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A 4 piece based in Victoria, Arctic have a very polished sound & some very polished songs to go with them that ought to be sitting fairly well up the charts, but the nature of the music industry doesn't seem to lend itself to many of the very good bands making it quite that far without years of hard work.

With some very fresh material, the sound & style here reminds me little of a cross between maybe Killing Heidi & perhaps The Superjesus, though with a definite identity of their own. The production & performances here are excellent & there are quite a few tracks that really stand out, like my favourite "Everytime People Stare", "Imagination", which is my favourite & "Tomorrow". I don't think it'll be too long & we'll be seeing a whole lot more of Arctic.

For more information, write to PO Box 285, Craigieburn, VIC 3064, Australia or deluc@access.net.au

BULL DURHAM - DEMO OCT 2001

A 4 piece hard rock band out of Finland, where they have produced some superb music that I've come across & here's yet another, with some very heavy basslines hanging out your speakers to dry. Style-wise, they remind me somewhat of early Fu Manchu stuff, but that's not to say that they have no more to their sound.

The opener "Price Of Love" is a prime example off this 3 tracker & the sound quality is pretty good throughout. By the time you reach "Been Better", you're really getting into the sounds, but closer "Hit The Ground" is a cool rock outing of epic proportions, all massive bass, percussion & cool lead in riffs in the tradition of Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin's most rocking moments. Very cool, I sure can't wait to hear some more from them.

For more information, write to Siilitie 6C 15, FIN-00800, Helsinki, Finland or bulldurham@www.fi

EARNEST WOODALL - PICTURES IN MIND

An artist based in New York state, Earnest Woodall has come up with an excellent concept & has executed that concept perfectly. Taken as a whole, the project was basically that Earnest visited a number of New York museums & viewed some art & he has come away obviously inspired by what he saw, putting his thoughts into music.

He's conveyed the mood of the pictures in question, utilising the name of each piece of music as the title of the painting itself, such as "The Hat Makes The Man", "Stepping Out" & "The Mystic Portal", using a number of different instruments such as the xylophone & also some electronic effects to create a very interesting album that resides more in the 'new' easy listening classical sound than in pop.

For more information, write to The Woodall Company, 1048 Pulaski Rd, East Newport, NY 11731, USA or ernie@ewoodall.com

ERIC ERSBACKEN - VARGEN TILL DITT HJARTA

A couple of years back, Eric forwarded a CD for me to check out & though it's been a while since that time, I vaguely remember that it was a pretty interesting release, but as Eric reminds me, his lyrics were in Swedish, which tended to limit my enjoyment of the songs to the music itself.

While still signing in Swedish, Eric has thoughtfully provided us with an instrumental called "Tip Tap Toe", which reminds me a lot of early Beach Boys material or perhaps late 1950s surfing movies. The rest of the album has the vocals in Swedish, which doesn't matter a great deal I suppose, because some of the sounds here, especially "Lurad, Sviken, Ledsen", which Eric himself pointed out, features a superb sounding harmonica across various parts, while "En Man" has the best feel of all for my liking.

For more information, write to Wilhelms v.3, 770 70 Langshyttan, Sweden or eric.ersbacken@swipnet.se

THE FLOREANS - THREE AT THE PRICE OF FOUR

A pretty cool album from an Italian band who consist of what I gather to be a duo with some guests on a variety of the tracks here, but it's just a little vague, no doubt lost in the translation. Whatever the case, there's some cool stuff here, comparisons fairly wide, including Bruce Springsteen crossed with The Clash & the band's own choice of reference, Elvis Costello.

Fairly near the start of the album is "Amateur Night", which has a great groove & towards the end of the album, there's a couple of interesting rockabilly sort of tracks, though one of my favourite tracks is the very cool "Simona Surfs Nude", which has a cool sound & a very catchy groove to it that will have you singing along with no problems. Apparently this is the second release for the band who have been together about 5 years & I reckon we'll be hearing more of them pretty soon.

For more information, write to Via Donatello 21, Milan, Italy or carlsch@iol.it

JENS CROSS - MIDDLEMAN

An 8 track ep or mini album, whatever you like, which shows off the band's rather excellent blend of their own original sounds, which bring forth a number of different influences, though none of these are particularly evident & I'd hesitate to name any of them that come to mind. Suffice to say, that they have a rock infused sound that will make you smile.

As their 4th release, Middleman really shows a tight band who are prepared to put their passion & emotion into the music & "What You Want" is one of the bigger highlights, sitting alongside the likes of "H.R.H. & "Little Creatures & the pick pair, though I'm also partial to "Mr Big Words". Combined with an interesting bio, this is a band who I think we'll be hearing more from.

For more information, write to Suite 107, 86 Grimshaw St, Greenborough, VIC 3088, Australia or jenscross@hotmail.com

J OTHELLO - (SELF TITLED)

A solo artist out of the San Francisco area of the US, J Othello has been associated with numerous outfits, all by the sound of it fairly hard rocking, self confessed to be influenced by a combination of Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Soundgarden & of course, Seal - which all makes perfect sense.

A pair of CDs arrived, one a 3 track single, the other a 4 track ep, promoting his sound with ease & fans of the aforementioned bands & possibly Marilyn Manson & White Zombie fans will find themselves right at home here, though there is definitely something extra here than those reference points might indicate.

The 3 tracker features "The Rooster Song", which is the one that will definitely be of interest to Marilyn Manson fans, while the softer "Aid My Masturbation" is a rather interesting softer sounding track. Pick of the 4 tracker though is opener "Ultrasexy", which is my favourite track here, repetitive, but that matters little, while "Empathy" is a pretty cool piece of rock too. I'm not too sure if there's an album on the way, but I think there's at least a good few reasons here to check this artist's work out.

For more information, write to sharoncounts@yahoo.com

KICK IN THE EYE - ROCK & ROLL NEEDS A KICK IN THE EYE

A pretty cool little 5 track ep from Canadian duo Kick In The Eye, which reminds me just a little of a couple of recent releases, but this really does sound fresh. The pair have created a pretty well updated sound on an old theme, running the gamut of styles from all sorts of rock & roll from the very early days, right up to modern times.

It's the interesting paring of vocals here that really defines the band's style, a little like some of the old B-52s material. My favourite track here is the very catchy "Stop Messin' My Heart Around", while single "Hurricane" is also very cool, though I think the closer "Thirty Miles" is another very impressive number, which I guess they all are. If you like great, no nonsense rock & roll in the old sense, then this band are certainly going to make a big impression.

For more information, write to PO Box 3192, Mission, BC V2V 4J4, Canada or kickintheeye@kickintheeyemusic.com

POCKET VENUS - MAKE IT THROUGH YOUR DAY

A pretty outstanding ep from UK outfit Pocket Venus is excellent listen, bringing to mind at least 3 different bands. First off, Manic Street Preachers, just a little of Oasis (without the attitude) & finally, Muse, all of which are great bands in their own right. Pocket Venus manage to create the vibe of these bands, while still managing to put forth their own great style.

The opening track "Through Your Day" is the one that reminds me the most of the sounds of the Manics & Oasis, while the remainder of the songs here really sit more firmly in the harder edged rock sounds of Muse, a notable track being "Like You", with my favourite being the closer "Like You Too" the pick, with an awesome closing riff. Very cool stuff & I certainly can't wait to check out some more stuff from them.

For more information, write to info@pocketvenus.co.uk

PULSATOR - BALLADS & DINOSAURS

A 5 piece out of Queensland, Pulsator have a pretty cool 5 track ep that reminds me a bit of 28 Days & also on one particular track of Regurgitator, the majority of the music here running the style of rock / rap that's been around the last couple of years.

The band also do a pretty mean sort of traditional rock on "Along The Way", but the hip hop influence seems to be brought out more often & it's here that the band excel. The opening tracks "No Respect" & "Gigantor" are the tracks that really have the guitars kicking, while closer "Dug A Dug" seems to have concentrated more on the percussion. If you're into hard edged rock, then you'll be more than happy to check out this band.

For more information, write to PO Box 710, New Farm, QLD 4005, Australia or pulsator@stylusCity.com

RELEASE - (SELF TITLED)

Coming out of Chicago in the US, Release are a 5 piece whose sound is not too far removed from a number of bands I can think of, like Train, as the band mention themselves in their press release, R.E.M. & some others besides, but they do have their own particular stamp, characterised by the great production & the fact that their music sounds very tight & well rehearsed.

There are some pretty cool numbers here, including "If I Can't Make It Better" & "Just A Victim", as well as opener "Someday", but the pick for me is a song called "The Fall", a real step above the others in both performance & songwriting passion. I think if the band can capitalise on what they have achieved on the music here, they'll be going far.

For more information, write to LFC Entertainment, PO Box 62, Warrenville, IL 60555, USA or lfc_entertainment@hotmail.com

SHOOM - DIW

A 4 piece outfit based in Israel currently, whose members have all come out of Russia. For whatever reason, they've all ended up in Israel & despite their very diverse musical backgrounds, they've produced an album not too distant from being a sort of traditional musical journey of their current home country & surrounding area.

Opening up is "Armenian Dance", which is, as the title might suggest, a fairly traditional sound not too dissimilar from some 'world' music releases that have come from Deep Forest, though without the electronic effects. The whole ep is instrumental & given the style of the opener, it won't surprise you to learn that the other tracks here are reasonably similar, with all but the title track here a blend of original improvisation on traditional tunes. Certainly something different from many of the releases I see come through.

For more information, write to "Ilia Mazia, Shoom, Yaffe Nof St 15, Jerusalem 96183, Israel or Myownsabbaba@yahoo.com or meatexz@hotmail.com

SPROKIT - FRICTION MECHANICS

Coming with the great subtitle of 'Overproduced Demos Volume 2', this is obviously a band who don't take themselves too seriously, which is always a good thing. The music here is pretty cool, sort of bringing back memories of the sadly missed Def FX, though this band are doing somewhat different things.

There's a few tracks here which really stand out, particularly the white noise fuzz guitar of "Friction Mechanics" & the cool closer "Killswitch", but my preference here was the exceptional "You Don't Think", which really has an edge that some of the other tracks just don't quite manage. With loads of heavy ended guitar & some electronic percussion & effects, this has a lot for a variety of listening tastes.

For more information, write to sprokit_mail@yahoo.com