COUNTRY ROADS

Hermes House Band

Microwaving. A target for clay-pigeon shooting. A mirror for a budgie. Cutting up for use as a jigsaw. A skating rink for a gerbil. A miniature dart-board. A drip-mat. A frisbee. All of these uses and more besides are much more preferable to putting this godawful runt of a single into your CD player and actually listening to it. It’s an Identikit Female Euro Dance Singer singing a John Denver song in the style of DJ Otzi. This song makes me feel sorry for John Denver (even in his current musically inactive state) and I never thought I’d feel that. Thanks a lot, Hermes House Band.

CATCH

Kosheen

How good are Kosheen? Well, they’ve released an album and it’s pretty damned impressive. How many dance acts release even half-decent albums? Exactly. If you’re expecting another Hide U you might as well stop reading now. On the face of it, it sounds more commercial (yikes), but it’s a bit more laid-back (a tiny bit, anyway) and still intelligently done. Care and attention have gone into this, so it has to be a hit. It hasn’t really got any other choice.