>We’ve decided to elope on holiday for a few days, taking a well-earned* break somewhere in continental Europe where the weather isn’t so determinedly grey and lifeless. Super. I’ll bring you back a straw donkey and a foul-tasting obscure foreign liquor.

*barely deserved

It also gives us an opportunity to demolish the ANBAD New Bands Stockpile – the depository of bands that are on the list to be featured on the website, but haven’t yet. This is due to the fact that we find more new bands we’re desperate to feature than we have days to write about them. And to think that when we started this we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to find enough.

So, today brings you a whole load of new bands. Don’t ever say we don’t care about you.

Interlard – Frankly, with a name as brilliantly stupid as this, I have no idea why they weren’t featured sooner. Interlard make loud, soft, mind-shredding noise that soothes and smashes your poor, fragile human bones at the same time. Lovely, worrying and dangerously hypnotic.

The Guilty – Crashing, quirky, clattering quasi-punk that throws in synths just when you don’t expect them. They’ve got a knack for niggling melodies, nagging choruses and high energy (not Hi-NRG).

Futuristic Retro Champions – Oxymoronic name: check. Soft, fun ‘n’ sensuous synth-y songs: present and correct. Sweetly feminine pop songs of the like that there aren’t enough of in your life: in spades. Another lovely band from the steady stream of bands trickling out of Scotland. Shimmery, electro, unlikely, lovable. Great!

DJ White Noise – Collector of today’s Most Appropriate Name Award, DJ White Noise uses all those bits of the sonic spectrum that most people try to keep out of their songs. It’ the audio equivalent of soup-making with the chicken carcass and left-over veg – and with similarly tasty results. Throbbing, inventive and gently looping. A subtle treat.

Now that’s service! Four tip-top quality bands in one day! Are we setting standards of service that we’ll never be able to maintain? Oh, we don’t care – we’re eating tapas in Madrid. More tomorrow!