RIGSBY As I See It CDR (Stoss)
I know that Stevie from the band likes unusual/homemade music, and the cut n' paste cover art this has made me expect something quirky and lo-fi. In actual fact it's nothing of the sort, but bluesy, mature soft rock that may well appeal to Rolling Stones fans. In fact there's a Stones cover on here (Can't Always Get What You Want). Mostly a bit straightforward and non-underground for me, but I did like Pure White Crosses which has a strong, memorable tune, and a subject matter that's not normally found in rock songs (ie remembering dead soldiers). The title track itself isn't bad either, a bit folky. Info from stevierigsby@postmaster.co.uk

THE WINNEBAGO ORCHESTRA This Is What's Going On CDR (Oporto)
In the late 80s/early 90s there was The Cudgels, who were brilliant. They split into two bands - The Proctors and Oporto; The Proctors had some good stuff but Oporto were my favourite of the two, just as great as The Cudgels. Nothing was heard from Oporto for several years, but now Andy and Spencer from said band are running the label of the same name, and have a new band, The Winnebago Orchestra. The Port is about Dudley Port where they're from, and brings to mind early Cudgels with added psychedelia. Miss Willmott's Ghost is another great example of indiepop crossed with psych, with the sort of humorous lyrics the (early) Cudgels were known for, but overall this song is darker and more psychedelic than anything by The Cudgels. Necro Bolan Freak, despite the non-indiepop title, is a prime slice of 80s style janglepop; again I hear shades of The Cudgels in their early days. Something very different for the next track, Restraint, which is ambient music I guess, with spoken word over the top. Be Around returns to their more usual style, brill jangly, catchy indiepop. A truly excellent EP - if you liked The Cudgels or Oporto be sure to check it out!
Costs £3 inc post, payable to Oporto Records, from Oporto House, 16 Walton Road, Aldridge, Walsall, West Midlands WS9 8HN. Further info from info@oportorecords.co.uk

BUCKLEY'S CHANCE 3 Songs CDR (Oporto)
Buckley's Chance are a country band consisting of singer Syuzen Buckley and various ex-members of Josef K, Aztec Camera, Orange Juice and other bands. There are three cover versions here - How Do by Mary Chapin Carpenter (country, but with a surfy guitar in places), Mississippi Delta by Bobby Gentry (country/blues with a riff that sounds like Delta circa Sugared-up) and I Had My Hopes Up High by Joe Ely (country with guitar parts that sometimes sound janglepop and sometimes sound like psychedelic blues-rock). Syuzen has a very strong voice, and the instrumentation is as good as you'd expect from the personnel involved. I'd be interested to hear some original material from them. (Same price as Winnebago Orchestra CD).

CRAZYFACE Brickwall CD (Bearos)
Bearos normally only release 7" singles, but this one's a CD available for the same price as a 7" (£2.50, payable to A. Farmer). Brickwall is punkpop, but darker than much stuff from this genre, mixed with electronica and scratching. Other bands have mixed noisy guitar stuff with scratching but CrazyFace have approached this mixture of styles from a different angle and as a result sound very unlike these other bands. Software is melodic indierock meets punkpop. Dealing with Strangers is an angular song that starts off minimal with a bluesy riff, percussion and vocals, then it gets mega-noisy (but still tuneful and catchy) during the chorus. A good noisy band with their own ideas. Bearos Records, PO Box 7179, Birmingham B29 6RA.

OF ARROWE HILL Gadfly Adolescence 7" (Openseason)
Billed as the debut 7" by Of Arrowe Hill, but in actual fact there was a previous 7" out on the Popt! label. That was lo-fi psych-pop with a touch of psych-rock, but these days they sound more like a mixture of the more rockish side of The Who, powerpop and lo-fi noisepop (on the A-side) and laid-back atmospheric pop with mod, psych and noise elements thrown in at times (on the B-side). This second track changes moods quite a lot throughout and is sure to confuse the pigeonholers. A good thing. of_arrowe_hill@hotmail.com

PILLBOX Sterilise Me CD (NYC)
The current band of Susan Hyatt, ex-Pandoras. There's five tracks here - in the main it's quite dark and angsty indierock that's noisy, buzzy and fuzzy. They've had quite a bit of coverage in the heavy music press, which isn't surprising, but their music isn't metally enough to put off the indie kids either. There's also another side of the band - they finish off the EP with Hold Me In Your Nuclear Arms which is low-key janglepop. Info from pillboxrocks@hotmail.com

BAXXTER The Girls Are Looking Good This Summer 7" (Bearos)
Second single from this Birmingham band whose music has jangly and noisy bits and a vocal style that's a cross between shouting and singing. Basically a mixture of punk and indiepop, but Baxxter are definitely not your average punkpop band! This is more angular and aggressive than most bands classed as punkpop. A brilliant, powerful noise. Bearos info from alan@bearos.freeserve.co.uk

THE REVELERS Pioneering the Space Frontier With... 7" (Break Up!)
PAT DULL & HIS MEDIA WHORES All Torn Up 7" (Break Up!)
Quite old now, but still worth mentioning as I think they're still available. The Revelers make catchy powerpop with strong tunes. A bit of a mod influence in there too. Sort of a cross between the Lilys, The Boswells and assorted Rainbow Quartz bands; this is well worth checking out.
Pat Dull & His Media Whores are also powerpop but a tad punkier. Not short on tunes though! Robyn sounds a bit 60s bubblegum pop-ish but in a powerpop setting. LOVEnROCKnROLLnHOWTHEYRELATE is the punkiest song here, and it ends with a wild guitar solo of Deck the Hall, of all things!
Whereas The Revelers sound like various current bands who are influcenced by the 60s, Pat Dull & His Meida Whores sound straight out of the 70s. More info from Pat Dull - dullcomputer@core.com

LIMITED SIGHT DISTANCE 4 Song EP CD (Hand To Mouth)
Limited Sight Distance is the project of songwriter Stefanie Fix, along with various musicians from the Hudson Valley, New York, who include amongst them former and current members of Mercury Rev, Hopewell, Varnaline and Cakelike. Stefanie comes from a folk background, and this shows in the music of Limited Sight Distance, although the music they make is much more than straightforward folk as it contains strong elements of spacerock and shoegazing. As well as more conventional instruments, they use stuff like pots & pans, oil tank, Chapman Stick and assorted sound effects, but despite the experimental instrumentation, this is not a lot of random noise, but coherent, song-based music. Quite possibly the first time I've heard a band who mix folk with shoegazer and experimental elements; this is definitely a band who stand out from the crowd. Info from mike@ffmanagement.com

DELICATE AWOL Hurray For Sugar 7" (Day Release)
The title track is subdued indiepop bordering on post-rock. B-side Canford Heights begins as a hypnotic yet strongly melodic post-rock instrumental, then some noisy chaotic guitar-twiddling comes in, then it goes a bit spacey. Good stuff. info@dayrelease.com

EVIL JAKE She's So Lonely CDR
Melodic powerpop, sounding somewhere between the 70s sort of powerpop and the current pop-punk scene. They even do a powerpop meets post-punk version of What's Love Got To Do With It?, but their own songs are more upbeat. Falling Man is particularly catchy. Be My Ex-Girlfriend is different from their other tracks as it has a tongue-in-cheek country influence. This is a band with potential mass appeal, especially considering the current popularity of pop-punk. In fact Evil Jake were #1 in the mp3.com powerpop and pop-punk charts, beating bands such as Papa Roach, The Offspring and Deftones. With an established label behind them, Evil Jake could easily be as big as those bands. eviljake@eviljake.com

GNAC/[SMOOTH] OPERATOR split 7" (Octane Grammophon)
Gnac's In The Bumpy Air is a melodic instrumental with echoey effects, plinky-plonky glockenspiel and jangly guitar. Sounds both sweet and unnerving at once, and puts me in mind of the sort of music that might be used in a childrens' supernatural-themed movie. Reminds me a bit of the music of Gary K, but not as strange.
[Smooth] Operator's Alaska starts with a collection of percussive effects, then there's some minimal bits of synth and guitar. Not a strongly melodic piece, but it's interesting nonetheless as it has enough atmosphere to be engaging. octane@sunpoint.net

POWDERROOM The Fax Machine EP CD (Cripperty)
Starts with The Friday Night Sideshow Disco which is an excellent piece of off-centre noisepop with dancey bits. Fax Machine is another delightfully quirky song with proggy bits and bizarre lyrics. And don't run away - I don't mean the pompous sort of prog but the off-the-wall sort. The crazily titled Stab The Remaining Terrapin mixes psych, indierock and a dash of prog, creating something just as bizarre as the two previous songs. Assistant Seven, the song itself, has a touch of the more laid back side of Radiohead about it, but the arrangement is anything but. The instrumentation is psychey and atmospheric, very like the experimental sort of spacerock. About 5 minutes into the song it goes more indierock, but there are still spacey sounds here and there. After about 7 minutes it becomes a space instrumental and eventually implodes with dramatic crashing sounds. As the above descriptions suggest, this band aren't afraid to mix together a wide range of styles and influences, resulting in something totally wild and individualistic. Well worth a listen. Label info from selwyn.callister@college.doe.gov.im

VARIOUS Flying Time #1 CDR (Octane Foil)
Octane Foil is a small non-profit label set up to promote avant garde, lo-fi, post-rock and noise artists. This, their first release, is an advance CDR copy but I believe the actual release is a 7". Blimey! and John Wayne Shot Me collaborate on two tracks of good lo-fi pop. Johnny Domino I remember from the early 90s; their track here is slightly quirky and slightly noisy indiepop, also good stuff. A Series of Wheels' Alpine Timberwolf is spacey post-rock with shouty vocals; the press release calls it 'yell yell post-rock' which is a good description. Charlottefield are another 'post-rock with vocals' band but more melodic. Their music also contains elements of modern prog (eg The Monsoon Bassoon) and noisepop. All in all a great release - I hope to hear more from this label. Unfortunately I'm unable to contact them - the email address given on www.octanefoil.fsnet.co.uk appears to be no longer valid. Anybody know the contact details for Octane Foil?

THE HITCHERS Missy Girl CDR
If you were to ask me where I thought this band were from I'd tell you California. Not only do they make very typically West Coast punky powerpop, the singer has a very convincing (but presumably fake) American accent. This band are in fact from the North East of England. The lyrics are typical of this sort of pop-punk; stuff about trashy chicks and not being able to score. The sort of subject matter that's often pigeonholed as 'dumb' but in this case is actually pretty cleverly written.
This is all very commercial stuff and I can imagine it being part of the soundtrack of a Hollywood teen movie. I hate to call this 'commercial' because whenever I use that word it's normally meant in a negative sense, but The Hitchers are one of those rare bands that have huge mainstream potential while at the same time have a really exciting and ultra-catchy sound. People not familiar with my taste in music and more inclined towards chart music would of course argue that mainstream songs are supposed to be exciting and catchy, but more often than not they don't come across this way to my ears. The Hitchers though, actually get my attention whilst having the potential to get the attention of literally millions. Why ever this lot aren't signed is beyond me. Contact their manager Dave McLean - dave@xgate.supanet.com

OCEANSIZE A Very Still Movement CD (Soviet Union)
Melodic post-rock meets huge feedbacking noise meets laid-back intelligent pop meets angsty indie-rock meets shouty-screamy vocals meets modern prog in the vein of The Monsoon Bassoon or Cardiacs ... and that's just the first track! The next track consists of some spacey droning - this sort of music can sound rather tedious but there are certain bands that do it well and Oceansize are one of them. Then there's an atmospheric song that mixes Radiohead-ish music with shoegazing and spacerock elements. The last part of the track is an instrumental piece that is both dreamlike and chilling. The final track brings together the more sophisticated side of indiepop with a more aggressive variety of indie-rock and hints of prog (not the pompous 70s sort). Oceansize are an impressive-sounding band, unafraid to mix up different styles of music. They have since signed to Beggars so you're sure to hear a lot more of them. oceansize@yesmate.com

MINT ROYALE FEATURING POS Show Me CD (Faith & Hope)
Mint Royale were responsible for my favourite dance track ever which was the fantastic Indian-influenced From Rusholme With Love. This is nothing like that but a party hip-hop track featuring De La Soul member Pos, and sounding very like that band. Takes me back to the 80s when I used to listen to quite a bit of rap and house. Also included is Plump DJ's remix of previous Mint Royale single Take it Easy, which is entirely instrumental with spacey bleeps and heavy beats, and has little in common with the original. There's also a remix of Show Me by Crazy Penis, with minimal snatches of voice and a funk/soul feel. email@faithandhope.co.uk

NATIONAL FOREST Soda Lake CD (Faith & Hope)
National Forest is Daniel Cowley. He makes what he calls 'non-dancing electronic music', which he apparently records using nothing more than an old PC, free software and a tie-clip microphone. Soda Lake consists of electronic beats, cut-up sounds and samples from a poppy song. Careless Love takes its inspiration from easy listening sources. For November is an atmospheric piece that includes cello and sounds a bit dark and a bit spacey. 1 begins as a fast instrumental with a repetitive tune and samples of different people saying numbers, then it becomes more laid-back and atmospheric. The last two tracks in particular stand out for me - good DIY electronica with some interesting ideas. email@faithandhope.co.uk

NOTHING 2 DECLARE Frozen Child CD and As We Are CDR (White River)
Nothing 2 Declare are a teenage band playing alternative rock with added influences of late 60s rock and blues-rock, as well as the more melodic side of grunge. Some of their stuff is fairly heavy, other songs are laid-back. Frozen Child is pretty good but I do feel that the band have moved on with their 2nd CD. For a bunch of 17 year olds, they are actually very musically proficient! Watch out for Perfidious Man and Fallen Angel in particular; well, these are my faves at least. Contact nothing2declare@lycos.co.uk

JOHNSON Tripping with the Moonlight, Savoury Body Show, Skin & Gold, Blonde on Blue 7"s (Play)
Johnson is the in-house band of Play Records. They used to include Stephen Douglas of the Trashcan Sinatras, but he only plays on the first of these singles. Another of the members of Johnson used to be in a brass band. Their music is a kind of dark pop that's both sophisticated and sleazy at once, if you can imagine that. They have a deep-voiced singer and as well as the more usual band instrumentation there's violin and cornet. Across this collection of singles there are shades of easy listening, vaudeville, trad folk and 60s pop, but the overall feel is of none of these. Dramatic and innovative music that's highly recommended for anyone who likes their music a bit different. info@playrecords.co.uk

THE 13th PILLAR/RHYSICAL PHECK 7" double pack (Cripperty)
This is, according to the enclosed blurb, "a double 7" for no other reason than 'why the hell not'." The 13th Pillar includes Selwyn Callister who runs the label and was previously in various other bands including Ways of Stephen, Selwyn, and Suicide Highlife. Dream On is a brilliant mixture of psych-pop and HUGE NOISE. Cheese is quirky psych-pop. When I Was In Prison is old-school indiepop with noisy parts and a country-ish feel to the verses. Of all the tracks here this is the one that sounds closest to Ways of Stephen.
Ground is Sound by Rhysical Pheck is off-centre and slightly psychedelic pop with spacey bleepery. Their second track, the bizarrely titled Wiping off the Pigeon is more of the same but even quirkier. Two excellent bands here - I hope to hear more from both of them. selwyn.callister@college.doe.gov.im

14 ICED BEARS Inside 7" (Slumberland)
A few months back, Slumberland issued a compilation album by this well-respected 1980s band, and whilst I was sent a copy, it never arrived - pesky postal service! I did fortunately receive this 7", a taster for the album, which features 2 tracks taken from their 1st and 2nd singles. Inside features some delightfully raucous guitars that contrast with the melodic indiepop of the song itself. Balloon Song is from the janglier side of their repertoire, but there is still an underlying noisy element. Two excellent examples of mid 80s noisepop here - just wish I'd received the actual album! Further info from slr@dropbeat.com

THE SATURDAY PEOPLE/THE CLIENTELE split 7" (Slumberland)
The Saturday People include members of Tree Fort Angst (who in turn feature one of St Christopher if I'm not mistaken), The Ropers, Velocity Girl and Whorl. Their track here is Grace, a different version of which appears on their album on Slumberland. It's excellent janglepop with 60s and 80s influences, that's slightly darker than some other stuff I've heard from them.
The Clientele have got a lot of attention in the indiepop zine scene - and apparently beyond. Their track here (Porcelain - exclusive to this release) is rather lo-fi, complete with tapehiss, but the song itself is superb and well worthy of a more professional recording. It includes elements of 60s folk-pop, psychedelic rock and jangly indiepop, and is quite possibly one of the best tracks I've ever heard from this band. Label contact info as above.

THE AISLERS SET The Red Door 7" (Slumberland)
Current band of Amy Linton, ex-Henry's Dress. This 7", which was also released in the UK on Fortuna Pop!, includes a new version of The Red Door from their last album, which mixes punky guitar, 60s-ish guitar, a 60s girl-group influence and a Talulah Gosh-like chorus. Very catchy stuff! There's also a live version of Girls At Our Best's Warm Girls - noisepop with 60s organ - and a new track, Summer's Reprise, another excellent song that's less noisy than the other tracks here. This is janglepop with organ and brass, that sounds equally influenced by mid 80s indiepop and 60s pop. The Aislers Set have a new album out on Slumberland that was released just a few days ago. Mike at Slumberland tells me it will be released in the UK on Suicide Squeeze, distributed by Cargo. I don't yet have this but it's something I'll have to keep an eye out for!

BLUSHER Stray Fire EP CD (Wine Cellar)
Out on Chris T-T's Wine Cellar label; lead track Stitches is angsty, atmospheric, epic rock in the Radiohead vein. Unlike most bands in this style, half of the lineup is female - unusual to hear songs like this sung by a woman. Powersun is laid-back, with an acoustic emphasis for the first minute or so, and includes a flute and possibly also an accordion by the sound of it, as well as the usual rock instrumentation. Daisy Chain is slightly off-centre pop with a drumming style normally associated with electronic music. Remarkably short for this band, at just 2.15 mins, this is also my favourite track here. They then return to the laid-back yet angsty style for final track Prison Life, which includes a string section that adds to the dark, dramatic feel of the song. Label info from duckyfuzz@hotmail.com

THE WOW KAFE Over Kansas 7" (Play)
Who Shall Apologise To The Emperor is a melodic post-rock instrumental with psychedelic tendencies. Night Apples Over Kansas is an upbeat instrumental with elements of 80s indiepop, modern underground prog, experimentation and noisepop - very good stuff. Stryke Out brings together laid-back late 60s rock and post-rock and is also worth a listen. Info from info@playrecords.co.uk

ODEON BEAT CLUB I Need More Time CD (Play)
Two track CD single featuring I Need More Time (mostly old-style janglepop; starts off reminding me a bit of Tramway, but then it goes more punkish with this chugging riff) and Nicked (indiepop with noisy and jangly bits). Contact as above.

THE DAWN PARADE Good Luck Olivia CD (NYC) and Electric Fence Your Gentleness CD (Sugartown)
The Dawn Parade are a young band in their late teens/early 20s, who on their 1st EP play glammy, flamboyant music somewhere between guitar-pop and indierock. On the 2nd EP they inject some punk into the sound with the noisy chugging guitar in The Hole In My Heart. Hailstone Lullabies is an effective mixture of dark pop and sleazy rock - probably my favourite track here. Between Slough and Salvation is a minimal song with delicate piano and guitar that contrast with the harsh, throaty vocal style. Very unlike their usual material, but again it's an effective mixture. For the first single contact pillbox.uk@virgin.net and for the second contact thedawnparade@hotmail.com

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