Andy Tullock's Music Column January 2006 (2/4)

(1/3), (2/4), (3/4). (4/4).

But it wasn't only Alex Turner and co. bringing the outdatingly labelled indie to the modern popular culture, there also happened to be not one but two of the genre's greatest, yet increasingly fading, bands represented in none other then the pinnacle that is the Celebrity Big Brother House (note to Ed., you may want to add a TM or C-in-circle, or some other corporate clamps, here). Both Maggot and Preston, I assume already on first name terms in 2004/05 with most of us, became heroes in the eyes of the masses (not to mention The Sun, The Daily Star, whichever phone company sponsored CBB, and many other blinkered mainstream dictators).

This did, however, finally awaken the country, or at least it's more ignorant media, to this great army of talent that had been seething under the surface for many a year now. Boys Will Be Boys climbed the charts on request alone, supposedly anyway, our Arctic friends rode into the SunRISE, and the Brits board had announced that the legend that is Paul Weller was to be recognised with a lifetime achievement award at the over-the-tops bash. All this added to the class of 2005's amazing achievement thanks to Kaisers, The Killers, the Scissors, Franz, Bloc P, Hard-Fi and, more locally, The Padd's and Dirty Dreamers (to mention only two).

Suddenly where once was Mad Cow Disease, Prawn Sandwiches, Sushi and Kappa was The Magic Numbers, Goldfrapp, El Presidente and The Kooks. When once to be posh was to be British, as Jan '06 surfaced it was to be proud of your roots and flog them to the high hill. Now I won't patronise you much more, we all knew what lurked just beneath a surface of Westlife, SugaBabes and McFly (is it just me or are they slowly sinking to join us in the underbelly? watch this space) but all of a sudden 1994/95 was not only happening again but being referenced.

As we stand now it seems a bit much to take, I have always used The Sun's Bizarre column, Viking's playlist and the charts top 20 of being a pretty good guide of what to avoid and all of a sudden my whole iPod had appeared there.

January 2006 has now become a month that will either go down in history as the month that the merge between mainstream and offstream culture (as predicted) combined to finally enlighten a bemused country that went on to vote out all three of the so-called main parties (sorry to get political), voted to abolish the working week and brought back 60's Hippie love, or as the month when those annoying 'Indie neighbours' partied till the early hours keeping us pop folk up 'til the early hours.

Maybe I'm making too much of this, it's difficult to judge. I even find myself questioning my surroundings; has the last 2-3 years shown a gradual shift in the music main powers to a less produced, more 'natural' (not the word I'm looking for at all but, like I said, my Spell Check, and therefore Thesaurus, have broken down. An insight into my small writing ability!) form of music? Is it too much to start claiming that Jan '06, 2005, The Libertines, 2004 or 1993-95 were the saviours?

Who's to say that 'Indie' itself is music messiahs anyway, why not commercially-pleasing Pop, or future-embracing Dance? That is the beauty of Modern (i.e. 21st C.) music, opinion matters and (while ultimately they do) sales do not. Figure that one out.

Continued..... Next Page (3/4).

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	A chart-friendly anthem for the masses, the wall-of-sound vibrancy that blasts out of this beauty of a single release is the ultimate wake-up call for anybody who even remotely finds their ears attracted to high-calibre Pop-Punk music. Sugar, We're Going Down is melody and harmony-saturated to the hilt, thus ensuring that it's ludicrously catchy in the extreme, as the energy Read more...

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	Pin back your ears, one and all, and listen hard. Busting out of an East London warehouse, here the nation has a band in The Fallout Trust to be proud of. They are making thoroughly exciting music, and hopefully they'll break into the big-time during 2006. Before The Light Goes is their second single, developing as it does from its groovy mid-paced Read more...

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Music News - The Sesh Column - DJ Mak's Festive Rant
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Single Reviews - Coldplay - Talk (Parlophone) Reviewed by Steve Rudd
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