SMALL TOWN EYES is the debut album from Justin Sandercoe, a man who made his name through You Tube by creating free guitar video sessions that attracted up to 50 million hits. He also taught artists such as Katie Melua and Kathy Dennis, and even toured with Katie on her European dates, quite an impressive resume then. So, in releasing a self penned album of 14 tracks, Justin has decided to turn the spotlight on himself, and become the main attraction, but can he pull it off?

The answer is: not quite. As you would expect, his guitar work is flawless and enchanting at times, but that's about the main attraction. I was a little disappointed with the singing and the variety of  songs on offer. Some are great, others are a little weak and require beefing up with steroids. The overall style is very much acoustic/folk, and no song on the album ever ventures far from that path or offers something radically different. Therefore, if you like one song you will probably like all of them, so it's worth listening to a few if you follow Justin on You Tube and are a fan. Also if you like folk music or acoustic music, artists such as Dylan, Nick Drake, Neil Young or Ryan Adams at times, then SMALL TOWN EYES will entertain.

Opening track FOREVERGREEN begins with a shimmering guitar riff that sounds like the wind rustling through autumn leaves and speaks of finding spirituality through nature, of being helpless in the face of ones fears, and the desolation that modern society brings. It's a lovely piece of songwriting; the drums rumble along gently in the background, the bass quietly keeps the pace, but the vocals are a little flat, and it almost sets the tone for the rest of the album : nice guitar, not so keen on the voice. On songs such as LOVE AND LEVITY, a killer voice could have helped raise a  decent tune into something more; as it is, the song bubbles away nicely, but just fails to take off.

What you cannot take away from this album though, is the inventiveness of guitar playing and the general uplifting, warm vibe created; there are plenty of mellow guitar moments. Highlights include
FROM KATIE'S WINDOW, a lovely finger picked ditty that reminded me of Led Zeppelin when Jimmy Page had discovered Lord of the Rings and Valium at the same time. PAGE 99 again features gorgeous finger pinking guitar work, ' If only you could say those words, and fill my heart with nouns and verbs', and some clever lyrics. INTO THE BLUE starts with more acoustic mellowness,  but gathers pace and morphs into a rousing pop song by the end. PITY THE ROSE also gently meanders until the chorus, when things break out a bit, Justin cuts loose with energetic singing and strumming and lets rip a glistening guitar solo to round things off in the style of Neil Young.

Other high points include IMPERFECT, a track that sees Justin angry and agitated about  contemporary society and the digital age, 'Strip away personality and wash off the mark that was unique, digital makes the perfect art, but zeros and ones don't break my heart.' This song actually really suits his voice and the lyrics are intelligent and honest. There's also some atmospheric harmonica towards the end, I could imagine enjoying this song crouched round a camp fire with some friends. I KNOW is a catchy tune helped along by an energetic, shuffling drum beat, and the addition of an accordion gives it a folksy polish. FALLING NEXT TO YOU starts with guitar, drums, harmonica and reveals itself in time to be a hummable pop number with a cracking chorus, Ryan Adams would have been pleased to have written this.

Songs I didn't enjoy so much were CUTTING OUT, I TURN TO TEL HER, and WASTE THIS. I found them a touch weak and like added extras rather than the main filling. However, they still fit the general ambient, relaxed mood, WASTE THIS in particular has some spacy, warped guitar effects in the background that lowered my blood pressure considerably.

All in all this is a pleasant, relaxing collection of songs performed by a technically gifted guitar player who can write some decent tunes too. If you like his voice then you will definitely like the songs and it's hard not to be charmed by the witty lyrics and honest sentiment. I didn't really get the sense that SMALL TOWN EYES was a coherent album, more a collection of songs that have been put together, but there's enough in here to please the casual listener. The general sentiment is one man with a guitar just saying what he thinks; feeling helpless in the face of comercialisation and the onslaught of technology, and coming to terms with friendships, relationships, himself even. So if you're a fan of Justin on You Tube then I'm sure you will enjoy this, if not, give him a listen, he has some good points to make, and some good tunes.

Lawrence Arabia may be a new name to some people from outside New Zealand, but James Milne has been around acting as his musical guise since 2003. His self titled debut album had success and lead him to be nominated for several Bnet awards.

The latest album from Lawrence named 'Chant Darling' is described by himself as “New old fashion pop music” which suits this album down to the last pop treble fuelled guitar riff. The opening track is a melodie driven harmonic song named 'Looking like a fool', simplisticly dramatic, telling a story of a drunken chase of a girl, which ultimately ends with him looking like a fool. 

James Milne has tried his hand in many areas of music, having been involved with the successful pop group The Brunettes, toured with Okkervil River and Feist, and composed music for the theatre and film, leaving us with Lawrence Arabia's latest outing that shows an arrangement of different musical styles and instruments.

'Apple pie bed' is a catchy happy go lucky track that'll have you tapping your foot as you dress for a night out on the town, a song about a love that has taken over, the guitar riffs are a swing back from a 60s pops song with the high pitched harmonies to match.

The humor adopted throughout the album makes it even more of a joy to listen to, he seems not to care not for his broken heart and instead decides to turn it into something worth making fun of.

'The beautiful young crew' a song that stands out as a whistle along with me track has a chorus which marches into “We love each other/but we hate each other/we're afraid of each other/because we want to screw each other” and shows what kind of album we're dealing with... a happy look on a love lost.

The album is a joy listen to, from start to finish. Capturing a new 60's pop which will undoubtedly stick around for a while yet. Lawrences musical CV is written within the album and his dramatic songs sewn with witty humor make this album a must.

One of those stateside success stories that you read about and find truly hard to fathom. Ingrid Michaelson is a fresh faced female singer/songwriter whose debut 2007 album GIRLS AND BOYS sold over 400,000 copies on her own Cabin 24 Records label. From that record, single THE WAY I AM was used in a major Old Navy advertising campaign whilst KEEP BREATHING featured in the 2007 season finale of Grey's Anatomy; all of which prompted single sales of 1.5 million.

A support slot on the Dave Matthews tour has seen her playing to 20,000 capacity arena crowds recently and her placing as history's most successful unsigned artist led to appearances on the likes of The Jay Leno Show, Conan O'Brien and Good Morning America; not to mention features in magazines like Billboard, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

New album EVERYBODY sees Ingrid Michaelson aiming to repeat that stateside success over here in the UK, bolstered by her biggest UK show to date at London's Scala in late November. On listening to EVERYBODY though, the Ingrid Michaelson success story is a little hard to understand, her unassuming brand of gentle pop folk sounding about as middle of the road and vanilla as can be. Making the likes of KT Tunstall seem like a sneering punk rock anarchist, Michaelson croons pleasant melodies over jaunty guitar chords, the gentle patter of drums and the occasional orchestral swelling. Openers SOLDIER and EVERYBODY sound about as thrilling as your average X Factor or Pop Idol wannabe, Michaelson failing to establish herself as anyone particularly original, fresh or inspired; the sound of any number or similarly bland folk pop chanteuses out there doing extremely similar sounding things right now this very second.

The more downbeat ARE WE THERE YET is a more mournful and introspective number, yet imbued with the same sense of over familiarity and blandness; Michaelson again failing to ever really stamp a sense of her own personality on proceedings. The piano led SORT OF plays out like a watered down take on the quirky pop of Regina Spektor, although obviously stripped of those quirks that makes her own particular brand of pop so distinctive and ear popping. INCREDIBLE LOVE sees Ingrid Michaelson at least attempting something a little more inspired, dabbling in down tempo beats and the odd Beatles-esque orchestral touch; a step in the right direction sure, but nothing the likes of Imogen Heap, Sia or Zero 7 aren't already doing with a heap more success, invention and class.

The sweetly sung folk of MOUNTAIN AND THE SEA is a much more successful direction for Ingrid Michaelson, the simplicity of the melodies and massive pop hooks that anchor the song positioning her as a kind of female equivalent of Ben Lee; the most charming and sprightly moment of EVERYBODY and a direction you can't help but wish she'd explore further. Elsewhere here though, the likes of MEN OF SNOW, THE CHAIN and SO LONG see her retreating back towards the bland and middle of the road, songs that pass by with more a whimper than a bang, sadly lacking that much needed charm and simplistic innocence.

The closing trio of songs do up the ante somewhat thankfully, ONCE WAS LOVE marrying a Supertramp piano stomp to gentle pop folk tropes, LOCKED UP benefitting from a bombastic gusto that deftly blends Tori Amos and Regina Spektor and the climaxing MAYBE, sounding like the kind of angsty teen drama soundtrack that first catapulted Ingrid Michaelson to the heights she finds herself at today.

Despite a scant handful of tunes that highlight her potential, EVERYBODY is a record that feels far too bland and unassuming to impress. Ingrid Michaelson has produced a collection of songs that stick firmly to the middle of the road here, a record that fails to showcase this singer/songwriter as someone with an original sense of personality or sound she can truly call her own. Polished and slick for sure, EVERYBODY feels more like a by-the-numbers marketing experiment into smooth folk pop than a record to cherish, ultimately Ingrid Michaelson lacking that much need spark of magic to impress here.

One of those stateside success stories that you read about and find truly hard to fathom. Ingrid Michaelson is a fresh faced female singer/songwriter whose debut 2007 album GIRLS AND BOYS sold over 400,000 copies on her own Cabin 24 Records label. From that record, single THE WAY I AM was used in a major Old Navy advertising campaign whilst KEEP BREATHING featured in the 2007 season finale of Grey's Anatomy; all of which prompted single sales of 1.5 million.

Another band mining the sixties era pop basement of the Kinks and early Beatles, The Echo Session are a Glasgow based outfit treading very similar musical territory to the likes of The Coral, The La's and The Zutons.

Having played gigs around the UK for the last few years and building up a sizable following, TELL ME is the first fruits of this bands recorded labours; a jaunty sounding throwback to Britpop unfortunately.

With quirky country flecked acoustic guitar work providing the musical backbone and mockney accents providing the vocals, The Echo Session sound more parody than anything else here, their Beatles by way of The Kinks shtik sounding way too forced and arch. For all it's quirks and influences, TELL ME somehow forgets to add much in the way of hooks either, The Echo Session throwing up something way too forgettable and slight here to ever really truly resonate.

TELL ME is an ultimately forgettable sounding slice of sixties aping pop parody, The Echo Session doing little to throw their own spin on proceedings here.