“The Big Indie comeback vol 2” is the first triple album ever released by Matchbox Recordings and showcases a wider range of new artists and bands from all over the world. It's the second in a trilogy that will eventually be available to buy as a set. From rock and pop to acoustic, electro, punk, jazz and metal this compilation illustrates the huge choice of free Independent artists out there looking for a break. Instead of having to sift through a huge pile of demos the modern A&R person can simply request a copy of this Matchbox compilation. This gives them instant access to a vast selection of new Independent talent in one sitting. Reviews by Dave Chislett The Blackbirds – Lovesong The Blackbirds are a guitar based four-piece band from Oslo, Norway. Their first album, “Riddles and Affairs” was released in Norway in June 2006. The band was first established ten years ago, but it is only with the current line-up (together since 2001) that tings have really come together for them. The Blackbirds play a catchy blend of pop rock, fronted by the excellent vocal work of singer/guitarist and song writer Thomas. “Lovesong is the kind of anthemic radio rock that will see this band going far if they can reproduce this level of song writing at will. http://www.theblackbirds.no Mumrah - The Toilet A twisted combo of madness, Frank Zappa and a whole host of unexpected others, Mumrah is a band quite unlike mostly anything you might have heard before. They are a six piece band of complete lunatics, and if you don’t get infected by their crazy groove, then there is a good chance you are not human! With a spectacular live show and a certain mad attention to detail, this lot may not make it onto the Top10 on the radio, but they rule the dance-floor! http://www.myspace.com/mumrah Muller & Patton - Life Preserver Despite being just a duo, Muller and Paton have a very international flavour, with the well-traveled Muller having met Paton finally in the USA. Their first album, from where this track is culled, was released after the two collaborated on each others solo albums and realized that maybe they should do something together. This is deceptively simple pop music that is well crafted and hooky… overt overtones of the kind of lyrical story telling that the Beatles are famous for dot the song, but the harmonies and vocal tones make it entirely a new thing, totally Muller and Paton. www.MullerandPatton.com Nardo - Morning Sun From Sydney, Australia, Nardo play a lilting, rhythmic blend of indie rock music that is centered on lyrical content and a great voice. Formed way back in the mists of time when school yard mates Sam and Karl met up with another schoolyard duo Ey and Andy, Nardo released an EP last year and has not looked back since. With some serious domestic success under their belt, and a unique, bluesy feel to their sound, Nardo look set for a foray into the international music scene. Morning Sun is an excellent vehicle for them to be doing this with! http://www.nardo.com.au Raquel’s Boys - Orange Soda Sixties pop obsessed trio, Raquel’s Boys hail from Vermont in the USA. They sound a bit like long lost mid-60's hits jammed into modern garage-pop. Its light and fun filled stuff. Their debut, “Music for the Girl You Love" was well received locally I the US and they have just released a new record, The Spy Business. The band’s pay-off line is without doubt all about fun, and their grooves are infectiously enjoyable as a result. The Beach Boys never sounded like they were having THIS much fun making music! http://www.raquelsboys.com/ The Kickbacks - Lethal Charm With a decade of history and three albums behind them, Boston Massachusetts based four-piece The Kickbacks have been at this a long time. Their last album, “Motel Stars” was released this year and has been getting great reviews for the band all over the UK and Europe. They describe their sound as Americana, and certainly plenty of Tom Petty can be heard in the influence list. The band centres their work on the song-writing talents of Tad Overbach. “Lethal Charm” is an exceptional example of Tad’s craft, managing to be catchy and whimsical at the same time. www.thekickbacks.com Zodiac - Take Me Down This hard rock outfit hails from Philadelphia in the states and prides themselves on playing a straight up, honest kind of rock n’ roll. A four piece outfit, they boast an awesome live show, and have already shared stage with the likes of WASP and George Lynch (ex Dokken). The sound will most remind you of eighties hair metal, with the likes of early Van Halen springing to mind, along with Aerosmith. Instantly recognizable as American, rock and in your face, Zodiac look to be claiming a bit of that turf as their own. Michael Lynch - Black New World Michael was born in Ireland, but now makes his home in London, where this singer song-writer is busy assembling a live band to take his original material on the road. Last year, at the age of 25, Michael had a shave with Death and spent six-months in hospital. This experience and the opportunity for reflection and decision that it afforded has provided him with the fuel for a whole series of songs, of which “Black New World” is one. This acoustic guitar dominated song showcases his tenor voice to excellent effect and is the flag bearer for the rest of his new material. BaccoTaBacco – Sunflower This is a six-piece band consisting of one Englishman and 5 Italians, based in Bari, Italy. The current line-up was born in 2003 when singer (and Englishman) Ian Stanton joined the group. They play a kind of epic-lyrical pop music as pioneered by the Beatles without really sounding like them at all. Expect melodies, harmonies, careful songs that move you. In their three-year career, the band has grown in leaps and bounds, taking in large festivals, radio and TV appearances and plenty of live shows. They are currently working on releasing their debut EP. www.myspace.com/baccotabacco Freezepop – Stakeout Wacky Boston based Freezepop have cooked up more of their trademark irreverent electronic in the shape of “stakeout”. This three piece electronic outfit has been together since 1999 and has been doing very well in both Europe and the USA. Not your typical aspirant indie band, Freezepop released their debut album in the USA in 2001, and “Stakeout” features on their latest EP Maxi Ultra fresh. Freezepop recently won “Best Song” honors in the 2005 Independent Music Awards (for “Stakeout,” Dance/Electronica category). They have songs featured in six video games, including two new titles, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix3 and Guitar Hero. Currently, Freezepop are hard at work on their third album. www.freezepop.net Penny Foster – Disconnected Penny Foster is an as-yet unsigned songwriter from the UK. Originally from Kent, she now lives in London and has just released her debut solo album. She is one of the new breed of musicians who actually has a degree in Pop Music, this one from The Academy Of Contemporary Music. She has got some major interest in her material lined up in the USA and Europe, and has big plans back at home in the UK as well. Disconnected is a dreamy, ambient, dance infused pop song that Kylie would have been proud to pen, and as an example of her work, demonstrates why there is so much interest in her. www.pennyfoster.co.uk Dan Leigh - A Lost Dream Dan Leigh is a song-writer for whom the music dream is coming true. Sending one demo off to a record producer, he snagged their interest and cooperation and here is now, with an album under his belt and a career in front of him. He describes music as his religion, the one thing that he has dedicated his life to, and you can feel that passion and dedication in every note of what he has written. www.danleigh.net French Possession - Roch Valley High English band, French Possession has been making quite a name for themselves with their debut album, “Foil For A Girl IN A Posh Frock.” The band was formed when the musicians hired to help record Steve Jones’ debut solo album got a bit too involved and ended up as integral part of the process. Since then, there has been no looking back. With airplay in Brazil, Australia, Belarus and Canada, they are fast leaving their mark on the world. Roch Valle y High is an infectious pop song with great melodies and hooks… we’ll be surprised if you don’t keep humming this one long after you’ve heard it. www.frenchpossession.com Paze Estrada - Lucky Guy Listening to Lucky Guy, you’ never guess that the guy who wrote it was only 25… it has that nicely unhinged feel of the sixties and seventies when everything was dangerously free and almost anything in music could happen. And that is precisely what Paze was looking for: unhinged, feel good COOL tunes. Lucky Guy embraces the braggadocio of Rockabilly, the swing of the dancehall, the sneer of rock and the harmonies of the beach boys into one big crazy, party mélange that will get you shaking your bits in an instant. This is the way rock and roll is supposed to be! www.myspace.com/pazeestrada Alex Cornish - I’m On The Right Side Alex is Scottish, from Edinburgh in fact. Up until now he has been training on classical piano and violin and playing as a session musician on other peoples records. Then he discovered the joys of a computer based home studio and has been writing his own material since then. He is busy putting the finishing touches on his first album which he hopes to release this year. “I’m On The Right Side” demonstrates all of Alex’s abilities: with voice, words and song writing. It has power, grace and a depth of emotion that one doesn’t always find in pop songs. If the album has much more of the same, that record deal won’t be far behind. www.alexcornish.com Gennine - Kiss Kiss Geninne is a talented 24-year-old from Brighton on the south coast of England. She has been playing in orchestras and singing in choirs since an early age, and began dabbling in more mainstream pop by her teens. Although influenced more by the jazzy sounds of the likes of Billie Holiday, here she conjures a lilting pop melody with the help of Robb Mann and Paul Paton. Her voice is delicate, yet smoky, and leads the ear across the jazzy/Latin soundscape that is “Kiss Kiss”. It is just in the timbre of her voice, you can tell you’re going to be hearing more from this youngster. Peter Hepworth – Eternity Peter left his guitar behind at age 17, to go and get a real job and be an adult. But twelve years later he is back, with a secret stash of songs and the burning ambition to play music. He has developed an acoustic singer/songwriter sound that saw him picked up by Chromium Records, but left behind in the wake of their demise. Eternity is a soaring, sweeping number, backed by an elegant strings section that floats Hepworth’s breezy vocals effortlessly from start to finish. It’s the kind of song that mesmerises you by forcing you to listen closer, as opposed to whacking you over the head! www.myspace.com/peterhepworth Regina Elvik - Lucky Star Haling from Olso in Norway, Regina is a talented multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter. She recorded and produced her album “Beg For More” herself and has been gathering a lot of attention in her home country. She sings in a vaguely bluesy/jazzy style that leaves you wondering where she intends to go next, but brings a perfect pop sensibility to the music that keeps it accessible and interesting. Regina’s voice is the main focal point of the music here, but it glides over a bed of well constructed music that supports and fills out her songs. Not you average pop ditty and in this case, this is indeed a very good thing! www.singmemusic.com Wild Rose - Close To You Wild Rose is an Australian singer song writer who has made good on the promise of her early talent as a youngster. She is far from being a pop singer, even though her music does cross the boundaries, while she remains more strongly grounded as a songwriter. She has an EP, “Wild Rose – A Showcase” on the way, and is part of her own, totally independent record company and set up back in Australia. The EP is available online and Wild Rose is now nicely set to take her career and her music forward to the rest of the world. www.myspace.com/wildroseofficial Mark Birch - Only To Be With You An obsession with movie soundtracks that dates back to when he was ten is what Mark Birch cites as his primary education in music. As a result, he was penning his own soundtracks by his teens, and now aged 23, is releasing hauntingly beautiful music. Drawing his inspiration from his Christian faith, Mark claims to not write songs for himself, but rather for you, the listener. Only to be with you is a sparse, stripped down love lament that will leave you with goose-bumps. Mark has an excellent, haunting voice that will stay with you long after the last note has faded. disc 2 Blackfly – Suffer These boys are a five piece metal band from Wales, not quite the palce you’d expect. The band originally began as a song writing experiment by singer Mark and lead guitarist Peter, but rapidly grew into a full band project with the recruitment of some old mates and fellow musicians. Blackfly have proved themselves firm favourites in the gig scene with a tight and powerhouse show, and also achieved considerable cusses on internet radio with listeners across Europe and the all important USA. With plenty of live experience under their belts, and a few recordings in hand, Blackfly is looking to make the next step up and to take their brand of metal out into the world. www.myspace.com/blackflyonline Neural Noise – NOA Italians Neural Noise got together after all of the various member of this rock trio had played in a large number of bands. They have released a short EP of their material already in Italy and are looking to capitalize on their successes so far. NOA is a melodic rock song with a powerful drive behind it that manages to come across as delicate and rough hewn at the same time. Well constructed with good dynamics, it does manage to cross over the listening genres pretty effectively. Neural Noise hope to create music that anyone can listen to, and with NOA they are certainly coming close. www.neuralnoise.info The Fractures – Recovery A North London band, The Fractures describe themselves as reared on 90’s pop and brought together by the post punk explosion and a modern art rock revival. The result of these somewhat unlikely bedfellows as influences is a clarity of sound and motive that really does make The Fractures stand out. Employing a solid wash of sound technique, punctuated by clarion like lead guitar work, The Fractures manage to sound more like the Bauhaus than the Sex Pistols, while combining obvious elements of the thinking behind both Recovery is a barn storming, rousing song that is a great introduction to the band. www.thefractures.com OiL - The Room This five-piece rock band hail from Bolivia and feature the most unusual of all things in a hard rock line-up: acoustic and twelve string guitars. There music is a driving, powerful construction, and the layers of guitars just serve to underpin this. Relying on rhythmic hypnosis and dense guitar and vocal layering for effect, Oil delivers an intense, intentioned brand of rock music. Don’t mistake this for hard folk music; there is also plenty of incendiary electric lead guitar work to keep even the most cynical hard rock fan happy. Think early Midnight Oil and you are in the territory that Oil inhabit. Thought provoking stuff. http://www.oil.com.bo Jason LaRoy Band - Life On The Set Jason La Roy is somewhat of a cross –over artist, having crossed over to acoustic driven music from hard rock and metal, where his previous projects had enjoyed significant success. Nowadays though, his music features acoustic guitar and the power of the upright bass. The Jason La Roy band is a three piece, and delivers an uncluttered yet dense acoustic sound that is instantly accessible and yet very different from a folk oriented acoustic sound. Life on the set is a rhythmically challenging and catchy song, great melodies, and complex harmonies: proof that you can do more with an upright bass and acoustic guitar than sing country or the blues! www.jasonlaroy.com Edge Set Mary - White Faucet Storming out of Louisiana, USA, Edge Set Mary are a hard rocking outfit in the Sound Garden mode of things… impressive monster guitars and searing vocals dominate their sound, giving them balls and teeth where other bands have hands and feet. A Three piece outfit with a singing drummer, they really do hark back to the early nineties when sheer power was pouring out of rock music, with little regard for convention. It s welcome return as well, as they are technically adept and tight and White Faucet is a total rocker of a song. http://www.edgesetmary.com/ Gwenevered – Hummadinger American artist Gwenevered combines a lot of different feels and approaches in her music. She cites Middle Eastern, Irish and Indian traditional music styles and being among her influences that she welds together with a western pop, folk sensibility. A student from St Louis, she is still busy honing her sound and style. Hummadinger is a challenging, haunting listen. The different sounds and ideas for a western pop ear are sometimes soothing, sometimes disconcerting. But the hypnotic tone of Gwenevered’s voice over the top is a sublime unifying factor. www.gwenevered.com Kris Halpin – Ghostships After a good few years playing in and fronting other people’s bands, Kris Haplin eventually decided to go it alone and Ghostships is his first solo effort to be heard outside of his own studio. Kris grew up on 90’s pop and alternative rock, before getting more into electronic music as an adult. Here he showcases that range of influences, without really sounding like any of them at all. As a singer songwriter, he brings something a bit different to the format, and the sound he has developed is certainly unique in this line. http://www.myspace.com/krishalpin Rosanna - What Do I Turn To? (The Hoovering Song) The late night whiskey and cigar smoke voice of Rosanna will make you sit up and take notice immediately. This talented singer and song writer has more than an unconventional voice however. The owner of her own company and label, Rosanna is determined to make something of her talents. A turn on the dancing and singing club circuit of London convinced her of the need to be creatively free to do her own thing, and has brought her neatly to this point, where she is poised to release her music to the world. There is more here than an unconventional sounding voice, and it’s not hard to hear it! www.rosanna.org.uk The Yarbles - Mr. Make Believe The Yarbles put their noisy, poppy combination together in 2003. Influenced by the song-writing and melodies of bands like the Jam and the Clash, the Yarbles still manage to sound like no-one else. It’s a monster, driving sound full of jangling guitars and pile driving rhythm, but setting this off is great melodic vocal work and excellent use of dynamics… nothing predictable or boring about this at all. Hailing from Leicestershire in the UK, the Yarbles are putting in the hard miles of their early years, but one gets the feeling that this name is going to become a little more familiar in the future. www.theyarbles.org.uk Ten Days - EP1 School days friends who decided to form a band to escape the terrors of Celine Dion and Irish dancing, Ten Days hail from Coventry. Since then, they have been gigging and recording relentlessly. Their last demo recording has secured them some label interest and this release on matchbox recordings. Their jangly indie sound is a clear and razor sharp weapon which slices itself attention from the current milling herd of indie sound-alikes. It should come as no surprise to see ten Days getting ahead of the pack. www.myspace.com/tendays Gene Moore - I Give Up Gene Moore is no stranger to the music scene. His songs have graced Olympic events, Football World Cups, American football stadiums and prominent political campaigns. This talented American artist pens and plays all the instruments on all his songs. His latest album “I Give Up”, from which this is the title track, features his work exclusively, from start to finish. His emotional, melodic style is a soothing breeze in amongst the pace and frenzy of modern music. www.GeneMooreMusic.com Jeffrey Harrison - Stranger To Myself American Jeffrey Harrison is an old-school singer-songwriter who makes every song a journey for the listener. His style might be described as Jackson Browne’s lyrical insight and introspection melded with Tom Petty’s straight ahead rock and roll storytelling. Harrison recently released a self titled EP through his independent label, Shattered Records. Stranger To Myself is an excellent example of the old school of American country influenced rock, soulful, sad, but catchy at the same time. As an example of Harrison’s craft, you can do no better than pick up on this one. http://www.jeffreyharrison.com/ MoonSnake – Freedom Moonsnake is a five piece all girl band from Switzerland that was formed in 1999. The band draws on a large range of musical influences for their music as all five members are highly trained musicians and teachers. What this means is that what at first seems to be a fairly simple rock song features unexpected twists and turns in pace, rhythm and genre. Certainly not your normal kettle of rock fish this. Freedom is aptly named, as the song freely roams across arbitrary musical boundaries like a rogue Bedouin. And actually, it works! http://www.moonsnake.ch.tp The Lounge Suits - Dirty Little Secret These 5 English thirty-something’s certainly don’t take themselves too seriously when it comes to the posturing of the music business, but they are serious enough about the music that they make. Getting together later in life than most successful acts, they are blithely honest about wanting to crack the big time and make bags of cash, all the while keeping that tongue firmly in cheek. Their gentle brand of pop rock is radio friendly stuff, with good dynamics and pace…even if they don’t get that big international deal, the Lounge Suits are more than worth listening to! Neill Bell - High In Kansas Neil has been around for more than just a little while and has released five albums already, growing his craft and his sound steadily over the years. His signature touch is an ability to project genuine emotion through his song writing and performing that leaves the listener in no doubt as to what is on his mind. The specific beauty of High In Kansas lies in its power, its raw emotion. Both of which are borne along by simplicity and honesty, two other hallmarks of Neil’s song writing. His music is far from conventional, but that doesn’t make it any les catchy! http://neillbell.com/ Gennine - Take My Call A second tune from Brighton native, Geninne, this track showcases some of the versatility of the 24-year-old singer. Here she drifts and breezes along in a somber mood, projecting a depth and intensity of emotion not noted in her more up-tempo, jazzy numbers. Geninne is obviously a talented vocalist with a great range. Ronan Furlong – Redeemer Singer songwriter Ronan Furlong brings his clear voice and simple acoustic guitar to the fore with ease. Trademarked by simple but strong song-writing. His music is melodic, direct and moving. Redeemer as such is a perfect example of his craft. Structurally simple, but with enough melody and passion to keep it turning in your head after it is finished. The Kavanaghs - All The Time Tiago and Jules have been playing in bands together in Rosario, Argentina since 1997. The Kavanaghs is their latest project, and one they are determined to get beyond the boundaries of Argentina and into the global musical consciousness. They are very into retro pop sounds and styles, and their entire album looks over its shoulder to the hey-day of pop for inspiration. Luckily they can do more than just paint songs by numbers and bring their own slightly crazy pieces to the mix to make a blend of old and new music that is never dull and offers plenty of nuggets to marvel over. www.thekavanaghs.com.ar Light Euphoric - One With The World Consisting of Chad Quist and Tam Katzin, light Euphoric has an obscene list of past achievements and credits behind these two names. This includes work with the like of Kenny G, Ray Charles, Tower Of Power, George Benson, Basia, Huey Lewis, Pat Benatar, Gladys Knight and Roberta Flack to name but a very few. But Light Euphoric is their current passion and pride. They have dubbed the genre that they play ‘Humanitarian Pop’ and it is their contribution to making the world a better place. www.lighteuphoric.com Tammy Stamps - No One Else A busy person, Tammy Stamps owns and runs a martial arts academy in the USA and is a fifth dan Martial Arts master and Olympic contender. Bu on the side she is also a philanthropist, acoustic folk artist who places at her local venue and helps out at friends’ weddings. She bases her songs around the experiences of her own life: love, loss and friendship. Her inclusion on this compilation coincides with her taking her music out of her home town and to as many people as she can reach. www.tammystamps.com Sean Deegan - Ease The Pain Englishman Sean Deegan has been working at his craft as both a singer and song writer for a very long time, without ever stepping into the realm of a full time role in the music industry. Now, with several of his songs doing well in the UK Songwriting Competition, he is looking to a full time song-writing career and has recorded and released an album as a showcase of his work. Best described as melodic acoustic pop, Sean’s work has good breadth and diversity to it. Ease The Pain is clear, simple and to the point, just like a good pop song should be! www.Deegansongs.com disc 3 Ryo Fukuzawa - Remember Me Ryko is 28 and hails from Japan. He has had a pretty rough ride in life and uses music as a creative outlet for his world of emotion and pain. Not much of a singer himself, he uses session singers to bring his songs and lyrics to life. His songs have been doing very well for him, one being featured in a Sony Plastation game and another winning a song writing competition on Japanese FM. “Remember Me” is a beautiful, piano based lament, well paced and structured, that sucks you in with its understated melody and backing. http://www.ryofukuzawa.com/ Gennine - Everyday Days Geninne is a talented 24-year-old from Brighton on the south coast of England. She has been playing in orchestras and singing in choirs since an early age, and began dabbling in more mainstream pop by her teens. Although influenced more by the jazzy sounds of the likes of Billie Holiday, here she conjures a lilting pop melody with the help of Robb Mann and Paul Paton. On Everyday days, she revisits the smoky, glamorous days of twenties speak Easy’s and jazz… with ease and not a trace of self consciousness. Ian Kudzinowski - Rock The Ocean Englishman Ian hails from the town of reading, where he has been writing and recording material for the last few years, looking for that elusive record deal. He blends rock and pop sensibilities together with instrumentation and electronic elements to create a curiously hooky and compelling sound that is reminiscent most of Placebo or Garbage. But his sound is far more stripped and clear, allowing the structure rather than the production to make the impact. Rock The Ocean is a rollicking rolling rhythmic juggernaut that WILL have you tapping your feet along with it. www.freewebs.com/iank Glider - Thieves In The Night Having successfully crawled out of the Chelmsford garden shed where they were formed, Glider have released four EP’s and slowly advanced their cause with talent and determination. Their latest EP “Go On The Hood” finally seems to be making the right kinds of ripples in the right kinds of places and these four English lads are looking forward to taking their chances. Thieves In The Night is an excellent, mid tempo indie track, complete with haunting reverb guitars and driving bass, all the good stuff! I’d like to hear more from these boys! Genre Peak - Always Empty Electro-pop trio Genre Peak bring the darker side of pop music back to the fore with their solid sound-scapes and use of the Chapman Stick, guitar synths and electronic percussion. Its moody, swirling stuff reminiscent of early Depeche Mode and some moments in Gary Numan’s career. But it is overlaid with a thoroughly modern menace and feel. It is indeed nothing like anything anyone else is putting out, with the possible exception of massive Attack, just without the trip hop beats. Persuasive, quite possibly addictive stuff. www.genrepeak.net Loaded Coil – Molecular Loaded Coil is the solo project of one Sgt Destructo III, a Los Angeles resident in the USA. Eschewing self advertising as boring, predictable and outmoded, he prefers that the music speak for itself. And speak it does, in tongues and murmurs reminiscent of some of the more dark Shriekback back-catalogue and the most moody electronic music you can find; even moments of pure Talking Heads spine-shilling brilliance lurking in this swamp of greasy beats and darkness. This is not consumable pop for high rotation radio, its high intensity thought food for the soul. Rewards repeated listening. www.myspace.com/loadedcoil Empathy - When You Empathy is three Irishman and an Englishman, based in Dublin, Ireland. They play a strident indie rock and cite influences as diverse as Dylan, U2 and Thin Lizzy… no Irish bias there at all hey lads? The band has been in the scene for a couple of years, playing the live gig circuit and looking for their break into the big time. Their sound is based around a rock solid rhtythm section, overlaid with clear cutting lead guitar and gruff vocals. The Elements - I Would Try This project has only been in existence since the beginning of this year when multi-instrumentalists Don Campbell and Phil Haines discovered they were living above each other in Leeds. Immediately they got their kit together and tried out a few jams. The result was a shared love of 60’s and 90’s pop and a fistful of new songs. Their sound is soft, uncluttered and simple, allowing the acoustic guitar and bass to support the vocal melodies instead of dwarfing them, and resulting a beautiful, harmonic sound that will undoubtedly draw attention to its creators. TJ - How Many Times Moody and atmospheric are the first words that spring to mind as the TJ track kicks off. Its electronic drifting synth and heavily processed vocals teasing your ear with half recognized words and sounds, but ultimately giving nothing away… and then the main vocal line kicks in and you wonder how Bryan Ferry got onto this song! Very intriguing stuff this am well worth the extra couple of listens it demands. The Oracles - Let it Go The band plays a noisy, metal influenced garage e rock at very high speed. A driving rhythm section propels Let It Go with fury from start to finish. The sing along chorus though is a very effective counter to the thundering verse parts of the song. With a good hand on the production tiller, this ditty could be turned into atop class rocker. But it certainly does need some polishing! Metro - Making Up The Numbers A re-incarnated Ziggy Stardust seems to sing along with his track, circa, “Rebel Rebel”. It a catchy guitar based tune with plenty of drive. But apart from the obvious Bowie glam rock overtones, its an interesting track with some complex counter harmonies and quick changes. Man Down - For Your Face Only In the line of the new wave of punk, Man Down hail from all over Britain as far as their members go, but generically, their sound is straight-up new-school punk. They’ve been busy boys lately, playing shows all over the UK and managing to release and EP for which they have got global distribution all sorted out. This blend of noise bubble gum punk goes down a storm all over the globe, so there s a good chance Man Down have still got along way to go. All in their early twenties or late teens, they’ve also got plenty of gas in the tank so expect more from these lads in time to come! www.myspace.com/amandownbrighton Chris Field - Waiting For Something Chris is 23-year-old singer/songwriter from a small village called Kingsbury in the centre of the UK. He was born in Merthyr Tidfil, Wales, was given piano and music theory lessons aged 6. Later he discovered guitar music and the wiles of Pantera, Slayer and Iron Maiden. And then, as he puts it, something changed. Chris started writing songs aged 11, after the death of his mother, and writing in the vein of Neil Finn and Richard Thompson. Now, 12 years later, he is making his own way in the music business, playing his own brand of songs. Waiting For something is the ideal, introspective introduction to Chris’ work for the new listener. http://www.myspace.com/chrisfieldmusic The Iain Luke Experience – Release After a few years on the solo scene, Welshman Iain Luke decided that the only way he was going to get anywhere, was to recruit a band to play with… and so the Iain Luke Experience was born. Playing an easily accessible radio pop, the band has been doing pretty well on the live circuit in the UK and releasing some of their material themselves. With a vision for the future and a commitment to the cause, the Iain Luke Experience may well be on to watch out for. http://www.myspace.com/theiainlukeexperience Rand Winburn - Have Patience American Rand Winburn has been patiently plying his trade as a musician for a while now. A lifelong music fan, he is living the dream of writing and playing his own material. Post a deal with Decca with a previous band, he is now an independent, working with who he chooses, as and when he can. He has two tracks on the compilation, Vampires From Outer Space” on Bomp! Records and is looking to release a full length album of his own. www.corgiboyrecords.com The Cain And Beesh Band - Same Old Story Inspired by acts like Dispatch, Jack Johnson and the John Butler trio, The Cain and Beesh Band is a duo playing a good blend of happy and sad songs. They hail from Gothenburg Sweden and started as a side project along side the tours of Europe with Cains' metal band Painfield, but eventually grew into something they can't live without doing. In 2005 Cain and Beesh released "Counting Sheep" themselves and sold out every single one of the 2000 copies made. After spending time in Australia and Hawaii they came back to Sweden with a new state of mind and recorded a new album, from which this track is taken.. www.cainandbeesh.com The Linear Brothers - I’ve Never Seen A Miracle The Linear Brothers claim their reasons for making music as a desire make some music that they wanted to listen to. A music that reflects their lives as working people who have paid tons of taxes, maintained marriages, done daily battle with “The Real World” and lost their youth. In “I’ve Never Seen a Miracle” this is projected in a brash, rocking sound, complete with raucous vocals and thundering rhythm section. http://www.thelinearbrothers.com/ Emerald - Good In Green Three brothers and a life long friend make up the line-up of Dublin based Emerald. Together they have been playing and creating music for years, and Emerald is their latest bid for the big time. They are a hard working outfit that is dedicated to and passionate about their music. With a good live show that the band hopes projects the passion and meaning of their music, Emerald are of course looking to break out of their green Island for bigger shores, as well as to crack it at home. The Linear Brothers - Lunatics Holiday The Linear Brothers claim their reasons for making music as a desire make some music that they wanted to listen to. A music that reflects their lives as working people who have paid tons of taxes, maintained marriages, done daily battle with “The Real World” and lost their youth. “Lunatics Holiday” is a more punk influenced rant that starts of peacefully enough before swinging out into a full blown rocking number. http://www.thelinearbrothers.com/ Bassam Choueiri – Holyman Welshman Bassam Choueiri was born in Swansea and was a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to making music. He first joined a heavy metal band a couple of years back, but left them within five months, the experience clearly demonstrating to him that he was far more into acoustic forms of music than metal! Now he writes and records his own material and spends most of his time gigging around the Swansea/Cardiff area, building up his fan base and reputation. Kazutoshi Sawa - Golden Land Kazutoshi Sawa is a composer, singer, and guitarist from Tokyo. He began to play the guitar when he was fifteen and moved to Los Angeles when 19 to further his studies. While studying in the USA, he spent a lot of time trying to emulate popular American music, before deciding that this was not in line with his personal musical ambitions. Since then he has begun to develop his own personal style, which one can here in this track, Golden Land. He currently lives in Milan where he is preparing with its band for a tour of Italy.