The results will hopefully be useful even to those not going as an overview of lots of new music, from the brilliant to the terrifying. Includes 7 who are actually recommended!
Thoughts in summary:
Recommended listening: Absentee, Captain, Fields, Guillemots, GoodBooks, The Pipettes, The Spinto Band.
Worth checking out: 65DaysOfStatic, Howling Bells, The Maccabees, Morning Runner, NeatPeople, New Rhodes, Pink Grease, The Slits, Sway.
Could be worse: The Automatic, Dogs, Klaxons, Plan B, Switches, V//Formation.
Forgotten them already: 747s, The Automatic, CORD, Humanzi, Mumm-Ra, The OnOffs, The Rogers Sisters, The Rumble Strips, Shit Disco
Avoid: Cazals, The Delilahs, Elle Milano, ¡Forward, Russia!, Larrikin Love, Les Incompetents, The Marshals, The Mitchell Brothers, Paolo Nutini, The Pistolas, The Rifles, S. Rock Levinson, The Sunshine Underground, Wolfmother.
Avoid at all costs: The Fratellis, The Holloways, Louie, The Paddingtons.
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Admittedly unimpressive live when I saw them supporting Architecture In Helsinki, I'm willing to give Absentee the benefit of the doubt and blame it on awful sound because, so far, their records are really really good. Singer Dan Michaelson has a remarkable deep voice which perfectly matches the dry, world-weary wit of alt-country tinged songs like Something To Bang and A Body In A Car Somewhere, and elsewhere they can even be surprisingly light and uplifting. Recommended listening.
Akira The Don
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AKA Adam Anonymous of Playlouder fame, who has previously stated an intention to be 'the rap Morrissey'. Indie-friendly rap with Verve samples and songs about Rick Witter, it's more likable by far when being funny than when trying too hard to make a point (Genocide Is Coming To The USA) but while decently put together (this is some way away from Goldie Lookin' Chain) seems rather uninspiring. Forgotten him already.
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One of those bands that I've heard of quite a bit but never quite been bothered to actually listen to before, put of by a presumption from other coverage of their music being worthily intellectual and uninvolving stuff. And there may be some truth there, but their visceral sound, a kind of post-rock with added clattering electronic beats, actually makes for much more enjoyment and less chin-scratching than I imagined. Not quite a convert yet, but rethinking prejudices just a little. Worth checking out.
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Never heard of these before at all, apparently currently supporting Jack White's The Raconteurs. On the basis of the two songs on their Myspace, they play inoffensively upbeat but forgettable retro-rock, reminding on Set Me Free especially of The Zutons' slower and less good songs. Forgotten them already.
The Aliens
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Containing a couple of ex-members of The Beta Band, debut single Robot Man's funk does remind of them in a couple of places. It also sounds like it was knocked out in a few minutes which leads to both its initital charm and its outstaying of its welcome. Perhaps explains the lack of a proper website too. Forgotten them already.
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Shouty Welsh pop-rock widely tipped for success this year, Raoul made the top 40 recently just about and their number of songs which are also catchy as anything suggests they'll soon improve on that. Nothing to excite me much though and People In Planes are doing the same thing better (and are winningly listed as an influence!). Could be worse.
Captain
Myspace
I forgot that I had already heard of Captain but I think that must be more due to the name than any fault at all on their part. Sounding somewhere roughly between Delays and The Crimea, they play sunny, harmonic pop with just a hint of darkness and noise to keep things interesting. Recommended listening.
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I think I'm going to get very tired of this kind of thing by the end of 50 bands - utterly unoriginal and lumpen retro-rock which reminds of The Ordinary Boys before they decided to try ska. Learning that they've supported Babyshambles and The Paddingtons comes as no surprise at all. Credit to them for making all their songs to date available for free on their site, though. Avoid.
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Listenable but middling indie with a very slight hint of glam. Signed to Island, which suggests that they learnt nothing at all from last years Cherryfalls debacle. Forgotten them already.
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Three girls from the wonderfully named Zug, Switzerland, unfortunately I've already covered everything that sets them apart. More painfully average retro. Avoid.
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Similarly to The Automatic, I find it much easier to see why they're one of the bigger names playing (catchier and, well, clearly better songs than most reviving a similar past) than to
actually care much for them. Could be much worse.
Website (which is on Angelfire. AWESOME.)
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Shambolic noise which certainly has plentiful enthusiasm, if not a tune in sight. Could be pretty enjoyable if they had some better lyrics to add to it (maybe a less polished Art Brut), but a bit pointless for now. Avoid.
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Bound to suffer from the fact that they are not, as it turns out, the same thing as Field Music, they do still have an impressive line in atmospheric indie with a hint of electronica. If You Fail We All...'s crystalline prettiness in particular worth checking out. Recommended listening.
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Having already seen them as a support band twice, I'm already well aware that I find their frenzied, unrelenting At The Drive-In impression briefly hilarious and then deeply irritating. Slightly more tolerable on record for what it's worth, but not by much. Avoid.
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A bad choice of name (although nothing compared to their song The Gutterati) as there appear to be at least two other bands sharing it. One of them have apparently now changed their name to The Lurios and are jangly and slightly forgettable, much recommended over this tuneless derivative horror though. Avoid at all costs.
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Currently gaining good reviews all round for their debut single, they tie together various strands of recently popular indie into twitchily catchy, surprisingly cohesive songs, with Walk With Me and Paschendale treading a line somewhere between British Sea Power, Clor and Franz Ferdinand to much better effect than that sounds. Recommended listening.
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You probably already know my views on them (AMAZING) but their imagination stands out all the more among some of the company here. If you haven't them yet then, well, why not? Recommended listening.
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Just like Portishead, not in the actually being any good at all sense but in being named after their home town. Actually, their music is very slightly above average for the kind of punk revival stuff that there's far too much of here, but as for the lyrics... Well, here are some examples from Great Britain (as copied from their myspace, where they are proudly available for public display):
'So this is great britain and welcome aboard
A sinking ship thats full of shit and someone nicked the oars
A failing false economy
an anti-punk automony
OUr once unique Identity's
Been washed from our shores
In a land of hope and glory
do we really rule the waves?
The truth is a different story
We're all just a bunch of slaves'
Avoid at all costs. Unless you love The Others, I guess.
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Aussie four-piece seemingly attracting PJ Harvey comparisons all round on the basis of little more than having a female singer. Much better than their name suggests, but their eerie, brooding rock never quite makes the impression it should. Good live from past experience though. Just about worth checking out.
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Irish support to the likes of Hard-Fi and Dirty Pretty Things, some half decent snarling rock songs don't quite answer the question of whether we really need another Kasabian. Forgotten them already.
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A messy, uncoordinated combination of post-punk, actual punk, electronica and tuneless singing which only really seems to work at the messiest moments. Potentially entertaining though I wouldn't recommend with any confidence. Could be worse.
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Thoroughly enjoyable supporting Elbow in February, but that was seemingly largely due to guitar problems forcing them to fall back on violin-led folk dance, a much more attractive proposition than their usual faux-raggae and erratic Mystery Jets-meet-Libertines style. Probably best avoid.
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Dirty Pretty Things are a much, much better Libertines tribute band. Avoid.
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To be able to appreciate, or even offer comment on, all types of music would be great but with relentlessly noisy rap like this I feel way too out of my depth to actually offer a verdict at all, except to say that the remix (well, it's more of a destruction) on myspace of The Rakes' 22 Grand Job is definitely hilarious.
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More sub-sub-Libertines bollocks, taking unoriginality to an extra level on Young Evil Souls with an astonishingly brazen theft of the riff from Bloc Party's Helicopter. Avoid at all costs.
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Single Latchemere is more retro post-punk but manages to rise above nearly anything else of the sort here by the virtue of being very well-played and more importantly having hugely entertaining silly lyrics about a leisure centre sung in a this-is-no-joking-matter way. They don't have anything else up on Myspace to quite match it but it's nice to not have to write them off completely. Worth checking out.
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The very first band on the list to not offer complete songs on their website or Myspace page (something to do with being signed to Vertigo?) which is a reason to turn against them right from the start. Missing out on more of what sounds like Mansun if they didn't have any ideas at all beyond a pale replication of their peers isn't too much of a hardship though. Avoid.
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Signed to Mike Skinner's label, guest appearances don't help the feeling that it's often a poor imitation of his own stuff, with too little to say and not even said that well. Listen to Harvey Nicks and the only funny or memorable part is Sway's brief contribution, more on him in a bit though. Avoid.
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Who exactly decided that they could be the next Coldplay? The album makes it sound like they could have done with a while longer before being forced down the unwilling public's throats, but actually has some very fine moments (It's Not Like Everyone's My Friend and Work among them) which amid their bluster somehow turn a certain bewildered awkwardness into an asset in a similar manner to their live shows. Worth checking out if you haven't already made up your mind.
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Pleasant, tuneful indie but ultimately lacks the hooks or ideas to make too much of an impression. Forgotten them already.
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'NeatPeople strike a blow against the homogeneity of the charts and the carbon copy posturing of too-cool-for-school indie boys' apparently. Er, right. Anyway, they supported The Bluetones on their last tour and anyone still following them is likely to like this a lot too - brassy, very catchy guitar pop with a lot of charm and a little style. Worth checking out.
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Still somewhat of a mystery how their fantasticly breezy single You've Given Me Something That I Can't Give Back (more than a touch of The Smiths, there) managed to sneak into the top 40 in early 2005, especially considering that they've done nothing of note since and all by disappeared. Even on just the basis of that song though, probably worth checking out.
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The available songs are so poorly recorded that it's almost difficult to pick out if there is any potential here but just about deserve the benefit of the doubt. Pleasingly tasteless electro-glam which flirts with chaos to no great ill effect. Worth checking out, perhaps.
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Ah, I thought that that was too many half-decent acts in a row. Time for some plodding, deeply average singer-songwriter stuff. Avoid.
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Bluesy, none-more-retro rock which sounds quite a lot like The Zutons without any saxophone or particularly great tunes to add much interest. Forgotten them already.
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Urgh. Avoid at all costs.
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Admittedly all that they are really doing to set themselves apart is to lovingly recreate a different section of music past (sugary Sixties girl-group pop) to everyone else, but having not listened to them before they actually turn out to be much better in practise than in theory - so well done it's rather irresistable. Recommended listening.
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More of more of the same post-punk with nothing remarkable at all. Avoid.
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Acoustic-guitar toting rapper, recently heard on xfm constructing a hypnotic track round samples of Radiohead's finest moment Pyramid Song, though I missed what the song was. More fascinating than outright enjoyable in general at the moment but might be worth keeping track of. Could be worse.
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Just after The Pistolas we have The Rifles, who clearly want to be The Jam rather than Gang Of Four, but still don't bring anything much of interest to their attempts. Avoid.
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Despite being named after the Rogers sisters in the band there's actually a guy in the band as well who does many of the vocals, which is a distracting start. Anyway, it's very competent but unremarkable garage rock. Forgotten them already.
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See The OnOffs. Only with a bit more brass. Forgotten them aready.
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They'd have to be bloody good to overcome a name like that, and they aren't really. Funky enough dance-punk but it's actually a bit too polite! Forgotten them already.
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Reforming veteran punks (who, er, recently played a gig at Selfridges department store) with a large hint of reggae who I had somehow not actually heard before. The cover of Heard It Through The Grapevine in particular is great fun. Worth checking out.
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More uninspiring post-punk with particularly nasty whiny vocals. This is starting to get a bit tiring, you know... Avoid.
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See recent live review. Or in short: great fun, especially live. Recommended listening.
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As with The Pistolas. Avoid.
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Leading light of UK rap, I couldn't really tell you if there's any better but his stuff is certainly sparky and almost always very funny. Favourite line has to be the one after he is asked for an autograph by a kid: "Mum, is this how you spell Lemar?" Worth checking out.
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Powerpop which made a bad first impression thanks to, er, individual vocals but soon begins to win over through sheer catchiness. Could be worse.
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Some rather lovely slow building indie which isn't quite ruined by overly angsty vocals. Reminds of The Veils, apart from the bits where they try to be the Arcade Fire, nothing quite takes off as it could though. Unless that's just the effect on listening to fifty bands. Could be worse.
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Holy shit, their first song on myspace has 141,000 plays! That's more than anyone else in this whole piece probably. They may or may not all have been thinking 'This sure sounds like the Top Of The Pops theme' (the old one, they may or may haven lost track of it now). Horribly overdramatic Led Zeppelin worship, here. Avoid.
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