Ones to watch for 2006 part 5

My Sad Captains are todays first band. They are unsigned and have played very few gigs but if Steve Lamacq can pick them out of all the demos he receives in a week, they must be something special. I first heard them discussed on Steve's music exchange with Nic Harcourt, get the Podcast on iTunes, its very useful for new bands. The band are from London but are far from the current scene, citing Sparkelhorse and Yo La Tengo as key influences. In this song you can clearly hear these but they have taken them and make them something quite special. They have a load more tunes over at their myspace, I highly recommend a visit.

My Sad Captains - All Hat and No Plans

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Secondly we have Duels (yes, ANOTHER Leeds band) who, similarly to White Rose Movement (see previous post) should really have done better this year and are being given a good chance by,along with WRM, going on tour on The Rakes now extended UK tour. Duels have been kicking around the Leeds scene for as long as anyone and I last saw them supporting the Cribs during the Summer. They came across well, better than other support act Black Wire, and certainly had the tunes and an engaging front man, who reminded me a lot of Dominic Masters from The Others. This tune is certainly my favourite of what they have put out there so far and I think has a distinctly Kaiser-esque sound to it - see what you think.

Duels - Potential Futures

Later...