Recommended by YOU!

Buen Chino - Gold Meets Lead

Shins meet The Wandering Step would be a more appropriate title. A cool tune this. Harmony laden, nice and punchy. They've been around for three and a half years, according to their myspace site. And in that time, they've supported shite like The Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs, who they must have blown off stage.

Their single is currently out on tasty white vinyl, on Hope and Faith records. If you spy a copy, I'd treat yourself to one if I were you.

More details from www.myspace.com/buenchico

Chips for the poor - I am Warm in My Coat

I am Warm in My Coat is a nice track. Like The Minutemen or Wives - it's a neat blast of trim lo fi hardcore. Rest of it is a bit smug and self consciously cool for my liking. LSD, Who said that? is particularly bad, with its cod dramatic new wave voice over.

The Black Flash - We Love Japan

Pretty bog standard rock n roll, with hysterical, histrionical vocals. Bit pedestrian. I'm not sure why anyone would like this. Not rough enough for Dirty Water Club garage rockers, not smooth enough for the big shorts brigade. It's a bit charmless really. And the pointless middle 8 slows down and makes you want the track to end really soon.

Their T-shirts are cool though.
www.myspace.com/theblackflash

The Footlong Heroes - Flattop

"New wave sex rock" is what we're listening to here. It's actually pretty cool - I can't hear the new wave influence. Maybe they've got severe fringes or eye make up. Sounds like Copter / The Make Up with nice pingy bass line. And some of it is a bit Braniac. And a bit JSBX. Gets better as the track goes on. Listened to it twice in a row. Other tracks on their Myspace are great.

Have a listen here www.myspace.com/thefootlongheroes

The Sailplanes - Underwound

Very Superchunky this one, and a bit like The And/Ors. I like it, though the production is a bit weak. I turned it up, and that didn't help much. The fuzzy guitars in the background don't cut through enough. Cool tune though - with the vocals sounding a bit like Awful Sparks at times. I bet they're good live.

Nice to be linking to something other than myspace - www.thesailplanes.com/ for a change.

Capsula - A Boy Through the Airwaves

Capsula sound like The Argentinian Thermals. And then they sound like The Argentinian Dandy Warhols. It's almost very good, but it's a bit ploddy. If they sounded a bit more urgent, it would be an excellent track. It's still pretty good though.

Head over to www.myspace.com/capsulaorg to read all about them.

The Lusts - Poison Letter

Ramshackle Headcoats style garage rocking, replete with nice Farfisa style keyboards. They could teach The Black Flash a thing or two about proper garage rock. Sounds a bit like The Stairs and The Stones too - this is great - lots of spirit. They did a gig supporting The Chalets and Hot Puppies, which would have been worth seeing.

www.myspace.com/thelusts

The Pressure Drop - Peroxide Dreams Demo

Some nice tunes here, scoring extra marks for shambolic charm. If Good Shoes are in the boffin class at art school, making impressive conceptual sculptures, then The Pressure Drop are sitting in the remedial class making pictures with crayons and glitter. Which is the more valid though eh?

Some of the other tunes on here are a bit too Babyshambles/Libertinesy for my tastes. But Peroxide Dreams Demo is a track that's well worth a listen.
www.myspace.com/thepressuredrop

So there we go. A nice crop to begin with. Many thanks to those of you who dropped the hints (but didn't leave your names, you anonymous wonders / band members)

The Binges, The Footlong Heroes & Buen Chino were my personal faves. And The Lusts. But follow the links up the page and make your own minds up.

And keep those recommendations coming please!