For reasons unknown, I often get asked for advice from new bands. If they knew the truth – that I’m making it up as I’m going along, and so is everyone else – then they might not have bothered.

In the end, I relented, and interviewed a load of musical movers and shakers in Manchester, which resulted in this series of Edu-tainment ‘how-to’ articles on BBC Introducing, and this puff-piece on Amazing Radio about how not to annoy bloggers.

So, yes, it turns out that there are rules to follow – or at least truisms that generally work. The information is worth sharing, and I hope that, at the very least, new acts play fewer Battle Of The Bands nights as a result.

The caveat to all of the advice and techniques listed above is that occasionally someone like D/R/U/G/S saunters along, releases a load of songs online without fanfare, and then people start beating their door down, clutching handfuls of non-sequential banknotes.

Every music blogger reacts to a band’s approach differently. I can’t put my finger on the exact reasons, but when Terence from Pixels got in touch, I expected the worst. Sorry Terence. You’ll be as glad as I was to know that I was very, very wrong:

Maybe it was their photo? The description of their music? I don’t know – it was just a vague feeling. But Polythene smashed any doubts into smithereens and reminded me of the reasons I run ANBAD: to be happily surprised just in this manner.

Polythene somehow occupies half a dozen different pop genres all at once. Ostensibly a Vampire Weekend-ish pop number, on closer inspection it turns out to drag ideas from jangle-pop,with a vaguely hip-hop rhythm and an entirely disconnected outlook.

Pixels are from London and Liverpool, and, without wanting to generalise, take the boldness of the former and the unparalleled pop hooks of the other. Great.

More Pixels: soundcloud.com/pixelsmusic