KAV is Kavin Sandhu. A vocalist and guitar guy leading his assemblance of Blaggers ‘n’ Liars down the golden paved, cobblestone roads of Leicester with a rebellious feel of upbeat bluegrass, 21st Century Dylan and a scream that could become louder than Primal.

Loving the psychedelic, sugar cube, acid-trip slur which sweetly haunts the tracks on the bands MySpace player on Bring Down The Enemy and Lizard King, but, and this is a serious but, but, there is a great balance here when it comes to “target demographics”. (Ooo, get me)

KAV can be appreciated by many walks of life, many different genres, different levels of maturity and experience because it is reminiscent of days gone by many moons ago, not so long ago as well as having the ability to come across as fresh and something slightly new to those lesser aware of the World gone by. I like this quite a lot.

What I personally like about it most is that this is a re-introduction to the sound of many a great band rarely to play again, KAV re-opens a few closed doors.

The Blaggers & Liars EP is avaialble now.

Power, empathy and grace. This is Depeche Mode

As anyone will know, if they peruse these pages regularly they will know of my slight fascination for French Electronica. So of course I jumped up at the sight of seeing Venus In The Dust despite no electronica being labelled.

We have mainly an acoustic style set up. Strings and piano’s peppered everywhere almost untidyly but neatly falling in the right places. These are supporting the darling singer who is seductively caressing the microphone with her lustful, saccharin vocals. Let Yourself Drown touches on that sultry dark side. Some tracks are soft, slow and the occasional ones more upbeat, in French and also, (being metaphorically descriptive) very “Sunday In The Park”. Reminiscent of Josh Weller doing the odd show tune.

This is Jazz club with out the bling and Soul without the tears being arousing, subtly passionate and in a positively, pleasant and complimentary way, also with a touch of filth. Easy listening and delightfully sexy stuff.

This is just a snippet, a teaser of what will be pure magnificence gaurenteed and is released October 2009 on Funkatech Records

Soul, funk, bass and they’ve brought out the trumpets! Cracker!

How fantastic it is to listen to something which is sooo cool.

From NZ, Fat Freddy’s Drop are from the other side of the world to where I am. This second studio album titled Dr Boondigga & The Big BW is a delightful ensemble of instruments from trumpets to harmonicas, digital effects and vocals, bass and some lovely deep dub sounds which have influenced the band from across the globe. It doesn’t sound messy, cluttered but refined and clean. The engineering work is truly a masterful piece of production.

Soulful to the max, a reggae feel yet with a more blues tint to it withoutcoming across as bluesy. the dance tunes hum and bounce brilliantly and the more lyrical tracks are soft, sweet and harmonious to the point where I feel I’m still experiencing summer.

The Camel featuring Alice Russel (which is a shame not to hear on their MySpace player but it is the track below) is a perfect example of the entire bands talents all working superbly well as the comprehensive collective. The track sounds simple and light but the bass is absolute quality with such a dreamy and airy ambience to it.

This is fat, funky, soul food for the brain in the form of some warm vibrations. Totally non-offensive, soothing and healing. A great record and I am happy it has managed to get to these shores too.

Typical ‘Mode brilliance

Since coming across the tracks Phyzicall, Check My Beat and Stopless early-ish last year I’ve been constantly searching and waiting for a collection of his work to be released rather than digital or vinyls singularly purchased. An album must soon be coming and I seriously can not wait for it any longer.

Dilemn is a Maestro at his craft which consists of filthy breaks, harmonious electro tweeks and some techy rumbles that make your heart beat and your lungs breathe for you.

The French producer has worked with some big names in the underground electronica section of the music industry and nothing he releases is far away from something special.

Forever experimenting the next track is always further risque from the previous.

ALL, yes once again, ALL tracks are on my Myspace page which you can get to; HERE!

“Quite astonishing how this man makes you move in mysterious ways” – ttj90

Simian Mobile Disco return with their second album Temporary Pleasure following the awesome success of Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release. This too is truly a brilliant electro record which I believe does not get the justification it deserves.

10000 Horses Can’t Be Wrong is a fine example of how you can gather a group of very simple chords and make it quite a euphoric little number. This is smart arrangement and production. Quite clever stuff. Get a preview of this on their MySpace player and other’s too. It’s nice to see that they’ve uploaded a few to listen-before-you-buy.

Every tune in a sense is striking, minimalistic electro subtley bursting with soul and disco house vibes. Cruel Intentions featuring Beth Ditto is the embodiment of that. Whilst other tracks will have a darker, tech noir-ness about them and others will have an aura of 80’s synths, this album is very much a true eclectic mix.

Meat Katie twisting about with his buddy Dylan Rhymes on this bouncy number that’s got a bigger hook than a Peter Pan story! This is brilliant, it genuinely made me “laugh out loud” with delight when this kicked in.

Being rather generous I feel and bearing in mind that the work uploaded on 2hrsTEN’s MySpace player we have complete rawness, digitally unmanipulated, live material. It has potential.

There is a glow of warmth surrounding my speakers, a pleasant aura, a bittersweet atmosphere created by the harmonic voices these boys are projecting lovingly. Musically sweet and humble. Orchestral strings are missing everywhere and they would give it lift these guys require especially on Cup & Strings (obviously I suppose).

Studio time is a must for them and someone to guide them through it all. Next years Fleet Foxes if they continue to push.

Trance in the late 90’s lifted us up to heights of stratospheric proportions and is still heard but I don’t believe as intensely as it once was. The same can be said for Hard-House. I mingled with both genres so finding someone who is balancing out the styles forming one, DJ MegaMax produces some exstatic, strong, psychedlic beats. Quite Robert-Miles-esque.

His player on MySpace has got some tunes that remind me of some deep, intensive Japenese tracks. Very, high energy ablazing with an arousing aura incensed with frenziness.

This is deep stuff, I like it.

It is not very often you feel immediately ambuscaded into a sound, surrounded by the tenderness that the vocalist from the Wild Beasts, Hayden Thorpe produces with such passive vehemence.

Flowing delightfully the music hooks you into a mood of a great apathy, soothing everything in your bones with a superbly orchestrated sound that is wonderously delectable and sublime.

Hooting & Howling which is fortunately on their MySpace player has a haunting, almost sinister parallelism with the late and great Jeff Buckley. The album Grace released by the late Mr Buckley is one that is chosen to be heard at rare particular times. An album which must be in everyones music collection due to the sweet poetics and of course, gracefulness it possess.

Wild Beasts have released a piece of work which competes with that choice. This follow up to their previously released Limbo, Panto. A fantastic, musical dreamscape of rythym, harmony and sheer elegance.

Get it, get it now.

Returning to the airwaves after a long summer is The Twang with their second album release after Love It When I Feel Like This with Jewellery Quarter. Welcomed with open arms, pretty much everywhere, after listening to the album, you’ll see and hear why.

Flowing imperceptibly like the Stone Roses, lyrically charming similar to Doherty with greater decipherment and musically intellectual with bouyant beats, anthemic vibes and quite simply, pleasing. With a 5 piece band you’d expect to hear a fullness of sound, some power and strength. That my friends is certainly what we get.

Doing the V Festival at the end of August will have the band creating massive further awareness upon their already glorious, ever esculating fanbase. This record will no doubt hit gold with out shadow of doubt.

I find their work elequently poetic, totally without hostility and supremely courteous with a level of aggression that shows wonderful passion and lust.

I never really listened to them a great deal before but always being recommened by my friend Mr Dave Myles. Obviously, he has good taste. I like The Twang, you should too.

What I like about the crossover of genres nowadays is the fact that a musician can expand his creative works across the categorised realms. An album can have different styles throughout making it more interesting to us the listeners. Paul Banks aka Julian Plenti has the ability to mix the styles making it still Alternative. I guess then that the previous comments have been written uselessly but you understand the point I am trying to make I suppose.

On the album Julian Plenti Is A Skyscraper we have the Interpol musician on a solo run developing some semi-heavy, rock music which fills the room with essences of dischordas does On The Esplanade. Delightful strings and piano as there are on his track No Chance Survival that could quite easily be played with only a Spanish guitar. Anthemic trumpets elevating your spirits. It’s quite a clever and masterful piece of work.

There is so much variety and you could appreciate it with friends or rather selfishly. Very similar to Beck, without seeming so comical. Quite intimate without seeming so claustrophobic. Clever.

Julian Plenti Is A Skyscraper is out now.

This is going to be a slightly unprofessional review for someone who isn’t really that professional at writing in the first place. Why? Because I love this album!

The Whip from Manchester first introduced themselves to me on a stage, in a field, in Somerset on a Friday just after high noon. Never heard of them.

Standing a few rows back in allignment with their left-hand speaker stack I witness my first Glastonbury band. Maybe it was the sentimentality to the whole festival experience or maybe I just truly love X Marks Destination, their debut album release.

The band consist of Danny Saville, Lil Fee, (the attractive drummer I care to add, much hotter than meg white by far) Nathan Sudders and Bruce Carter who are, without question a great team.

Producing an album like this I think is great. Keyboards flowing, weaving in and out of the guitar riffs, humming basslines and enthusiastic drums with vocals that possess traits similar to Shane MacGowan due to the heart and soul heard within Bruce Carter’s voice with the cheeky, electro fill-ins and glorious depth to it all. Almost similar to French electronica because of the wavy, airy feel some of the tracks have like Air, Daft Punk and essences of Dilemn. (Love Dilemn!)

Trash, Blackout, Sirens have the essential criteria for great Pop records, Divebomb, brilliant tune, should be further made aware, remixers heaven as well as the original track being fantastic in it’s own right.

X Marks Destination by The Whip is one of my albums of the year without doubt.

To hear a female artist such as Regina Spektor is quite a blissful pleasure. Learning the piano as a child surrounded by the Arts in many formats it is not worth pondering how this young darling has made it to the radio-waves.

Soviet-Born and an American Singer/Songwriter who travelled through Austria, to Italy and residing in New York spending time in childhood within The Bronx and New Jersey.

A wonderous, consolatory and pacifying larynx enables us the listeners to just kick back and chill for Miss Spektor’s well-honed voice is also one of her instruments.

The music on her latest release, “Far” is just so appeasing I find it almost medicinal like I do with Alanis Morisette on her more delicate tracks along with Tori Amos on her more experimental numbers. Check out “Folding Chair” on her MySpace player.

Sore head? Aching back? Bed rest and couple of Paracetemol washed down with Regina Spektor. You’ll feel better in no time.

7" single artwork by Simon Moody

The instrumental act Three Trapped Tigers are definately non-conformists in the musical genre stakes. “Other” is the term they used to describe themselves so I thought I’d attempt to categorise them. I am though not even if I can.

Listening to the three songs on their MySpace, “1″ “2″ and “7″ (re-pointing out the non-conforming part), I hear smart pianos on a chilled DnB track, then all of a sudden, dark punk-synthetic style riffs, then raw metal guitaring, followed then by minimalist electro bass. It is an unorganised sound, in an organised mix and in my own head a right nightmare to shake your arse to.

The keyboards are minimalistic and occasionally sweet, the guitaring is raw punk and the drummer is explosive. The Japanese love this stuff and we will succomb to it.

The group defined in one word, Experi-Mental.

Novak Stare © Claes Gellerbrink, www. claesgellerbrink. co. uk / concept by Mellisa Macias / Make up by Sonia Richard

Immediately I am grabbed by the solid bassline that makes me think I’m going to hear With or Without You by U2, but when the vocalist Justin Jackson opens up I think I’m listening to Morrissey or Bowie.

Novak Stare from London seem like smartly dressed, new romantics that would appeal to the more intellectual, the dark and the broody.

Listening to their work I would say that it could be produced a little better. They have the potential to scream some lyrics out but they are holding back, it seems a little “too light”. Lovely melodies and wonderfully harmonious but they don’t seem to soar, it needs to soar in the places where you’d expect it too. When the chorus returns at the end of the tracks for one more visit it could really pack a punch to eleviate that stresses of the crowd and the music listener. Instead, you just flow onto the next track which then makes it all sound a little too familiar.

Poetic and romantic, potentially excellent. It would appeal to many.

It pains me when I hear music like this.

The drumming is flawless and charasmatic, the bass is smooth like teflon, the guitars hum and carry you through the song guiding towards a field where you can relax and chill for the rest of your sunny, sunbathing day but the vocals ruin it.

I like the psychdelic style. The kind of, “I’m half battered but I don’t care because I’m half battered” resembling tone that of course immediately refelcts to Mr Pete Doherty. Pete though, he can do it because he’s a passionate and emotional lad who lives for the music.

The aggressive throat of the singer here doesn’t work unfortunately because it doesn’t match the rest of bands sounds.

There are moments where he rollercoasters his way through the songs like he does on Epiphany there are moments too high and others too low.

It’s a damn shame because it ruins what could potentially be really quite a hook indeed.

The structure of the tracks are only slightly off I think, reducing the length of the tracks before the bridge to make them more potent in sound would be better because for a psychedelic band, I’d simply fall asleep rather than be carried of by Angels to Neverneverland.  However though, Evening Fields/Blackpool, it was nearly nailed.

It’s all there though, just some production work, fine tuning and the Emo world over here could actually lighten up.