Late Of The Pier - Space And The Woods / Focker

You have to hand it to Late Of The Pier - they are a pretty ballsy group, considering they are signed with a major like Parlophone. Regardless of such a titanic-sized name behind them, the Castle Donnington quartet are more than happy making weird and wonderful music, that skips towards the more baffling side of indie.

'Space And The Woods', you may have heard before (it was the band's debut), but here it has been revitalised and re-recorded with a little help from co-producer Erol Alkan. Like a futuristic Franz Ferdinand (who incidentally, say they are trying synths on their next album) performing A-ha's 'Take On Me', Late Of The Pier bridge the gap between electro-indie and art-rock. It's all space-age synth noodlings, disco-wised drums and angular gee-tars, laden with a great hookline.

'Focker' is the real reason to snap-up this single though - it's the musical form of someone suffering a seizure and its mental electro-jerk will have you as confused as much as it will make you dance, so bizarre yet infectious are the freakish qualities. Part synth-pop, electro, house and 8 bit mayhem, part art-rock, part hair metal - you get the idea, it's as diverse as it is strange.

By right, because of their interesting ideas and cross-pollination of musical genres, the band should deserve some success. But will the mainstream-buying public be so accepting? Doubtful if they keep giving us songs like 'Focker' or last single The Bears Are Coming, as they are not as easy on the ears as say Bloc Party or Foals. 'Space...' though, could be a hit in the making, or at least a dancefloor smash at yr local indie club.