Twenty Twenty - Small Talk

When I saw Twenty Twenty supporting The Saturdays on their recent UK tour, one of the first things that struck me was the professionalism and inherent charisma. And it's something they carry onto their debut mini-album Small Talk. Eight tracks long, it's a remarkably consistent record that packs a real sense of youthful energy and passion.

The band might draw obvious comparisons to groups like McFly and Busted, but in realty Twenty Twenty represent a harder, more anthemic sound. It's a diferent creature entirely, going forth into a vastly diferent musical landscape than when these two bands launched themselves last decade.

The album is chock-full of fun, upbeat pop-rock - these are songs ready made for a live audience, full of catchy choruses and singalong chants. This is music for the heart, really rousing stuff - lead single Love To Life being the epitome of this. That innate charm and charisma surfaces again and again, the band really carrying an essence of themselves in these tracks.

Girl Next Door sees them showcasing their more gentle side - the song feels genuinely touching, for the everyman feel of it all, if anything. There's an open-ness to all the songs that invites you in, to share in the emotion of each and every track here. Jamie's Girl resounds to a chorus of 'she turns me on, she really rocks my world.' These are songs about simple youthful passions, but they're messages that speak to us all.

In an age where My Chemical Romance headline the most popular of festivals and dominate the Radio 1 playlist, its testament that a harder brand of rock is what the public want, and Twenty Twenty diffuse that into a teen-friendly outlet. They place a strong pop stamp on the record, tracks like Burning Up glossed over with little touches of synths that give Small Talk a thoroughly modern sheen.

One of the things I like most about Twenty Twenty is that it feels as if they've made this album without boundaries. It's not music tied into any particular time or scene - you feel their music could slide effortlessly into the pop charts of any country in the world. There's a simplicity to the songs, defined by a very clean production sound, taking you back to a more carefree time.

Small Talk is released on the 2nd May and can be pre-ordered from HMV here.

Innerpartysystem - American Trash

Fresh from supporting American electro-poppers 3OH!3 on tour, Innerpartysystem have a headline show at XOYO on the 1st June in the works which will see them playing tracks from their new mini album Never Be Content. With the passion and raw energy of gritty, dirty rock at their heart, but twinned with a throbbing dance beat, Innerpartysystem come on like the love-child of Nine Inch Nails and Pendulum.

New single American Trash pulsates with a primal malevolence, the basslines threatening to explode from your speakers. Indeed, the band supported Pendulum on their US tour, delighting audiences across the pond.

For a band named after a term from George Orwell's iconic Nineteen Eighty-Four, they cloak themselves in suitably science-fiction-esque sounds. The bleeps and building waves of synths in the middle-eight carry you away on a sea of bliss as singer Patrick Nissley repeats 'wake up, the dream is over'. And then the thundering chorus collides in again, a mechanistic and unstoppable slab of brute force. It's the kind of track that shakes buildings to their very foundations, that blasts from car stereos on the hottest of summer days.

Innerpartysystem's 2008 self-titled debut was a powerful exercise in rock-dance mastery in its own right - but with American Trash, the band align themselves well and truly with the club, the dancefloors of a nation hanging in suspense, as this track hovers above, ready to beat them into submission. Immensely powerful stuff.

American Trash and Never Be Content are available on iTunes now.