Old Man River – ‘La’

Ohad Rein has an obvious and uplifting love of the Beatles, and ‘La’ has all the oddball romatic meanderings of a Sergeant Pepper cacophony, layered with hums, squalls, birdcalls and a crowd of supporters whose joyful enthusiasm will not be contained. The band plods merrily, the lyrics are silly and the melody rings with a familiar echo, but it’s clear Old Man River is really, truly in it for the music

www.myspace.com/oldmanriver

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The Androids – ‘Whole Lotta Love’

Those boys who wanted to do Madonna return, with an opening riff that smells a bit like Jessie’s Girl. Otherwise, they rock dogmatically while preaching about how all we need is love because the times they are a changing, and besides which, war, what is it good for? They got whole lotta ordinary, is what.

www.myspace.com/theandroids

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Architecture in Helsinki – ‘Heart it Races’

Playful beats and booms, steel drums and sweeping backing vocals can’t save the Architecture from themselves. Suddenly I am reminded of The Baby-sitter’s Club, and Dawn’s envious declaration vis-à-vis her diabetic, artistic, Japanese-American friend: “Oh Claudia,” she sighed, “You’re so wild and wacky.” Like that pretty little sugar-fiend and her wild ideas for entertaining the children of the Stepford-esque community of Stoneybrook, Architecture are just trucking along out there on the cutting edge. So wild and so wacky, you just want to club them to death like a pack of baby seals.

www.myspace.com/aihmusic

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