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Website: http://www.littlefishmusic.com

If there's a single more likely to conjour up images of bunny boiling than this one, I've yet to hear it. Juju manages to give the impression of an artist tottering on the edge ready to fall into drug addiction or madness because at times emotion is a real bitch. The intesity is aided and abetted by Nez pounding away on the drum kit giving the song a relentless in you face feel. Little Fish have a desire to get noticed and if they continue to produce tracks like this, that desire is likely to be fullfilled. A word of caution though, the brink of madness is a precarious place to be.

Album:A Patch Of Blue Sky

Website: http://www.kevinwelch.com

There's something about "A Patch Of Blue Sky" that worries me. I hear the album, but I'm not listening. You wouldn't turn the radio off if it came on when you were driving or came up on the virtual jukebox, but you wouldn't conciously add it to the play list either. It's good Americana influenced easy listening, but it's trying to be more than that. Welch is obviously concerned by the issues that impact him and his wider community. "New Widow's Dream" should be a highly emotive tear jerker. If it were just based on the lyric it would be, but it lacks the emotional connection.

Album:Each Dirty Letter

Website: http://www.calamateur.com

There's an almost spiritual feel to "Each Dirty Letter". The album feels like a bridge between the listener and a greener field that sits on the other side of the song. At it's most primitive level, the album is a quality slice of acoustic pop, but it often goes way beyond that. This is more than comfort for the ears. It draws you in, makes you feel comfortabe and then just occasionally shakes you up just to make sure that you are still listening. These are songs that you can relate to, many of us have the sorts of family and friends that get outings in the lyrics.

Album:Dusgahd Awakening

Website: www.joydunlop.com

When songs are performed in a language you are unfamiliar the ability of the voice to carry emotion and texture becomes paramount. Without that tonal quality it's too easy for an album to become one dimensional, regardless of how beautiful the voice is. Gaelic presents additional challenges, particularly when sung by women as the language has become typecast as 'generic fantasy' by so many film and program makers. Fortunately Joy Dunlop avoids the pitfalls, "Dusgadh Awakening" is an album that is delivered with a real passion, real heart and spirit.

Website: http://www.skerryvore.com

It's funny how the bagpipes have slotted so easily into Celtic fusion. It's not that long ago you'ld have struggled to find them outside of traditional music and yet they've found a way to sit at the heart of a whole new genre. Skerryvore use pipes and percussion to drive their music forward. You can't help but move with the sound, it gets into your pysche and makes you want to dance. Throw in the fiddles and guitars and I defy you not to enjoy this. Oh yeah remember to include a few songs to give both abdn a listener a break and you've got an album that really delivers.

Album:Free Enough To Fall

Website: http://www.myspace.com/tinalie

"A stone fist is in velvet glove" would be one way to describe Tina Lie's vocal prowess. When she needs to she can turn on the power and blast out a number. Similarly when the mood takes her she could charm a bird from the trees. "Free Enough To Fall" has the classic combinations, simplicity, voice, piano, guitars. About half the songs are self penned with the others chosen to highlight and complement those. It delivers an album that might have familiar touches, but also finds the space to add a number of points of distinction. Good honest acoustic pop/rock.

Website: http://www.thomastraux.com

This off the wall song collection falls somewhere between The Cramps & the B-52s, with just a touch of They Might Be Giants for good measure. There's also a rockabilly thing that sits just below the surface. Thomas Truax is an artist with a strange take on the world and the talent to express that in song without it sounding like a b-movie. There's a certain style in pulling off a track entitled, "The Cannibals Have Captured Our Nicole Kidman", but Truax gets away with it. "Sonic Dreamer" won't be to everyone's taste, but if you're already off the beaten path...

Heroes Collection

Album:The Best Of Skiffle

Label:Pegasus Entertainment

Website: http://www.pegasusentertainment.co.uk

Skiffle is on something of a revival at the moment, it's finding it's way into more festivals and folk clubs. This Heroes Collection will help link new converts to the music's roots with fifty top classics from the likes of Lonnie Donegan, The Vipers, The City Ramblers. This was a time when music was really for the masses. Homemade instruments meant if you wanted to be in a skiffle band, you could make your own. This compilation represents those that took the next step. It's a well compiled budget recording, light on sleeve notes, but most of the music speaks for its self.

Website: http://www.thedealersonline.com

The line up has changed, but The Dealers ability to deliver good honest contemporary English folk remains undiminished. "Provenance", more a mini album than an EP, is very much a song lead album, the melodies are simply devine and whilst they conjour up images of lazy summer days, the lyric keeps you from drifting off into whistfulness. It's one of those releases that you can't help but sway to. It's got a very live and free feel to it and a glorious sense of fun. You can almost feel the smiles on the band's faces as they work their way through the set. Get the cider out and enjoy.

Website: http://www.larkinpoe.com

If nine tracks is an EP, I'd hate to think what Larkin Poe consider to be an album, whatever it is, they are selling themselves short. Consisting of the Lovell sisters, Rebecca & Megan, and backing musicians, Larkin Poe have a split personality. The band are named after a family storyteller and like a lot of stories there are tales of both light and darkness distributed across "Spring". Some of the songs have a dreamy almost fay touch to them, but this is contrasted by rockier more shadowy tracks. It's a great collection of songs and one where you can feel its roots.

Album:You Should Know

Website: http://www.benitajohnson.co.uk

With a vocal tone that sounds like it should have been raised in Bristol, Illinois not Bristol, Avon, Benita Johnson captures real soul in her voice, one it sounds like she's channelling from her heart. Sultry and seductive and sounding like she's done a deal with the bees to get a wild blossom honey feel to her songs, "You Should Know" is an album that feels like it was made for seduction. It's an album that has been two years in the making, but you can almost feel where every day, every hour has been spent. Poetic and emotionally charged it could tempt a monk from his vows

Black Helicopter

Album:Don't F#ck With The Apocalypse

Label:Ecstatic Peace!

Website: http://www.myspace.com/blackhelicopter

We've changed a letter on then title so the other reviews don't get filtered out because we used a naughty word. Black Helicopter's "Don't F#ck With The Apocalypse" is a riff laden expedition off into the world of personal freedom and independent thought. It's an album that's got a lot of anger locked away in it, but it's that controlled anger that you feel has got a purpose and direction. Consequently the album has a real edge to it, genuinely feels that it's toitering on the brink where expression gives way emotion. It's got a real, almost relentless drive to it.