder are getting together to hammer out a deal.

John Power finds Beefheart and goes on the road

I wasn't particularly fond of The La's. Fact is, I didn't really dig Cast. So why should I give a fuzz about John Power's solo stuff? I mean, c'mon! Well, I was as surprised as anyone when I found out that Mr Power was making some gloriously freaky bluesy psych which is straight outta Safe As Milksville!

Power has long left the need for pop and started dishing out shit-kickin' blues, snarling garage country, lilting folk... and anything else that sounds like it's come from a bloke with a great record collection.

If you wanna check him out live and you're in the Manchester area, you can find him at Manchester's newest hippest place kickin' up a stink at Lee Gorton's Up At The Redbricks night. Where?  567 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton Manchester. Joining him will be The Black Velvet Band and John Fairhurst.

Check John Power's Myspace and have a listen to his wares by clicking here

Review - Friends Of The Bride 'You Can't Take Him Anywhere'

When a band has a list of influences that include Bobbie Gentry, Mel Tormé, Booker T & The MGs, Jacques Dutronc, Nancy Sinatra, Norman Jay MBE, Sammy Davis Jr and The Temptations, you've godda wonder what the hell you're gettin'. Well, that's the number that influences Friends of the Bride, who, for my money, should've included Scott Walker in there too. Friends of the Bride make their pop big. There's no two ways about it. This is pure undiluted pop music made for singing along to. Mebbe in the car. Or whilst doing the dishes.

The new single, You Can't Take Him Anywhere, is a weird mix of spy movie and descending Kinks' kords. The singer, simply called Bobby, has an impressive set of pipes on him. When he croons "there's pain in his voice and booze on his breath" it's hard not to think of Scott Walker on his first four solo LPs. B-side, Hey, Buddy!, is another odd track which mixes the word "Lincolnshire" with jazzy folk and a sixties' styled lounge rocker. Give it a listen on their Myspace page. The single is out March 10th on Brainlove Records.

New wild blues bands - King Salami & The Cumberland Three and The Vanjas

It seems to us here that a few new bands are forming around Europe recently who are executing a wild take on 1960s rhythm and blues. From London we have King Salami & The Cumberland Three, who recently released their first single on Butterfly Records. In King Salami they have a fantastic showman (who passion and knowledge of r’n’b is exemplary) and a frantic backing band, all of whom have worked in several hot rockin' London combos over the past few years - and know how to put on a show. And indeed you can catch their live act most weekends somewhere in the capital and often beyond too.

And following the recent coverage of The Branded, here is another dose of heavy r’n’b from Sweden in the shape of Stockholm’s The Vanjas. Mixing blues covers (e.g. 'Shake', 'What I'd Say') alongside their own material, they are ready to showcase their music all over Europe very soon. You wouldn’t want to miss them, for The Vanjas are sharply dressed, incendiary groovers.

Do keep us informed of other similarly styled bands forming out there; we maybe seeing the birth of a new scene!

See King Salami & The Cumberland Three on Myspace here

See The Vanjas Myspace page here

Via Modculture

New Band: Thee Attacks

It's not hard to knock out a rehashed 60s guitar riff - the hard work is making it sound authentic. And that's something Thee Attacks do with some style.

Hailing from Aalborg in Denmark, The Attacks describe themselves as 'a melodic garage band of the kind you didn't think they made anymore' - and if you happen to be crying out for some fast-paced rhythm and blues with a rough-edged vocal, thumping drums and a guitar sound straight out of 1966, you should give them a try. Likewise if you love The Sonics, the original Nuggets box or early Who/Kinks.

But don't take out word for it - check out the band's MySpace page for plenty of tunes, background on the band and a step back in time. I bet they're a cracking live act.

Thee Attacks MySpace page

New Band: Walton Hesse

Caught you lookin' at legs didn't I bucko? Well, stop yer dirty thoughts and start thinkin' more sleaze. Wha'? You're confusing me man! Don't worry. Woe betide a man who can't dig Walton Hesse. This buncha degenerate country kickers are rolling around the mud with the pigs and moonshine and (when the acid has worn off) they just about manage to stand for long enough to make an awesome refried country fuzz!

Shit. These kids have been to hell, escaped, only to git takin' down by Bason 'n' Brock down to the penitentiary with The Midnight Special! Along the way, they dug the sounds of Hank, Prince Billy, Zappa, some spotlight kid called Beefheart and a fistful of grimy garage 45s to make an unholy God-fearing racket... and if that ain't paradoxical enuff, they're from the North of England too.

The Federals: Garage! Garage! Garage!

Hey kids! Do you like GARAGE ROCK MUSIC? REAL LOUD, ASS-KICKING, SYMPATHETIC SOUNDS OF DETROIT STYLED GARAGE ROCK MUSIC? And maybe do you like...GOING PLACES? PLACES WHERE THERE IS SOME ASS KICKING SYMPATHETIC SOUNDS OF DETROIT STYLED GARAGE ROCK MUSIC BEING PLAYED REAL LOUD, Y'KNOW, LIKE YOU JUST SPECIFIED A PREFERENCE FOR? SURE YOU DO! SO WHY DONCHA GO SOME PLACE AND WATCH ASS-KICKING SYMPATHETIC SOUNDS OF DETROIT STYLED GARAGE ROCK OUTFIT THE FEDERALS PLAY KICK-ASS GARAGE ROCK ALREADY? GO ON! GET OUTTA HERE!

(Read over for tour dates, coherent description of the band, etc)

You dug The Branded yet?

Malmö may not make you think of snotty fuzz, as Sweden is generally more famous for the likes of Ace of Base, but if you ask The Branded who the hell Ace of Base are, they just shrug, snigger and whack you 'round the head with a big simple fist. This is my kinda grooop.

The Branded have studied their garage well. They don't ever eat. Just listen to records by The Yardbirds, Count Five and The Sonics. They don't do anything else. This has left them gaunt and slightly cabbaged. Thankfully, this state of ill repair has produced a back pocket full of great singles that strut like a damaged peacock. You gotta love that huh?

New Bands: Pete Molinari

What do you get if you cross Bob Dylan with Malta, Patsy Cline, Egypt, Billy Childish and Chatham in Kent? Normally you wouldn't end up with anything... but this experiment seemed to work with some gusto... as the result is the sublime Pete Molinari.

We feature loads of new bands on here, and half the time, they don't have a record out, leaving us hoping they'll play nearby and clicking buttons on a MySpace page. Not this guy. He has a proper record out which you can buy in the shoppes.

'Walking Off The Map', released on Damaged Goods and recorded in Billy Childish's kitchen 'on half track' is a scratchy folk/country work-out which harks back to the dusty scratchy recordings of The Louvrin Bros, Leadybelly, very early Dylan, Woodie Guthrie... it's phenomenal. Buy his records now... because they'll be changing hands for £100 in a few years.

Click here to visit Pete Molinari's official website and buy Walking Off The Map now from BoomKat

New bands: LoveLikeFire

Sometimes it's better to be on the outside looking in. As the British indie scene grinds to a halt in a hale of regional accents, drinking anecdotes and spikey guitars, the US produces bands who don't give a damn what the NME editorial team views as 'cool'. And one of those bands is LoveLikeFire.

LoveLikeFire loves old school indie/alternative bands. You can tell by listening to any one of the songs on their MySpace page and if you want further confirmation, check out the A-Z of slightly unfashionable acts on their 'influences' list.

Do Ann Yu, David Farrell, Ted Parker and Robert Kissinger care how unfashionable these influences are? Probably not, they'll just go on playing catchy melodic indie pop, regardless of the weekly fashion changes. Should you care? Well yes, because LoveLikeFire are a great band, worthy of your attention and if there's any justice in the world, a band who will do great things in 2008. But don't take my word for it - go listen to them via the link below and tell us what you think...

LoveLikeFire MySpace page

New Band: Hobo Chang

Everyone in the world likes reggae right? If that's not strictly true, then every one in the world likes sixties and seventies roots and rocksteady... it's impossible NOT to like it. If you don't, then you don't have soul maaan. With that, it puzzles me why there aren't more new bands having a stab at making vintage (sounding) reggae. I mean... the basis of a roots track are a piece of piss aren't they? (probably not).

Anyway, one band taking the good bits of Studio One and mixing it with sixties soul and jazz is Hobo Chang. Don't! Come back! I know it sounds contrived and acid jazzy... but give 'em a chance!  Hobo Chang's sound is a strange middle ground between loads of your fave records... okay, there's no garage or psych in there but jesus man, we need a change now and again.

Whilst people dig the sound of Nu-Soul (as it's probably called... I'm talking about Winehouse et al), then there's no reason to not enjoy Hobo Chang. There's a sniff of Bristol about 'em (Portishead, Massive Attack) while still retaining a certain sixtiesness. To be honest, I thought I was gonna hate 'em... but after hearing Eulogy, So Low Blues and finding out they put a John Cooper Clarke poem to music... man, what's not to like?

Click here to visit the Hobo Chang MySpace page.

Clubs: The Cockroach Club

The best thing about garage nights is that they tend to feature some fuckin' great bands sandwiched between the sleazoid vinyl treats. Peterborough's hotspot, The Cockroach Club is no exception. Promising to bring the best in new and old garage and surf, not to mention psych, surf, rockabilly and "good old dirty rock 'n' roll", this promises to be one skuzzy night out.

'Hey man. You were talkin' 'bout live acts too...' ...if you're going down to The Cockroach club on February 2nd, the you'll get the chance to catch the demented sounds of the brilliant Surgens who have found fans in Mark Lamarr and Mark Radcliffe. Okay, I'm not called Mark, but I fuckin' love 'em all the same. The Surgens are a firing mix of twisted country, depraved blooz and snarling rockin' garage. Click here to visit their MySpace page. Feb also sees some fuzz from The Psych-O-Bombs (who do a cookin' version of Action Woman). Click here to see them too. Who woulda thought that Peterborough was a hub of crazed garage action? There's me thinking it was a real ale town.

Click here to go to The Cockroach Club website

New bands: Diez millones de veces Diez

Granted, Diez Millones de Veces Diez is not the easiest band name to say in the world, but who gives a fuck right? Since when did that effect your ears? Diez Millones de Veces Diez (now DMDVM for ease of typing) are testament to random adding on MySpace. This morning, they landed in a pal req' and now, here they are, on ElectricRoulette! Anyway, that's enough about me... whut gives with DMDVM?

Hailing from Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Fredy, the brains behind this fine outfit, creates a wonderful glitchy monged mess behind shimmering Tommy Guerrero styled pickings. Very much like the brilliant La Jr and AA Tigre (have a look through our archives if you wanna know about that lot), the marriage of electronics and acoustics is sublime. Normally, people fuck it up... not Fredy.
Instrumental 1 and Lo Volvere a Intentar are glistening jewels waiting to shimmer in your ear holes. Click here and check Diez millones de veces Diez now. You won't regret it.

Electric Roulette's top 10 music predictions for 2008

David Walker gazes into his crystal balls at the future of music - and picks out 10 certs for 2008. Now form an orderly queue at the bookies.

1. Pink Floyd reform - then split

With Led Zeppelin banking record amounts in ticket sales from a world tour, Pink Floyd put aside inter-band hostilities to jump on that same gravy train with huge stadium shows. But soon, everyone falls out again - thankfully before a new album is recorded.

2. X Factor finally runs out of steam and disappears without a trace

I've just heard and seen the winner of this year's X Factor - evidence if needed that this annual ritual humiliation of sad, deluded souls has reached the end of the line. Leon Jackson (pictured here) will be doing the social clubs in months, closely followed by the demise of a show that has single-handedly destroyed pop music.

3. The Draytones and The Courteeners hit the heights

Thankfully, new bands will still be around amongst the glut of reunions - and I predict both The Draytones and Courteeners will do big things in 2008. The Draytones could well make the 60s cool again, while The Courteeners will be the last band to breakthrough with 2007's essential accessory - the exaggerated regional accent.

What is 2008 going to look like? Flying hoverboards?

I've been cheated. It's nearly 2008 and I was promised robot maids and flying cars. Instead, I've got Girls Aloud and fucking Facebocked. Music hasn't made any leaps for a while either. 2007 saw people using The Clash and Joy Div as a template, and the last lot before this lot who said 'disco punk' were Duran Duran. So what has 2008 got in store?

In an article in a supplement from a broadsheet, vapid soul void Conor McNicholas (the monkey with the biggest typewriter at the NME) took nearly half of an article before he mentioned the sound, instead, focusing on the look. Bands like Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong are the latest soup of the day... which means ordinary songs sang from jeans thinner than the width of their legs (hey! I can play along too!)

It seems the world (in Britain at least) is going 8-bit. Instead of looking to the future (like The Jetsons had always promised me), we're faced with a buncha kids looking to Sega Master Systems for inspiration. It's disco-punk Jim... as we know it.

2007 With A Bullet: Paul Fuzz Offers Some Thoughts About The Past Year In Pop Music, Characterised By A Slightly Dark Tone Which He Regrets But Not Enough To Do A Re-Write

So we're all menna write some sort of MY ALL-TIME TOP 100 BEST EVER STUFF THAT I SHO' NUFF DUG THE MOST IN 2007 piece detailing what musical vibes we've been feelin' over the last 365, dealing out awards for this achievement and that achievement, like The Award For "Artist Simultaneously Responsible For Producing Some Of The Year's Greatest Pop Songs And A Brace Of Singles Which Rank Amongst Some Of The Worst Music I've Ever Heard, Like His Work On The Amy Winehouse Album Was Incredible, But Then On The Other Hand That Cover Of 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' Was Diabolical, I Mean, I Don't Even Care About The Smiths All That Much, But The Song Sounded Like A Moby B-Side For Chrissakes, And The Reason I'll Be Stopping You Is Not Because I Think I've Heard It Before, But Just Because It's Plain Horrible" going to Mark Ronson (it was between him and Helen Mirren) or The Award For "Band Who Most Look Like They'd Glass You In Wetherspoons On A Friday Night Before Heading Off For A Busy Evening Of Date Rape And Additional Glassings " going to Scouting For Girls (oh come on guys, I only said you look like date-rapists). Keep reading 'over the cut' to enjoy yet another arbitrary list compiled by somebody whose opinion you don't care about for good reason.

New Band: The Drug Purse

All the way from Tacoma, The Drug Purse are making an unholy racket that cuts from JAMC sonic attacks to jangling garage stompers. In short, they're all-killer.

Turntable Eyes, filled with wasted J.Spaceman vox and noisy geetars cracks up the volume and takes a quick look at those Velvet Underground LPs before making off with yer gal. She'll probably be happier with The Drug Purse anyways... they've clearly got the best acid in town.

The promise of a seedy weekend, wrecked on your back, continues with the wired sped-up then downed on Valium of Pioneer Engineer. It's all frazzled and fucked after too many late nights. It's the sound of seeing the light, but not being sure if you're dead or whether it's just too early in the morning. You'll love this band if you have a pair of ears and a working brain. If not, what you doin' here? Click here to listen to The Drug Purse.

New band: The Fore

It's not often a band comes by, checkin' The Beatles as an influence... pre-Revolver. Yup. The twang and shake of Merseybeat is seldom heard through any kind of airwave, which is why The Fore as such a cracking band.

Close harmonies, R 'n' B chords and Hank guitar (hell, they might even have the dance routines too) roll out in a very convincing sound, very close to the style of '63. They've obviously spent time in front of the mirror, but an even longer period makin' sure that the sounds are just so.

Of course, songs about girls with a surfy twang could pass as innocent Garage, which is no bad thing. This band, in short, are great and would liven up a party that's sagging in the middle. You need this band in your life. I can't wait for The Fore to discover acid...

Click here to visit The Fore's website or, to listen to 'em, visit their MySpace

MySpace picks the best bands with Earwig TV - but isn't that our job?

MySpace claims its new Earwig TV channel is 'set to be THE place to discover the next Kate Nash or Enter Shikari'. But they miss one obvious point - it is us the user that made those acts, not a committee of so-called experts.

Indeed, by choosing acts and promoting them, MySpace is becoming like the record labels it is supposed to be reacting against. But if you happen to be too lazy to look for new bands and the trust MySpace to find the best, you can now access 'exclusive video content' of the chosen few. For reference, those bands are Operator Please, Operahouse, Palladium, The Raid, IAMX, One Night Only, Milburn, The Thirst, The Duke Spirit, The Clik Clik and Alphabeat.

Saying that, MySpace stress it isn't a closed shop and if you want to be next on the roster, you can contact 'the talent hunters' at MySpace to be considered.

MySpace Earwig TV

New Band: Les Plastiscines

This is a band you wanna be hanging around with. Four tough knife wielding chicks with riffs, Les Plastiscines sing songs about bikes, driving and probably roller-skating too. It's the unholy marriage of The Shangri-Las and The Ramones... they're battered heel of The New York Dolls minus The Stones influence and the dangling genitals. They'll kick your arse... only to pout and blow you a kiss.

Les Plastiscines hail from Paris and switch from Bardot English to native tongue... sometimes within a song... you'll know what I mean when you hear them pipe "Hive been whaiting hhhere for hhhhours", this band is impossibly glamorous, clutching great tunes, vamping up the attitude and holding that most unfashionable of things... pop sensibilities. Click here to listen to Les Plastiscines on their MySpace page.

The future of rock 'n' roll is... vegetables

I've seen the future of rock 'n' roll kids... and it doesn't involve a Fender or a pair of cowboy boots... instead, to be on the bandwagon before the bulb headed Babyshambler and quite possibly Bjork, you need to get down to the greengrocers and stock up on turnips and sprouts! Yessir, The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra is a band of Grocer Jack misfits who make sounds... and then soup! Seems that these took note of Brian Wilson and took a great big brown bag of them home to jump up and down. Watch the video and dig (literally if you like).

To find out more about the Vegetable Orchestra, click here

New Band: Ubyk

Is a sea of middling indie schmaltz, it's refreshing for my ears to wrap around the sound of something dropping off the radar into places unknown. Cali freaks Ubyk are just the tonic you need to ease you through your comedown.

Ubyk is the bastard offspring of Russian born brainz Roman Bleum and a little help from Samantha Tobey. Obsessing about a world slowly sinking into Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Ubyk cast weary and fugged eye on the daily grind... perfectly encapsulated in the marvelously creepy 'Work'. It's like the sounds of Syd if he'd been spending too long with his Kinks LPs. It's that weariness, mixed with simple arrangements that leave you wallowing in simple guitar mixed with “secret weapons”... although, I wouldn't crow about secret weapons if I was a Russian in America these days...

Ubyk have an brand new EP coming out soon... more on that when we hear it... but in the mean time, dig the sounds of 1969... they're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths man... Click here to listen to Ubyk

New Artists: Duffy

Music nerd time again. Once upon a time there was a bloke called Stephen 'Tintin' Duffy who had a hit single, made some decent indie pop with the Lilac Time, then made an album under his own name - Duffy.

Well, this isn't him. The latest Duffy is female and indeed Welsh I believe, as well as having a fine line in big 60s ballads if the new single - Rockferry - is anything to go buy. And it's available on vinyl - hurrah!

Check out the single via YouTube below and if that's your bag, you can check out Duffy's mySpace site by clicking here.

New Artist: John Stammers

We live in a world where 'singer-songwriter' is a dirty word. Quite rightly too... every two bit git with an acoustic guitar is digging the sounds of James Blunt and Norah Jones... is there no saviour? Well, yes there is... and he goes by the name of John Stammers.

John's music harks back to a golden age of Brit folk music, encompassing sniffs of country and jazz, without ever going down the dreaded 'self indulgent' route. Tracks like 'Idle I'm' and 'Baby Dee' are some of the finest folk you'll hear in your life and you'll wonder why some doesn't invent a time-machine to take this cat back to '68 to get him a deal on Island pink. John is also a tour-de-force live (tour dates can be found in the link below) bringing a gentle hush to all that sit as his feet. John Stammers may look like an unassuming man, but he's a modern day shaman... a psychedelic troubadour... a man who will warm your soul through cold winter nights.

Click here to listen to John Stammers' music

Electric Roulette Recommend: The Heavy

Straight outta Noid, wherever the hell that is, I've had my third eye on these Heavy cats for some time now - y'know, on myface and stuff - and now they have a PROPER LP out and are touring to support the album RIGHT NOW! That's right! You can go and watch 'em TONIGHT! "But why the hell would I want to do that?" Uh - howsabout 'cos they're a super funky post hip-hop Black Sabbath-meets- Baby Huey & The Babysitters outfit who are pretty much the only band you're gonna see live this week about whom you can say "gee, these cats must reeaally listen to a whole lotta early 70s Westbound Records LPs". Yeah, if you dig The Parliament's "Osmium" LP, any of the ealy Funkadelic stuff, Curtis Mayfield, The Wu Tang Clan or DJ Shadow, these cats are gonna git you good.

New Bands: The Draytones

Last week I caught The Draytones live at the 100 Club - and was very impressed.

A three-piece band with obvious 60s influences, but without the covers and cliches. They've had two singles out so far and a new album on the 1965 label is due out in early 2008 - with predictions of great things off the back of it.

To get an idea of the band, check out The Draytones MySpace page or watch the video below for the excellent Keep Loving Me 45. And if you like what you hear, they're currently touring all over the UK.