GoodBooks - Walk With Me
[Transgressive]

It's refreshing to hear a great new band who've been fairly hyped at the minute, that don't involve the current theme of jagged guitars punk and amp hiss. Walk With Me is the splendid debut release from GoodBooks on Transgressive (the good folks who gave us Jeremy Warmsley and Regina Spektor), and is sure to cause even more attention around them.

Claiming influence as far-stretched as Kraftwerk, Pulp and Hot Chip, Walk With Me could well have been a beautiful hybrid of indie and electronics. Instead the two songs included are strictly guitar-based.

The lead track begins with a gentle, melancholic ambience and mellow guitars, before embarking on a groove-laded rhythm section. Wah guitars, cowbell and funky basslines quickly turn this into art-rock and disco-indie, before the huge crescendo of vocal shouts and chants from the charismatic frontman Max Cooke, turn all Blockheads on us.

Catchy, well-written and unlike anything their counterparts are making, GoodBooks appear to be a one-off in current music circles. A band who are certain to take-off in 2006.