‘Word To The Wise’ opens with sophisticated upbeat blues number ‘Bump Wood’, featuring some gorgeous lead guitar work by Kirchen and equally impressive Chicago-style blues piano courtesy of Commander Cody. The Merle Haggard song ‘Shelley’s Winter Love’ is a change of pace, featuring Nick Lowe in a downbeat ballad that will have you slow dancing across the sawdust. Elvis Costello features on ‘Man At The Bottom Of The Well’, followed by ‘I Don’t Work That Cheap’; a great knock-about rockabilly number. The excellent ‘Time Will Tell The Story’ rolls along with all-American open road wonder. It’s at about this point when you feel it’s time to swing yourself back up into the cab of your eighteen-wheeler and head for Texas. Country ballad heartbreaker ‘Husbands And Wives’ pours out of the jukebox at your Houston truck stop, then it’s back on the road, as this guitar virtuoso fills the desert highway with dusty country numbers ‘Open Range’ and ‘Arkansas Diamond’. The last few tracks on ‘Word To The Wise’, are a little dissapointing – the main highlight being ‘Valley Of The Moon’. Overall, this is an enjoyable road trip through classic Americana, with a showcase of talented old pros riding shotgun.

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Bold and original, ‘Dear Author’ is a fabulous slice of psychedelic indie from the creepily titled L.A outfit ‘Darker My Love’. A flat, off rhythm chorus is reminiscent of  Syd Barrett – with the simple bass and pounding beat carrying a rather slick melody. This is great retro indie, with palpable depth and flair; like Arthur Lee’s Love, with the shoegazing, stoner groove of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Darker My Love capture that slightly heading, engrossing quality of great late 60′s psychedelic rock. Despite the mildly stalkerish tone, this is a measured and extremely catchy number. The grungy rhythm section of Tim Presley and Rob Barbato honed their skills with a stint in The Fall, featuring on 2007′s hit and miss ‘Reformation Post TLC’ album. This is a sharp and exciting California rock – ‘Dear Author’ really gets under the skin of that great West Coast psychedelia sound – and carries it forward to the present day, adding contemporary bite.

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Following a short set at Sunday afternoon music & comedy showcase, ‘The Electric Sound Cafe’, Marcus Erridge caught up with Foxes’ songsmith Nigel Thomas at The Bedford, Balham, for a quick chat.

The set itself was a tightly formed collection of well polished tunes. From the strong EP ‘Depression, Joy And A Moment Of Fame’  came the first of their work to be produced by John Cornfield; ‘Get Me’, ‘No Reply’ and the cracking indie fizzer ‘Something About You’. The intimate setting of the Bedford saw The Foxes re-jig a couple of  tracks to a more acoustic, stripped back form, which Thomas described as “less punky than our earlier stuff, with a more relaxed feel that helps bring the vocals out”. This worked especially well on the unreleased gem ‘Sweet Little Wonder’.

The Foxes came sharp-toothed from rehearsals at the remote Sawmill Studios in Cornwall, which is set amidst woodlands in an old sawmill, next to a deserted train track and only accessible by boat.  This special setting has clearly had an effect on the band: “It’s extremely secluded” says Thomas “and it really helps you focus on the music”. Having released their own singles on DIY label ‘Room 10 Records’, Thomas added that the band learned a lot in setting up their own record label:  “it acted as a helpful stepping stone”. The Foxes are now looking to work with a bigger label to help with “one big push” for the album.

The earlier, spikier Foxes sound is still alive and Thomas spoke of the story behind their ‘Bill Hicks’ single of 2009. The song was inspired by the classic Hicks skit on music, in which he compared the relative merits of New Kids On The Block to Jimi Hendrix, and extolled with visceral bombast, that bands should “Play from the fucking heart!”. In order to gain permission to use Bill Hicks’ name, the band wrote to his family to ask permission. Little did they expect the response they received. A reply came back from Bill Hicks’ family saying that they enjoyed hearing the song, and thought Bill would have liked it too. In London, for the Movie premiere earlier this year, the band even met up with the Hicks family, who continue to keep in touch. “It was a massive compliment” added Thomas.

After being invited to play a couple of benefit gigs in South Carolina and Hawaii, the Foxes decided to hire a van and equipment and set up their own mini US tour, hitting New York, Dallas and New Orleans along the road, and appealing for a free place to crash at the end of each gig. “Everyone was so warm and friendly…we found somewhere to sleep every night, with one band in Austin even handing us their fee!”

Having worked their socks off for the last couple of years, and meeting Richie Havens, swapping CDs with The Zombies and playing the Isle of Wight festival along the way, the Foxes seem to be riding on a wave of good karma.  Recording the debut album is heading towards an autumn completion, and judging on the strength of their live set and the EP, The Foxes seem to have a bountiful collection of upbeat melodies and purposeful blues-rock riffs to choose from. If it’s negative karma you’re after, then try arranging a fox hunt on the London underground at rush hour. Bad juju.

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Preceding the headliner tonight at Shoreditch’s Old Blue Last were the rather promising Savoir Adore from Brooklyn, with their first ever show in the UK. They come across as a sort of a hybrid Peter, Bjorn & John and New Young Pony Club. Getting by with just guitar, keyboard, drums and pre-recorded backing, having left two of the band members in the States, I imagine their sound would be quite stronger with the full five members, but pretty good nonetheless.

Hundred In The Hands, were frankly rather poor. With just two members (Jason Friedman on guitar and Eleanore Evendell on keyboard and mixer) there seemed a serious lack of cohesion in their set. Though the two seemed to overlap at times, the effect was individual competing musicians (and egos) with an abrasive sound that didn’t quite match up – with a ‘more is less’ approach. With a single, relentless automated disco beat hammering through the entire set, it became difficult to pick out Evendells vocals, and much of a melody of sorts. Friedman sped through a complex and intense number of changes on lead guitar, and was outstanding on bass, but for the majority of tracks, the feedback on guitar was up some much, you good only really hear a wall of distortion.

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Fitting snugly alongside the likes of Florence & The Machine, Victoria & Jacob and La Roux; School of Seven Bells’ second album includes some smartly crafted 80′s electro-pop.  Opening with the lead single ‘Windstorm’ (which is reminiscent of Coco Rosie’s ‘Rainbow Warriors’) the tone is set for a sometimes fruitful blend of pop sophistication. This is taken a step further with the superior ‘Dust Devil’, which intertwines thrusting, layered vocals with 1980s drama / danger pop grandeur. ‘ILU‘ follows, with all the hallmarks of a classic pop single. Both sweet and melancholy, this is very respectable stuff and is among the real highlights of ‘Disconnect From Desire’. School Of Seven Bells seem to have tapped into a section of the late 80′s / early 90′s, with ‘Heart is Strange’, the excellent ‘Dial’ and the rather unfortunately titled ‘Babelonia’ . The flat, haunting harmonies of the twins also work especially well on the minimalist, David Bowie Scary Monsters-phase ‘Camarilla’. When peaking, classic acts like St. Etienne or The Cocteau Twins come to mind. But less inventive than, say, the Fever Ray debut of last year, it’s the over-reliance on Stock, Aitken & Waterman style drum machine and 80′s lacquer that is keeping School Of Seven Bells downstream.

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Formed by the sons of Aerosmith axe-wielder Joe Perry, The Chrome Alligator’s, you imagine, wouldn’t need much of a ‘leg up’. But don’t let that take anything away from the solid collection of well crafted American rock songs that makes up Aerosmith: The Next Generation’s Zoo Noises. Tab The Band have a foot in the early 70s here with a brash, energetic and retro sounding rock ‘n’ roll album. Throughout ‘Zoo Noises’ you can hear the influence of The Stones, The Small Faces and Creedance. The alt-country harmony opener ‘It’s Over’ sets the tone of the album and leads us into rock number ‘Be My Valentine’ and ‘I’ll be Waiting’ has a real Rolling Stones Exile of Main Street-era sound to it, and builds into a likeable, feel good tune, with some slide guitar Keith Richards would be proud of. Highlights include off-kilter country ballad ‘Southern Town’ and the explosive ‘Drinka Cuppa Poppy’. ‘She Said No (I Love You)’, ‘Your Mission’ and the equally strong ‘Bought and Sold’ are all of high quality, and display The Moonshine Enema’s forte for excellent intros. ‘Bobby And Jane’ also stands out as a swirling and heady high-energy number. Good, solid stuff overall.

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Seth Lakeman’s new album is a surprisingly rich blend of bluegrass and Irish folk. Some excellent string arrangements offer occasions of genuine depth and atmosphere. The recession-busting opening title track offers up the rousing chorus “Hold your hands up to the sky and stand together to survive”. Add to this a winding, high energy violin, and it might make you want to riverdance on a banker’s face. ‘The Watchman’ follows, which is more of a stripped-back ramshackle ballad. ‘Tiny World’ is a jolly little ‘chase a piglet round the garden’ kind of  number, which sees Lakeman  heading along traditional folk ditty lines, with a Levellers / Pogues feel. ‘The Preacher’s Ghost’ adds a rolling, foggy drama to the otherwise rather surface tone throughout much of ‘Hearts & Minds’. Despite the over-reliance on the sort of pseudo-spiritual lyrics that seem to go down so well in coffee shops on both sides of the Atlantic, the fact it all sounds suspiciously like the Bon Jovi soundtrack to Young Guns II, and tight black T-shirts aside, there are some commendable high points here.

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Yes it’s that Charlotte, daughter of French legend Serge and the recent star of notorious horror flick ‘Antichrist’, Gainsbourg. In that movie she apparently takes a pair of scissors and…well lovely music fans, I wouldn’t want to put you off your cornflakes! ‘Time of the Assassins’ contains five different versions of the same single. Though it’s perhaps not a track strong enough to warrant four remixes, the third version – the ‘XXX remix’ is pretty damn funky. With a pulsating dirty disco beat, and lashings of head-nodding groove, this is a six-minute electro-pop gem. Gainsbourg’s smooth, but rather flat vocals are complemented by an intricate and exciting rhythm. The ‘Time Of The Assassins’ song on it’s own is actually rather bland. The chorus goes: “In the time of the assassins they say hallelujah, it’s doesn’t take a miracle to raise a boat from the depths”. Now I’ve nothing against lyrics that don’t make sense, but seriously, what the fuck does that mean? The radio edit contains fuller verses, with lines such as “I sift through the ash, I look for a sign, I open the room, it keeps me in line”. Any clearer? – me neither. Finished eating?

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‘Sashimi’ from Tuung hails a branch out into bolder and more imaginative realms. There’s an awful lot going on in this fabulous little sparkler of a single. From psychedelic ‘la la’s’, to great rock guitar riffs with twisting electronica, it’s very hard to get a track this quirky to work as a palatable single, but Tuung pull it off. Starting with a simple acoustic guitar lead, a jumbling keyboard and bass beat follows a Flaming Lips ‘Pink Robots’ style vocal. A lovely break down a little over two minutes in, returns us to the opening acoustic, before exploding into a psychedelic climax. A steady keyboard and rich guitar add a funky, rhythmic thread, holding the whole thing together. It’s a summer Bobby Dazzler, indie with a brain. Lyrics seem to follow a slightly bamboozling dream state, seemingly half chasing an elusive love and half confused adventures into the unknown. A tale of look before you leap perhaps? ‘Sashimi’ should win a lot of people over, ‘along the same lines of MGMT’s ‘Time To Pretend’ or Super Furry Animals ‘Inaugural Trams’, a truly catchy pop tickler.

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‘I pin this badge upon my chest’ hollers lead singer Will Ray half a dozen times, before direct and confrontational rock number ‘The Great And The Good’ bursts into life. ‘Conscious exists now even in the wicked’ screams the chorus and these two messages are repeated throughout! Along the punkier end of American rock that seems to be developing well on this side of the pond, Max Raptor follow on a similar vein to Green Day. ‘The Great And The Good’ is a single full of youthful exuberance, a pokey little rock number that would have any respectable mosh pit chockfull of sweaty limbs, and is certainly worth being accidently elbowed in the larynx for. The cover has a suited figure with a dinosaur’s head – a great logo to have at your disposal and well worth a t-shirt! This is dynamic stuff from the Derby rockers, without having too much to sink your teeth into.

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