Message in a Bottle
Fi Beckett reviews some sounds with the aid of some drinking metaphors

happy now?

Alpha Road - 5 track demo


Imagine, if you will, a 15 year old Teenage Fanclub (was gonna use their abbreviated name of 'Fannies' but somehow that just didn't scan too
well...), on the brink of adulthood, pumped full of teen angst and hormones. There you have Alpha Road. Songs of love, loss and longing over
delicious melodies Norman Blake would be proud to call his own. Stand out track 'Walk in Safe' is particularly good, all fuzzed up guitars and urgent lyrics, proving they can do rock as well as pop. I'd be really interested to hear how they sound in 2 years' time after some more practise and gigging experience.

* white lightning in the park

Millionaire - We Don't Live There Anymore/For A Maid (PIAS)

Funky, hard and grinding, this AA side is a kerayzee hybrid of pop and metal which, strangely, seems to work. Their second album 'Paradisiac' is produced by Josh Homme and the QOTSA influence definitely shows here in the pounding drums and banging basslines. Kerrang! readers will probably like em.

* JD and lemonade (too poppy to drink it straight up)

Nara - Prelude au Hasard (Cellar Records)

What the buggery bollocks is this?? neverending incidental music more suited to a post-apocalyptic filmscore than my delicate ears, thanks very
much. might just appeal to stoners though... next!!

* hemlock

The Delights - my little girl (demo)

Lovelovelove this. They can sing! They can play!! Starts off like a New Model Army song, melting into Starsailory vocals and beautiful harmonies
that grab you by the hand to twirl you round the room. Intense and dreamy by turns with an unrelenting bassline and incrdibly hooky chorus, 'my little girl' sounds like the song Siouxsie never made. They've already made some headway into the biz, getting through to the final 8 of London
Tonight's unsigned competition, supported Dogs Die in Hot Cars at Glasto '04 and had a photoshoot with uber-cool photographer Rankin. Onwards and
upwards then.

* Pint of cider on a hot sunny day

Morning Runner - Gone up in Flames (Parlophone)

Miles Hunt called, he'd like 'Size of a Cow' back please...

* Miller Lite

Abie Toiber - Lotus (demo, I think)

Not quite sure what to make of this mainly instrumental 10 track offering. No info as to who or what Abie Toiber is but the closest comparison I can make is if you put The Cure, Bauhaus and Carlos Santana in a bag, took away the vocals and shook em up, this is what you'd end up with. Can't think of a single person this would appeal to.

* Margarita

HeadOn - 3 track demo

Although they sound quite hard and edgy with a definite Pixies influence, to be perfectly honest I don't really see a future for this Cambridge
4-piece beyond playing dingy backrooms of pubs unless they do something to marry the vocals to the music, it all sounds a bit mismatched. Seperately they're great, just sounds like they're reading from different songsheets. Sorry.

* pint of mild
City Rockers - Put You in Your Place (demo)

Leeds 4-piece who feel the need to inform us that their City is 'famed as the birthplace of Peter Sutcliffe'. Well judging by the squawky sound of
the title track it certainly ain't gonna be remembered as the birthplace of City Rockers! Unnamed track 2 is, however, a complete contrast; haunting and passionate with such beautiful vocals and delicate strings you wouldn't think it was the same band. magical.

* Pint of snakebite


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