Song reviews

That retro rock vibe pervades “Lover Meet My Eyes” and, with the addition of guitar loops and synthesiser swirls designed to wash over you, Matt Boylan-Smith soon magnifies the enclosed emotion into a form that even FM radio of old could digest.

I like a song with muscles and “Dig Me Out” has definitely made use of both a gym membership and some steroids. Meisha & The Spanks rip up some hardcore power chords to start the fire and keep it going until the building burns down.

Some manic minimalist synth pop from Kristeen Young with “Sara Get The Baby” leading you through the mid-life crisis littered streets. Powered by a sequenced combination of internalised rage and arthouse deconstruction, this one goes bang!

Kind of old school urban in her approach, Simone Miller takes a familiar post midnight path but her soul strolling style gives her voice the chance to convince those whose hearts are willing to listen. As they used to say back in the day, this one is a grower.

Hippies and Cowboys take their song “Baby Won’t You Stop” for a walk down the Stax track and that is just fine with a soul man like me. The horn section would get arrested for grand larceny but there’s a short but muscular guitar solo to keep things fresh. Serve with cold beer.

“Sötnos” hide their wry humour and grunge meets indie ragged round the edges charm by mixing it in with a whole bundle of nineties retro sonic snippets such as power chords, hard urban beats and a chant for a hook to keep things going until the end. Solid irony in sound.

One listen to “Just Me” is enough to convince these ears that this is another finger on the pulse of our times pop song and DeVries duly applies more than enough polish to slide it on to a radio playlist or ten. Heartfelt, no doubt.

Belgian band Bullets&Knives do the angular euro rock thing rather well with “Trauma L3” mixing pulsating rhythms, hard edged, almost nihilistic, lyrics and power chords into their sonic stew. You’ll get a taste for it if you try.

Ever wondered what would happen if the cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show got made redundant and had to take a job in a coffee shop? Well now you know and MeMo duly showtunes her way through “Untouchable” with true lipstick fervour. Glorious!

Whilst undoubtedly bleak and low key , Housewife demonstrate a pleasing ability to balance fragility with lo-fi grunge intent. “Patrick Bateman” might not therefore break the mould but there is something about those intertwined voices that makes happy ears.

“*sigh* Nevermind” is clearly a song with the potential to enchant and Asiatica lay down the low speed hypnotic groove that both takes the song through the night into the dawn and allows Asia Lacy the time to cast her spell. I indeed sigh.

Though only clocking in at three and a half minutes, “Sleeping Pills” feels like a song that has the legs to take it out to the full eight. The low key vocals and living in a box vibe give way to the kind of power chord overdose that would give Bruce Panagopoulos the energy to take it there