Sam Scherdel

As singer / songwriters go, Sam Scherdel has lots of potential. Mastering songs like 'Happy' and 'Hazy Eyed Romance' really shows off his talent, and with a mixture of inspiring tunes and a gravely voice it's hard to stop listening. Although, whether he's actually going to stand out from the sea of singer/songwriters out there is hard to tell and he may get compared to artists such as Jack Johnson or James Morrison, but to Sam Scherdel this could either be a good or a bad thing. In my opinion though, his obvious ability to write a song should take him places.

Amy Baker

Ignition

With a cheeky punchy intro I was quickly up to attention with the sound of Ignitions demo, unfortunately, this is about as good as it got. The main thing that stood out in the demo is the production, the guitars, drums and vocals are all well mixed and sound as they should. However this doesn't make up for the sloppy interchanges and sometime messy guitar solo's. I get the feeling that they are a much better live than a recording band, maybe the next release will bring out a more raw and energetic sound.

Mark Burke

Gods Little Eskimo

A four track demo from a one man band, Johnny Restall from Manchester aka Gods Little Eskimo. He uses a loop station to tie together his layered vocal harmonies, glockenspiel, guitar and more to create a delightful musicscape, which he accurately describes as 'music for a slightly wistful, slightly sinister, teddy bears picnic'! Opening with the lengthy 'I Go Swimming' a backdrop of mainly acoustic guitar and glockenspiel allow his folky voice to float over the music to great effect. The second track 'On A Glasgow Hill' is more of the same but the delayed out of synch harmonies are an added positive feature. The other two tracks, 'Delicate Bird Bones' with acoustic guitar and toms and 'A Child At Night' with harmonica, Theremin and rhythm egg or similar show his versatility and not just for the sake of gimmickry, this demo is seriously entertaining in a whimsical sort of way.

Sean Bruce

Nem

It's all about hip hop and remixes for Nem, with a good choice of opening track, 'Moment In Time', and on the whole a flowing, chilled out sound. The strongest track on the CD has to be 'Fresh Kicks' which is lively and fast and is a good track compared to their weakest one - 'Make a Move' which is too boring and repetitive. 'Trying To Run' is quite a different sound from the rest of the album and I don't think it fits into the whole feel of the CD and seems out of place. It is however easy listening to relax to in your room and not something you can sing or dance along to. The lyrics are not exactly inspirational, and some lyrics even made me cringe to listen to (never a good sign), but I shouldn't have expected anything more as a lot of hip hop artists tent to follow the same trend of controversial and quite often sexist lyrics.

Amy Baker

The Hard Luck Saints

Just as the title, 'Life, Death, Sex and Whiskey,' manages to boil existence down to the very basics, so does the music contained herein. It's a full tilt attack on the senses. Their rock n roll train storms through the speakers and makes no allowances for anyone not totally taken in by their hard boiled assault. Blistering guitars riffs and solos, chants and drumming which would destroy most drum kits; it's all here. Good, honest rock, and then some. Not to everyone's taste, as the pace never lets up until the ubiquitous quiet track to close with. Sadly thought, just as granny has come back into the room, that too explodes half way through to crank everything up again as she runs off back to bed with a migraine.

Chris Xenra

The Uncomfortables

If you look at the Uncomfortables Myspace site, you might be struck by how nice their hats are. One can always respect a nice hat, and I sincerely hope that their musical aspirations grow to fill such lofty headgear. They are currently part of the way there. Think 'hardened sailor's geeky younger brothers' and you're part of the way to understanding this band's sound, for what little such a meaningless comment is worth. The songs are pretty good. Cult of Django Ray is a fun, shuffling little number that sounds like a cross between Dexys and the Specials. Levi's Genes is especially enjoyable, sounding like a song that the bad guys would sing in some particularly camp (but cool) musical. Daemon is a bit of a miss though, as it slows things down and feels a little flat.

Dion Curry

The Black Nights

The two members of The Black Knights readily admit that they dislike each other, a lot. This clearly gives birth to the aggressive energy that fuels their music. 'Knives' commences with a brooding bass line that eventually erupts into a fast moving freight train of a chorus. Gary's vocals are audacious, and somewhat effeminate, which juxtaposes brilliantly with the beastly noise created by guitar and drums. 'LA Hayfever' lays down a serious groove and again, explodes into uncompromising clamour. Igniting all kinds of debauched emotions, The Black Knights create a rare breed of grungy, garage blues that'll make your nosebleed. Comparisons will be made with The White Stripes but these guys are far more destructive, sexy and uncensored. They say is best by suggesting that after listening to The Black Knights, “you won't know whether to fuck or fight”. Brilliantly confused and tremendously exciting.

Simon S Wright

Ivan Campo

Let us consider Ivan Campo. A Spanish midfield wizard affectionately hailed in the North West of the country as one of the finest exponents of the game ever to grace a very large haircut. Immediate listening of this E.P however reveals that this is not in fact the aforementioned former Bolton player but a musical collective writing lush folk pop melodies entwined with some lovely lyrics. Initial thoughts suggest that the Campo provide much the same quirky ire as say The Coral but without all of the razzmatazz. The track 'Darling Diva' sounds like a jaunt through the Lennon / McCartney back catalogue of undiscovered gems. Only shelved due to the listener's complete disdain for the stopwatch bleeping endured throughout. Still for a shaggy haired Spaniard this isn't a bad effort by any standards.

Nick Sell

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