The title track from the Mancunian band's second album, Cadenza is a mystical little thing. Leaping from place to place on a bouncy piano riff, there's an elusive, meandering quality to it; almost as if it was some magical little firefly.
As the guitar kicks in there's touches of Two Door Cinema Club to the track and the vocals certainly reflect said band too. Both share that same knack for penning sprightly, modern indie-pop tracks that aren't willing to simply do things by the numbers for a cheap shot at success.
Hailing from Manchester, we can't ignore the immense legacy Dutch Uncles find themselves following in the footsteps of. Madchester, that great idol-like explosion that spawned forth so many wonderful classics twenty years ago.
Sweeping out of that proud city, these early innovators changed the British musical landscape forever with their fusion of guitars and dance heritage - so it's immensely heartening to see Dutch Uncles following this same ethic all these years on.
Welcome to the world of Jason Sieu Persad, AKA The Sanfernando Sound. The producer has been making waves recently with his slick re-works of tracks by Two Door Cinema Club, Starlings and Anoraak.
The charm of Jason's takes on the tracks is that they remain respectful of the originals - Take the What You Know mix, all the hooky guitar riffs that made the song such an immense radio hit remain, now added to surging waves of static and funky synth basslines.
The over-riding sound is telling of The Sanfernado Sound's chief influences - Jason cites Tears For Fears, Pet Shop Boys, Blancmange and New Order amongst his favourite bands, and we don't need to tell you how amazing they all are. That big, bold shine of the 80s is everywhere on these remixes; with a single click of a retro drum machine you're tipped back into a world of neon and day-glo bliss.
With support from International DJ magazine and BBC 6 Music, The Sanfernando Sound is on the rise, and just like the wave of eighties glamour it channels, it's sweeping up more and more fans wherever it goes. Time to grab your best dancing shoes and join in.
Brighton four piece Shoot The Dead (a rather morbid but curiously enchanting band name) are the kind of battle of the bands spawned outfit who are making waves for all the right reasons; chiefly, their music is actually good.
Don't Stop Dancing is the perfect intro to the band if you've not head of them before; a punky, synth-laced bit of grinding bassline and shouty vocals. Like a cross between a more hefty Go! Team and The Silversun Pickups, they deliver a scathing critique on capitalism here, the chorus ringing out to a cry of 'It's all about the corporation and how you and I will cease to be!'
Lead singer Andi makes the track, channelling the Pretty Reckless in her shouts of 'Don't stop dancing!' Don't worry Andi, we won't. The indie/dance thing has been done so many times but remarkably Shoot The Dead manage to find a new angle on it; Don't Stop Dancing sounds distinctly fresh and lively.
There's a real 'get up and do it yourself' ethic going on here - the band's sound feels profoundly 'them'. They're not playing to any trends, just making the kind of music they clearly love and are passionate about.
As the band's press release rather humorously puts it, playing on their initials, 'this is one STD you need to catch!'
When you come to a band like The Skuzzies, your instant impression is to go down the good old 'does what it says on the tin' route. Skuzzies? File under grungy, distorted, low-fi indie rock... yup, right next to those ripped skinny jeans and vintage leather jacket you got off your dad.
The band's logo, scrawled into their self titled debut album's cover only serves to add to that image; it wouldn't look out of place hastily carved into a school desk - a defiant act of anarchy against the masses. Hey, there's even a track featuring the prince of riotious youth, Peter Doherty himself, on here.
Yes, there's the rebellion of that logo - but it's found next to a quirky manga rendering of the band, hinting at an ethic that, for all its grittyness, isn't afraid to shy away from pop culture either. Strokes producer Gordon Raphael, speaking of the band, hailed them as ‘one of the best new groups in London'. A bold claim, and one that stresses even more the importance that this debut is up to scratch.
The Skuzzies' music is dirty, rough, and oh so full of the essence of London. It's as if someone's dug deep into the heart of the city's backstreets and dingy bars and found the band's sound, ready-made to rock.
The tracks are remarkably varied to be honest, the continual foundation running throughout being the meaty basslines and stabs of spiky guitar. Hungry as a Hound is a suitably snappy intro to the record; coming in at just over two and a half minutes long it wastes no times in showing you exactly what The Skuzzies are about.
Then there's Brompton Cocktail, which while sounding like something you'd mix up on a Saturday night, is also pure Clash - a London Calling for the 21st century. It's lad rock at its most angsty - overflowing with testosterone.
On The Corner, the LP's final track, AKA 'the one with Peter Doherty on it', works so well because it genuinely sounds like a long lost Libertines classic; serving to remind us that while so may bands have tried to recreate that sound, so few get it right. Thankfully, The Skuzzies are one of the select few who nail the sound and the result is one of the best tracks on the album.
Before you ask... No, The Saturdays new single is not a cover of Duran Duran’s 80s classic Notorious. What it is though is one hell of a classy piece of dance-pop. With auto-tuned vocal samples and glitchy synths, it's bigger, bolder, braver than anything on their first three albums. This is the girls full on and in your face, upping their game and wearing the look with effortless chic.
Half the infectious beats of Far East Movement’s Like A G6, half epic-euro dance anthem in the vein of J Lo’s On The Floor, Notorious is a club banger through and through. With a resounding chorus of ‘I’m an outlaw, I’m the big boss, I’m a ganster on the dancefloor’, the track is bursting with confidence and swagger. There’s no room for second best here, only the refined super-glamour and highest grade of pop music that The Saturdays have made their own.
In the track’s video we see the foxy five-some taking a high speed elevator down from a futuristic office block straight to a club. This track is all about breaking free from the humdrum of working life and letting loose, unleashing that ‘outlaw’ in all of us.
Armed with towering stilettos, lip gloss and some suitably hot outfits, The Saturdays are the girls who can accomplish anything. December sees them stepping up to the big time, heading out on an arena tour across the UK. And from there, with tracks as good as Notorious, anything is possible really...
‘Closer, baby look in my eyes, do you recognise me?’ they sing, all sultryness and untamed passion. For The Saturdays, the whole world is their dancefloor, and they are there at the very heart of it – as for the rest of us; well, we’re hooked.
What a lovely day for a trip down the Thames! If you've ever wanted to see a music video where a hot new girl band gets on a boat and takes it on a ride down a river, all the while dancing with pinpoint precision, then Parade's Perfume is most definitely the video for you.
I read a recent interview with the band where they said far more akin to the Spice Girls than they did to contemporaries Girls Aloud or The Saturdays, and I can see where they're coming from. There's a real up-and-at-'em girl power attitude to Parade, a relatability that their fans can tap into. They look cool, their style is distinctly street-smart and you feel like you could be their best friend.
Perfume is one of those classic songs that shout 'summer anthem' louder than the sun itself. From the first few bars of those glorious, buzzing synths in the intro you can already imagine getting the shades out and strolling down to your local park; kicking back and escaping the daily grind.
The chanty 'If you wanna get it, get it...' vocals in the chorus again radiate the whole girl-power ethic - you feel like it's not just them chanting away, but each and every one of their fans too. And it's also so wonderfully British too - a fitting sound for a song that so casually places the Houses of Parliament in the background of its video.
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner myself... (resists temptation to burst out into song), but there's such an inherent beauty in the shots of the Thames, all dreamy pink and gold. And when you add that to someone as effortlessly stunning as Parade's Jessica singing Perfume's middle-eight, you're onto a winner for sure.
Every year there are a handful of tracks that rise above the rest and enter the hallowed halls of genuine pop classics, and Perfume, for me, is easily one of those.
Now, where's that ball-pond? We want to jump in too... here we go... here we go...
Big piano driven slabs of pop-rock; we've been awash with it in the past decade - Keane, The Feeling and Mika all plying their own takes on it to varying degrees of success. But a new decade demands a new sound, and one that strikes at the very boundaries of the format. Enter Isaac's Aircraft - from the first track of their debut LP Two Is A Crowd they establish a refined, classy sound befitting their Cambridge roots. It's that same piano led rock, but it feels infinitely more ambitious.
Band member Martin Seidal is a classically trained pianist, and it shows. His chords take centre stage on the majority of the tracks, pulling together a sound that is distinctly British. The band have already had a top 10 internet radio hit over in the US, and what with the Brit-mania that seems to be spreading across America at the moment (Adele and the Royal Family, take a bow please) you can see why they'd take a band like Isaac's Aircraft to their hearts.
Mathematics and Good Man serve as snappy introductions to their record - there's a real unplugged feel here; a result of the band not being able to afford a fully electric album. This never feels like a compromise though, the quality across each and every track on Two Is A Crowd testament to their adaptability.
At times, the piano fades away to be replaced by carefully finger-picked guitar hooks; but the record never feels like an 'acoustic album' though. There is a real weight, a heftyness that elevates it beyond the cobled-together vibe that plagues so many bands' acoustic performances.
And although you'd be hard pushed to tell it, the whole album was remarkably recorded in just two days - Isaac's Aircraft are clearly a band who take efficiency to a whole new level. There's urgency and a real eagerness to please here. The word 'pleasant' comes to mind - but it's important to dismiss this as meaning average or unadventurous, because in a way the album's simplicity is adventure in its own right. It's refreshing to sample something of such clarity once in a while, and in terms of clarity, Two Is A Crowd is about as pure as you can get.
On the whole, the album remains mostly up-tempo, with a smattering of considered, tasteful ballads like Boogie In Boots thrown in. A personal favourite has to She Is Moscow though - a track with swagger to rival the likes of Robbie Williams, a real singer's song that boasts a definitively funky, driving beat.
Isaac's Aircraft come with the credentials of supporting Amy Winehouse and The Zutons on tour, and it is with the latter that they share a similar ear for melody. There's a dependability to the band, you know you can count on them to deliver. And speaking of which, a full electric album is due out in the autumn - which going by the strength of what we've heard here, we shall anticipate eagerly.
