Single: Pepe Deluxe Forgotten Knights (Catskills)
Catskills’ Finnish production geniuses are amongst the cleverest people in music, making much of their own gear to get the sound they want. So when they tackled psychedelic funk rock you knew they were going to sound like the real deal. Forgotten Knights – the last single from Spare Time Machine – is big of chorus, loose of groove and a real sonic overload. Although there’s more of a pop edge, you should file this with Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve and Optimo. (JK)

Demo: Hot Damn
Nicely spray painted artwork and a really nice sounding set of home studio taped mini post-rock blood-rush epics that skirt from Mogwai to Do Make…to Fly Pan Am in structure, vision and in song titles like What I Heard Through The Barrel and Mega Panda Force. We’ll be coming back to this band. (MB)

Single: Frightened Rabbit Heads Roll Off (FatCat)
Frightened Rabbit vs. the Twilight Sad is a fractious conversation in the office. A damn tough call for anyone to make. This huge, heart-rattling throat-choking gravel-larynxed electrified folk battle-cry does nothing to ease the contention. WAIT! Is that B-Side really a cover of N-Trance’s Set You Free? Do we have a winner? (MB)

Single: Chris T-T A-Z (Xtra Mile)
A keening keyboard line surfs the chugging riff that powers the musical backing to T-T’s acerbic lead single from his Capital album. A beast of a tune that roars as hard as Chris as he urges our dosed up, trodden down society to look around and open their eyes. (MB)

Album: Foals Antidotes (Transgressive)
Dummy text dummy text Dummy text dummy text people in music, making much of their own gear to get the sound they want. So when they tackled psychedelic funk rock you knew they were going to sound like the real deal. Forgotten Knights – the last single from Spare Time Machine is big of chorus, loose of groove and a real sonic overload. Although there’s more of a pop edge, you should file this with Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve and Optimo. (JK)

Single: The Rank Deluxe Tightrope (FatCat)
Lairy, laddy indie rock with few frills for sure, but it’s far too noisy and unkempt to win over the mainstream, being all rough edges and elbows in yr face confrontational. Like wot Kasbian think they are, yeh? The Rank Deluxe are the guilty pleasure I’m not afraid to discuss. (MB)

Album: My Federation Don’t Wanna Die (Eye Industries)
Rolling West-Coast psych drums, squidgy, rippling, pumping organs, loads and loads of percussive backing vocals – it’s the 60s reworked under a modern sheen that’s pure breakfast show radio gold. (MB)

Album: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
Dummy text dummy text Dummy text dummy text people in music, making much of their own gear to get the sound they want. So when they tackled psychedelic funk rock you knew they were going to sound like the real deal. Forgotten Knights – the last single from Spare Time Machine is big of chorus, loose of groove and a real sonic overload. Although there’s more of a pop edge, you should file this with Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve and Optimo. (JK)

Album: Medicine and Duty Flags and Cannons (Foolproof Projects)
Foals take Konono No.1’s rhythms and throw the thumb-piano riffs onto indie dancefloors. M&D take the drum and noise elements, ramp up the intensity of the latter and let the beats drive it through a pyrotechnic landscape that should see it end up at the same herky-jerky body-popping destination. (MB)

Words by James Kendall and Matt Barker