No*Tokyo EP
Review by Jason Waters
No*Tokyo have been around the Manchester music scene for a while now, and they seem to be doing all the right things in their quest to get noticed above the plethora of other bands around at the moment.

They have just released their self titled debut EP, so lets have a listen to what we have here ......

'Ego Healer' starts with a tight bass line and attacking riff that The Chameleons themselves would be proud of.
Daz Whittaker’s vocals are strong yet melodic, and you get the feeling that live he can do the business as front man. I'll have to go out and review them live I think.

'More Than You'll Ever Know' opens up all dubby, but any notion of that is quickly dispelled as the band move the music into a more melodic, almost psychedelic sound.

'Renegade' is where things start to get serious musically and the influences, direct or not, like The Durutti Column pour through the bands sound. This is no bad thing, 'Renegade' is a strong track and I’m sure it goes down a treat live.

'Flickering Lights' is a hyper guitar driven number, perhaps not the strongest on the EP, but certainly head and shoulders ahead of many of their peers nonetheless.

It's nice of the band to leave the best for last, and the mammoth '40 Skies' recalls the spacey vibe of bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and early period Verve, but with the unique stamp of 'No*Tokyo' definitely all over it.

My advice is to nip over to the bands website and buy this EP, consider it an early Christmas present to yourself. 5/5
No*Tokyo Online
http://notokyo.net/default.html
https://www.facebook.com/notokyo
http://www.myspace.com/notokyo
And finally ITunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/no-tokyo-ep/id425162437

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Deadbeat Echoes
Review by Jason Waters
Well, this is a little bit of an odd one. The band are working on a release, but the tracks I’m about to review are available to anyone who contacts the website directly, so it’s a release of sorts I suppose.
This band were recommended to me by a member of the veteran Manchester band, Gabrielle’s Wish, so with a recommendation like that, I investigated further.
'A Boy Amongst Men' kicks off proceedings like a tornado heading towards your ears at maximum speed. Whilst there’s not much in the way of variation on the melody, the pulsating beat and restless guitar riff are what this song is all about.

'Get Yer Blues On' has the clunky sound of 'Black Rebel Motorcycle Club', and the guitar ringing in the chorus does raise the hair up on the back of your neck. The track, if anything proves that melody isn’t the only way to get your point across. Early Primal Scream knew the same secret.

And finally, we come to 'Bentleys'. This would be the jewel in the crown if this were an EP release. The extremely camp 'wit-woo-eews' are actually quite endearing, and the whole song has radio play written all over it.

I'll be extremely interested in hearing a full length by these young lads, let’s hope one is recorded soon. 4/5

DeadBeat Echoes Online
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deadbeat-Echoes
http://www.myspace.com/deadbeatechoes
http://soundcloud.com/deadbeat-echoes