Ooh, isn't Firefox fast?

I have a new browser now, and suddenly things are quicker. Why didn't I know this? Let's have a look at the new applicants Wes has added to the list today.

MAYHEW are an acoustic folk band from Edinburgh and their "Foxglove" shows why they appear to have something of a following. It's a fast tempoed tune with a hint of indiepop but not enough to hide the folkiness. The singer sounds a little like Shirley Manson and the cellist produces some brilliant sounds. It's not in my top five but it's one that I know will grow on me. Not bad. Not bad at all.

THE LIBRARY SUITS begin "Everything for Sale" with a steady beat, some doomy chords and slow arpeggios on a piano. Then they speed up and the singer comes in. His voice is not all that distinctive but doesn't distract from what is a very good rock song.

I.F.U. are the Industrial Funk Union from Philadelphia, Pa. "I Want You" is electro-funk at its finest with hints of various electronic rave subgenres I couldn't begin to put names to. I love the beat and the voice is very interesting, sort of like a more melodic (and American) Vic Goddard. Now that I've shown my age and ruined what credibility I may have had, I can say I love this record. It's yet another for my top five. (I know I have a big top five but I'm allowed to, it's my birfday).

NOVEMBER and THE CRIMINAL is my new favourite band name. They're from Worcester but sadly, "Vials" sounds like a minor new wave (not Punk) hit that might once have got to number 73 in the charts back in 1981. Sorry lads, love the name, didn't like the music.

THE WILD FURS have a similar sound but "Too Easy" works much better. The vocalist sings with a passion that echoes the delicious staccato cries of the guitars and the angry drumming. This is how it's done.

PAUL HARVEY is an original. Sure "They're On To You" could be considered to be in the mode of so many singer/guitarist songwriters from Bob Dylan to Billy Bragg, but he doesn't sound like any of them. He sounds like Paul Harvey. Maybe not top five, but certainly one I'd love to see in the charts anyway although I think I'd have had enough of his voice by the third or fourth single.

THE FINAL FEW are a hard rocking beat combo in the style of say Toto. They promise more than they deliver. By that I'm not saying they are bad, but the intro to "Fallen Star" is just so damned amazing that I'm kind of disappointed that the song itself didn't go straight to number one in my age-addled brain. Top ten though, or at least top fifteen.

THE REVERENCE are another alternative rock band. This one in a late eighties/early nineties style although it has moments when the music nods back in the direction of Wire or 999. "A Reflection" is an okay track, but quite honestly, it sounds like an album track, there's nothing distinctively brilliant about it, that could make it stand out as a single. Good but not brilliant ("My Town" on the other hand, by the same band is much closer to brilliant).

Okay I LOVE the Anime Video that "LIVING WITH FRANK" linked their entry to. I like "Abel Says", especially the guitar work. It's Heavy Metal at its most average. Sadly though, I don't love the music like I love the video.

And to finish this post, we come to DIRTY ELECTRO whose entry is "Filthy Dirty Sex Music". It sounds like Kraftwerk meet Chemical Brothers with a singer who sounds like a male version of Peaches and still it's more than the sum of its parts. At this precise moment in time, this is my favourite, the record that made Storm the Charts worthwhile. Awesome.