You Can Turn This Around (Demo) 2009
In a world gone mad it is sometimes nice to sit back and soak up some good, old fashioned, traditional pop music, made the way only the British know how. Well now you can add to your list of options West Wales’ very own OK, a band with an uncanny knowledge of their heritage that belies their young age. Johnny Marr gets name checked in ‘Magazines’, so they probably wont mind us saying there is more than a hint of the Smiths about them, just less miserable, more up tempo and.. well .. just better! Apparently they have never heard the Housemartins, so any similarity there is just coincidence. Prefab Sprout and the Pale Fountains must have been on the stereo when they were in their prams though.

Comparing bands to others is lazy journalism, but the whole thing just oozes the innocence of the early 80s when young bands were fed up with the aggression of punk but had yet to discover samplers and 'disco biscuits'.

They come across as a bunch of lads just out to have a good time, enjoy their youth, chase girls and go to the beach; who just happen to be able to play guitars. There is no Oasis like ‘attitude’, just a happy go lucky approach to life. You don’t get to sound this good without lots of practice, but they manage to sound like they are not even trying (bastards!).

This ten-track demo is yet to turn into a CD available in the shops, but does contain the new single ‘Tell The World’, which comes across as ‘This Charming Man’ being performed by the Artic Monkeys. If you only buy one single this year, this is the one, you wont regret it (available from i-tunes from 15th June)

‘Any Other Way’ acknowledges that ‘there must be more to life than this’, but asks ‘why would you want it any other way’, presumably telling us there is no point moaning about life, just enjoy what you have got. Similarly, ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ indicates signs that not everything in the garden is rosy, but ‘no one wants to know’ so it is best to, erm, keep a stiff upper lip! Whether they are singing about falling down the ‘Wishing Well’ or ‘bringing on the good times’, the music is always chunky, upbeat and toe tappingly infectious.

The band name and even the album title, 'You Can Turn This Around' implies an invincible glass half full attitude. This can’t possibly last, life is bound to take its toll on them and they are bound to end up as miserable as the rest of us. In the mean time, you will do well to catch them now while they are still younger than the contents of your fridge. This band are definitely, more than OK.

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Essential Fatty Acids (Omega) 2007
It’s always nice when you come across something that is hard to pigeonhole and this little number is definitely a defiant little bugger. Part rock, part dance, part pop, part soul, part funk, but all quality. Formed from the ashes of Dark Chunk, this classy outfit have not been around long, only forming in 2006, but are already getting people sitting up and paying attention. The sweet soulful vocals of Suzi make this stand out to be more than just a lad’s party album, giving it a radio friendly layer but without sounding commercial. ‘Dig It’ gives us some of the funkiest bass lines ever to come out of Cardiff, with some nice wah wah and fuzzbox layered over the top resulting in a vibe that would shake any self respecting club. ‘Celebrity Burn Out’ turns on the acid jazz machine and transports us to the other side of the Atlantic, although the lyrics would make the likes of Paris Hilton blush. ‘Stop Funkin Me Around’ dips its toe in some rock pools demonstrating that if they wanted to they could turn their hands at something heavier; as it is though they are doing quite nicely ploughing a furrow that no one else in town is following at the moment. Definitely more indoor smart dress and cocktails than outdoor glow sticks and poppers, but something tells us if they wanted to, they could pump it up with the tribe.

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Alcoholic Drinks (Afro Art Records 12” VINYL ONLY) 2007
We don’t often go to the effort of reviewing singles, but we came across this the other day and it immediately jumped out and grabbed us by the scruff of the neck and had us bopping around the room. It’s a sort of jazzy soulful break-beat hip hop thing with an infectious toe tapping beat and a catchy rap laid over the top that is guaranteed to get the coolest parties bouncing. As you can guess from the title there are lots of drinking references in the lyrics, but this is cool in a way that Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping and Underworld’s Born Slippy could only dream about. It comes in Whiskey and Vodka flavour, with the vodka bringing a hint of drum and bass to the table.

With tens of thousands of tracks in the vaults of the Iguana, if pushed there are very few where we could tell you where and when we first heard them, but this one was a definite sonic JFK moment for us.

This little unit are spread out to say the least, featuring three guys from Brighton, Italy and Australia but distance has not proved to be a barrier to them mixing wicked chilled cocktails together. If you don’t wanna take our word for how good it is, this 12” vinyl only release is on Afro Art Records.. and they don’t mess with any old nonsense. In fact, don’t take anybody’s word, get ya years around it at their MySpace, then get it in to rock ya next party.

The legendary Paul Murphy has given this 12” a couple of tweaks and spiked it up a bit, but if you check their Myspace, you will find that these guys have depth and a flavour for all occasions, we will be making an effort to get as much as we can through duty free in the months to come.

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