this week's post ...

Datarock
Give It Up new single 18 may
Datarock's second album 'Red' is due in June, from it the first single, the 140bpm 'Give It Up'. Another catchy elctro dance floor tune which could well cross-over as a pop hit. Perhaps not as catchy as Fa Fa Fa there should be enough interest for Fredrik and co. to progress.

Depeche Mode
Sounds Of The Universe new album
Depeche Mode won't be at Glastonbury this year tempted though they were. It may seem strange to some, they turned down the offer as they felt the line-up wasn't right. It's important to have a line-up that gells, it makes the whole seem greater than the sum of parts. Anyways, their new album is packed full of new Mode faves like the dark no.24 hit single 'Wrong'. Then there's 'In Sympathy', 'Corrupt', 'Hole To Feed' and the opener 'In Chains'. A fine return.

Gaslight Anthem
The '59 Sound new single 15 June
Here's a good song from The Gaslight Anthem. The 166bpm title track of their 'The '59 Sound' album is paced up and has a little bit of the 'goose bumps' around one or two lines and that can't be a bad thing. The B-side features their covers of Pearl Jam's 'State Of Love & trust' and 'We Came To Dance'. Hit potential

Gathania
Blame It On You new single 15 June
Here's another 140bpm dance anthem from Hard2Beat the label that's given us Basshunter and September. 22 year old half Swedish half Indian former waitress Gathania has a passion for seventies disco like Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang, Jacko and The Bee Gee's so it's no surprise to find this is another tasty dancefloor draw from Hard2Beat. The radio friendly 'Blame It On You' comes in nine mixes with help from Bimbo Jones, Wideboys, Ash Howes and De-Grees. Hit possibility

Gossip
Heavy Cross new single 15 June
Beth Ditto and Gossip are back with a long awaited new song 'Heavy Cross' on the 15th June and their new long player 'Music For Men' a week later. 'Heavy Cross' - perhaps not as immediate a hit as 'Standing In The Way Of Control' should see a return to top forty duty for the band and there's plenty of remix and even megamix potential. Hit

Green Day
Know Your Enemy new single 27 April
A fine 128bpm march along comeback tune from Green Day. Already charted for three weeks a physical single due this week and the album '21st Century Breakdown' on FRIDAY, yes Friday 15 May. Divided into three acts "Heroes & Cons", "Charlatans & Saints" and "Horseshoes & Handgrenades", the tour of the album promises to be an amazing show. The only questions remaining .. "do you know the enemy?" and what do they mean by that?

La Roux
Bulletproof new single 15 June
Oh yeah Ellie's here to stay, for a while at least. I wouldn't be surprised if 'In For The Kill' was number one next week as it batters down resistance from radio boffins and the like and here comes the follow-up. "This time baby I'll be bulletproof.." another catchy electro dance tune, this time around 122bpm. Top two, number one - possibility!

Ladyhawke
Back Of The Van new single 18 May
A great single and here's a new gimmick, a limited run of only ten vinyl singles ... ten! Ladyhawke's self titled debut album is sitting pretty in the album chart with over 100,000 sales to date and the prospect of a new hit single should lengthen it's stay. "You set me on fire ..." with a little luck the 132bpm 'Back Of The Van' should see the front of the top forty.

Marilyn Manson
Arma...Geddon new single 18 May
Hey I like this, if I didn't know it was MM I'd think it was a cute pop tune with an effected vocal. There's a twangy guitar line following the quirky vocals, "suicidal" and Manson follows The Clash and Def Leppard into the charts with a variation on the A word. The 142bpm 'Arma..Geddon' may be a little too pop for his hardcore following, but look there's a big future in mellowing as Alice Cooper has proved. Hit

Soft Toy Emergency
Critical new single 15 June
Here's a really cheeky, catchy song, an electro dance floor gem from Liverpools' lushly named 'Soft Toy Emergency'. 'Critical' is an iresistable debut travelling at 137bpm with coy female vocals "You're positively over it..". See Jen vocals, George bass, Luciano synth, Andy guitar and Will drums on tour at Brighton's Great Escape and Liverpools Sound City. V good, hit potential.

Tigers That Talked
Black Heart, Blue Eyes new EP 1 June
Another off-beat collection from the Leeds outfit Tigers That Talked led by Jamie Williams. A 'ramshackle folk rock of Arcade Fire', Ennio Morricone, Sigur Ros and The Cure. A stand out track, not sure if it's strong enough to break through but they're heading in the right direction.

Tori Amos
Welcome To England new single 18 May
'Abnormally Attracted To Sin' - judging by our tabloid's that would seem to mean normal. It's twenty years since Tori Amos arrived in pop consciousness with an accapella song about rape. 'Me & A Gun' was the story of her being raped in LA when she was 21. After she performed at a bar, a patron asked her if he could have a ride home. She obliged, and he raped her at knifepoint (many journalists mistakenly state she was raped at gunpoint, possibly due to the song's title). She escaped. Years later, in London, Amos saw the film Thelma and Louise and was stirred. On the way to a show, she wrote the song in her head. That night, she performed the song a cappella. Tori Amos explains the experience: "I'll never talk about it at this level again but let me ask you. Why have I survived that kind of night, when other women didn't", she says. "How am I alive to tell you this tale when he was ready to slice me up? In the song I say it was 'Me and a Gun' but it wasn't a gun. It was a knife he had. And the idea was to take me to his friends and cut me up, and he kept telling me that, for hours. And if he hadn't needed more drugs I would have been just one more news report, where you see the parents grieving for their daughter". "And I was singing hymns, as I say in the song, because he told me to. I sang to stay alive. Yet I survived that torture, which left me urinating all over myself and left me paralysed for years. That's what that night was all about, mutilation, more than violation through sex". "I really do feel as though I was psychologically mutilated that night and that now I'm trying to put the pieces back together again. Through love, not hatred. And through my music. My strength has been to open again, to life, and my victory is the fact that, despite it all, I kept alive my vulnerability". Again we find Tori Amos in sombre mode with a loyal following Tori should win many new fans with her new album from which comes this 73bpm single 'Welcome To England'. A unique talent, superb.

Veronicas
Untouched - MCH Remixes new single 25 May
Well the original track is included here and at 178bpm it's an interesting to discover three Manhattan Clique Remixes around 132bpm. Australia's next sexy exports are hot on this, yet 'Untouched' too. Hit potential

Vincent Black Lightning
Cowboy John / Engineering Days new single 25 May
Stephen Hartley (previously of punk band The Notsensibles', Lee Jones and Bish Davies are releasing a couple of strangely off-beat tracks here. The 130bpm 'Cowboy John' is quite an unusual 2'30". Then there's the bizarre 'Engineering Days'. This should win alternative airplay and there's a possibility of charting.