140 characters

The new albums around at the moment reviewed in 140 characters or less, Twitter style.

Mumford and Sons- The Cave and The Open Sea

Rounding off their trio of EP's with their finest song to date ('The Cave') and standard B-sides. All well and good but an album now please?

Asher Roth- Asleep In The Bread Aisle

Laid back and confident but ultimately shallow. Will sell well to Uni students who identify with being a middle class urban wannabe.

Camera Obscura- My Maudlin Career.

Beautiful throughout- the Scottish sextet should hopefully achieve mainstream adulation with this, their finest work to date.

Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca

It's no coincidence that the female led tracks are the best here. As intriguing as it is frustrating Bitte Orca is its own worst enemy.

Golden Silvers- True Romance

Not as good as the demos promised- have ruined 'Arrows Of Eros'. However the twisted song-writing aligns them nicely as Mystery Jets Jr.

Noisettes- Wild Young Hearts

A nice mix of glossy pop songs alongside retro-soul. It's bizarre they are now a 'big' band but nice while it lasts. Car ad song still bad.

PJ Harvey & John Cale- A Woman A Man Walked By

Black Hearted Love promised a return to guitar slaying form, however this is a mish-mash of her recent output. For hardcore fans only.

The Virgins- The Virgins

Utter rubbish. Pointless wannabe hipster (imagine that?!) preening. Wants to be The Strokes sounds more like a really bad 80's boy-band.

That was all a bit negative wasn't it? Oh well, hopefully forthcoming albums from Jarvis, Patrick Wolf, Passion Pit and Maximo Park will impress. Not to forget the already reviewed Maccabees, Horrorsand Metric.

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Take my picture by the pool 'cos I'm the next big thing. (a.k.a Tips for 2009)

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Florence and The Machine
As accessible as she is eccentric, flame haired Florence Welsh has 2009 there for the taking. Alongside her band The Machine she creates an unrestrained and uplifting melodramatic pop sound and boasts an astounding voice that will enamour all that come across it. Having already released two singles in 2008 (‘Kiss With A Fist’ and ‘Dog Days’) Florence will release her debut album in 2009 produced by Klaxons and Arctic Monkeys main man James Ford. As if to add more certainty to her impending success Florence will be opening the NME Awards tour in January and receive the Brit Award Critics Choice award in February. Trust us, this will be huge.

Passion Pit
Passion Pit hail from Cambridge, Massachusetts and like MGMT look set to take eccentric-pop to a stratospheric popular level. Comprising elements of Prince and The Postal Service through Hot Chip and Flaming Lips Passion Pit are incredibly easy to fall in love with and to. The bands ‘Chunk Of Change’ EP hints at huge potential with tracks like ‘Sleepyhead’ and ‘I’ve Got Your Number’ transporting the listener to a far out state of magic and intergalactic wonder. Passion Pit tour in February with fellow Gigwise tips Hockey in a show not to be missed.

La Roux
Little Boots might get all the headlines in ’09 but we have a sneaky feeling La Roux will be making all the best beats. Hailing from Brixton, La Roux was originally set to be a singer/ songwriter (yawn) before a producer friend urged her to embrace the 80’s music she loved and make attention grabbing music. Doing exactly that pricked the ears of French dance gurus Kistune and they released the single ‘Quicksand’ in December. Her love for Human League and Blondie alongside The Knife and Chromeo is clear for all to hear. With a radio friendly pop aesthetic mixed with dancefloor ready tunes La Roux is a seriously cool contender.

Golden Silvers
This one could go either way. On the one hand Golden Silvers finely crafted sunny pop songs could break big in 2009 and soundtrack the Summer festival season and have Radio 1 on speed dial, on the other hand their lack of a guitars and off kilter outlook could see them bypassed by the record buying and see them side tracked like their brothers in arms Mystery Jets. Either way though Golden Silvers look set to make uplifting, life affirming music about young love and continue with their successful London club night Bronze.

Spinnerette
Brody Dalle, Ex-Distillers front woman and Mrs Josh Homme, has been frustratingly quiet for the past few years. All that will end in 2009 however when she returns with her new band Spinnerette. The bands sound is distinctly familiar to Distillers fans but more mature at the same time. Dalle’s rasping howl has been replaced by a smoother croon (though she assures fans the shriek will return after 6 months on the road). An albums worth of material has been written and recorded with QOTSA guitarist Alan Johannes including ‘Valium Knights’- an early stand out track.

Other bands to keep an eye on.
White Lies, Hockey, Mumford and Sons, Temper Trap, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Twisted Wheel, Telepathe, Titus Andronicus, Sky Larkin, Filthy Dukes, Pulled Apart By Horses, Gold Teeth, Little Boots, Lady GaGa, Ox Eagle Lion Man, Baddies, Wet Paint, Flashguns, Three Trapped Tigers, Ipso Facto, Fan Death, Everything Everything.

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Singles- Oct 20th

Bloc Party- 'Talons'

One of the stand out tracks from ‘Intimacy’ this is a dark slab of agit-pop that Bloc Party really excel in. with the tension and scratchy impatience of the ‘Silent Alarm’ days ‘Talons’ sounds like classic Bloc Party but added into the mix is the more experimental drum machines and heavy guitars symptomatic of ‘Intimacy’. It seems Bloc Party will get lost amongst the other big hitters (Kaisers, Razorlight, Snow Patrol) but with tracks like ‘Talons’ you can see they are progressing with every album and becoming one of the best stadium sized bands in the country.

Port O'Brien- 'Close The Lid'

Bright Eyes tourmates and M. Wards favourite new band release a fantastically upbeat indie pop riot that sounds effortlessley fun whilst retaining Pitchfork cool points with it's rustic charms. Brilliant fun.

Laura Marling- 'Night Terror'

Thank God she didn't win the Mercury prize. Whilst Elbow were a well grounded and established band that will only benefit from the attention and scrutiny you can't help thinking Laura Malring migh have crumbled. So ethereal and ornate her songs are small citadels of beauty, barely holding themselves together and 'Night Terror' is no different. A slow burning epic it swirls and soars whilst remaining intimate at all times. Stunning.

The Virgins- 'Rich Girls'

Proving that NYC still has a pop side amidst the onslaught of the art influx of Brooklyn The Virgins are channeling a sound that is more indebted to The Strokes than Converse ever will be. Laid back funk pop is The Virgins brand of music and it's by no means bad but it all seems so unnecessary. The fact I could name you ten bands from New York who are better makes you wonder how this lot got any attention in the first place.

Golden Silvers- 'Magic Touch'

One of the bands who have 2009 there for the taking are Golden Silvers. Following the brilliant 'Arrows Of Eros' is 'Magic Touch'. A more slow paced effort but still packed with al the melody and eccentric pop this is another good sign for the future of a very promising band.

'Night Terror'

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