I expected something quite psychedelic and alternative in this debut album from Alex Meadows, but that’s not what I got. Chin up, though, because what it actually delivers is quite special. This collaborative project pulls many musicians and a variety of vocalists together to create a psychedelia that has a funk sensibility – or should that be the other way around? From the opening upbeat soul of ‘Note To Self (So Slow)’, with its glittering, twirling groove, it’s delicious slide guitar and its full and certain recognition that no song can go wrong that has hand-claps, to the beautifully and brilliantly understated Lennon-worthy dreamscape of ‘Love Is All’, this is an album of tight and agile surprises. The best vocals here belong to Meadows himself and Pete Howarth. The former offers a cool, psychedelic soul that recalls the early ‘80s precision of Green from Scritti Politti (although he sounds like he’s auditioning for The Streets on the opening track), while the latter lets go with wonderful and excitable Scissor Sisters stylings. As enjoyable as ‘Statesman’ is, Simon Jaymes’ admittedly very rich voice threw me a little, sounding more AOR than these others. But musically this album not only jangles along, it accesses other areas of pop/rock’s canon to offer glimpses of other genres, such as Britpop, or superb almost-‘80s funk and reggae in the stand-out tracks ‘Keep On Dancing’ and ‘Stay’. With its warm mood and perfect performances from all involved, I think this is an album you’ll find yourself listening to all summer.

Elton Townend Jones

Already critically adored for their debut album “It Hertz!”, the Brighton based duo return with five more crisp electric pop tunes. A burst of urgent radiophonics opens ‘Where Nobody Can Find Us’, which quickly finds itself on a dance floor still vibrating from the late ‘70s scene that spawned The Human League and Heaven 17. Donna Grimaldi’s vocal is clean and tight, but also warmer than its detachment might at first suggest, allowing the exuberant and celebratory lyrics a space in which to breath and communicate. ‘Accidents In The Home’ bleeps and trills into insistent being with a perfect pop grace that even Vince Clarke would cry with envy at; no one has done walls of synth so well since about 1983. Musically it’s Seventeen Seconds era Cure as interpreted by Georgio Moroder, and Grimaldi’s yearning, expressionist vocal sits somewhere between Deborah Stickland and Hazel O’Connor. ‘Florian’ clearly salutes the slender genius at the artificial heart of Kraftwerk, but surely an alternative title would draw less attention to the music’s brilliant but possibly redundant evocation of that group’s ‘Kometenmelodie 2’. You see, given weight by Grimaldi’s icy vocal, ‘Florian’ steps beyond Schneider’s shadow to stand easily among more ‘serious’ current work by artists such as OneTwo or Client. ‘A Soulless Party’ has Katsen in ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ mode – which is rather fine – but Chris Blackburn’s fey blokey tones don’t quite arrest the attention, drawing poor comparison with the likes of, say, Testcard’s Simon Bradshaw. That said, on the best track – ‘A Pulse’ – Blackburn’s brilliantly disaffected ‘Echo Beach’-style backing vocals ably support Grimaldi’s urgent precision, and both of them carry this should-be post-punk classic to its painful, beautiful, hi-energy crescendo. This slice of new wave genius encapsulates all the best music from 1976 - 1984 in just over three minutes. In breathless conclusion, Katsen are clearly quite brilliant, and this is some of the finest music I’ve heard in a good long while.

Elton Townend Jones

Norfolk boys Deaf Havana put on an energetic show despite mic difficulties and end the night with a stage invasion frenzy.

Deaf Havana play a fair share of songs from their new album including: Waves, This Town Is Ours, Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life, You Are Beautiful and 3 Cheers For The Easy Life.
As well as old favourites Oh Howard You Crack Me Up and Love By The Riverside from their EP. The band finish with the anthem-like Friends Like These, an obvious crowd favourite that receives the biggest sing-along of the night. The crowd chant along to the repeated lyrics “you’ll never know friends like these” and also get involved in a stage invasion.
The band shows a lot of energy during the set, especially from vocalist Ryan Mellor, who never stays in the same spot for long. The crowd are just as lively, with brave member’s crowd surfing and stage diving.
During their set, the band announce that they will be shooting a video for the upcoming single Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life.
After the show I caught up with Deaf Havana’s drummer – Tom Ogden who said the show was “fun, I thought we played alright just couldn’t really hear anything. I love it when everyone gets up on stage because all the kids get involved but I’d love it more if people didn’t trash my drum kit!!”.
Deaf Havana are set to play a headline tour in March. You can expect big things from these five boys.

Becky Davis

Since 2007 You Me At Six have risen rapidly into becoming a mainstream success. Following the release of the triumphant debut album Take Off Your Colours, the five Surrey boys moved to Reading. Here they began the recording process of their next album - Hold Me Down, released through Virgin Records, at Outhouse Studios.
It’s filled with emotion and feelings of jealously, anger and hurt, expressed through the passionate lyrics of vocalist Josh Franceschi. Franceschi faced some difficulties while writing lyrics for the new album, having just split with his girlfriend at the time. His thoughts on the breakup appear a reoccurring theme throughout the album.
Drummer Dan Flint believes the release of Hold Me Down to be the bands “make or break time”. The title Hold Me Down comes from the line ‘you hold me down by keeping me around’ in the song Playing The Blame Game. In an interview with Kerrang!, Franceschi explains that “although Hold Me Down sounds like a negative title, it’s actually saying ‘you can’t hold me down because I can still do this!”
The Consequence is a powerful opening track to the album which was made available as a free download from the band’s official website. The Blackout’s Sean Smith accompanies on the track with screaming vocals during the repeated lyrics: “I’ve got real big plans and such bad thoughts” that conclude the song. Guest vocals also include Kids In Glass Houses’ Aled Phillips in There’s No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity.
Underdog is the first single from the album. It’s short but passionate and has a lot to say for itself, which is reflected in the storyline of the music video. The addictive Playing The Blame Game is another potential single, upbeat and catchy mixed with a more aggressive sound. Liquid Confidence and Fireworks are soft rock ballads with strong, meaningful lyrics.
Hold Me Down isn’t short of sing-along-songs with big catchy hooks in songs like Stay With Me and Safer To Hate Her.
As a band they have grown both musically and lyrically, they have created something to be proud of. Fans will not be disappointed as they prove they are not just another pop-
punk band, they are headed for bigger and better things. You Me At Six are already set to headline London’s Brixton Academy in March. The rest of 2010 looks promising, who knows where this album will take them next.

Becky Davis

Yet another winner from the psychedelic troubadour whose unique and brilliantly produced music usually showcases a glittering extrovert, drunkenly swaggering through the best of British pop, rock and folk to build something marvellous, chaotic and colourful as seen from America’s West Coast. Usually.
If 2007’s Apple Sun was Ant’s Sgt Pepper then Plastic Guitar is probably his Let It Be, or maybe his Abbey Road. Mellower than previous works, it offers Ant as introvert: a man doing a lot of thinking and re-assessing.
I quote those later Beatles albums (the Fabs are name checked in at least two songs – and you’d swear they’re doing harmonies on ‘Better Drink Your Water’) because, towards the end, they wrote songs that sounded less like pop and more like hymns – and there really is no hiding the fact that Ant has been thinking about God. ‘Boat Called Home’, ‘Say It With Ease’ and ‘I Used To Say Your Name’ (with its incredible electric guitar by Barry Melton) brings ‘god’ to the fore in a way that no other Ant album has. I don’t know if he’s just ‘got’ religion, always had it, or is just using ‘god’ as a focus for introspection, but this new preoccupation renders much of Plastic Guitar elegiac and thoughtful. And, like those later Beatles albums, this is also a less psychedelic offering from Ant.
But, don’t worry, it’s still chaotic and marvellous, and the fun’s still there: in the lyrics and uncorrected vocals (stand up Su Jordan) of ‘Banana Song’, the psychedelia of ‘Doctor Take Care’, and the insane whimsy of ‘Quorn Fingers’ (this album’s ‘Revolution # 9’). The catchy tunes that Ant so brilliantly crafts are here, too; the title track ploughs along like folk meeting new wave; amusing stalker love-song ‘Dear Miss’ expands in the mind the more you hear it (sounding like Lennon and Bowie should have done when they recorded together in the 70s); and ‘Bending Like A Spoon’ is a mini-epic, of intense guitaring. In fact, it’s the guitars that, quite appropriately, drive the album forward, solidly and efficiently, without being showy. One outstanding example is the work in ‘Eye Kinda’, another very Lennon-sounding song. But Plastic Guitar’s standout track is ‘Raino Disco’, whose drum machine, bass and looped vocal samples produce a brilliantly hypnotic, pulsing groove. This is a very modern psychedelia that only leaves me with anticipation for the day Anton records his White Album.
Elton Townend Jones