Lt. Drebin is on holiday. Well, one of us here at ANBAD has to have one.

Still, while he’s away, we can revisit our old friend, the ANBAD New Bands Donkey, who’s covering the Midweek Mixtape remit this week.

And so:

FIRST! Alastair Ottesen is another in the glut of dreamy jangle-drone pop that has snuck onto ANBAD recently (see posts passim, ad naseum). But Alastair – well, he’s made silky-smooth and huggable music for people who know that it’s nice to be nice. Life Is But A Dream may be the sweetest, most likeable song you’ve heard for months. Lovely.

SECOND! What is French For Rabbits? Well, the answer is, of course, lapins. Hey – why not ask us something we don’t know? Oh, the band you mean? Well, then they’re a softly shuffling pop band with dizzily swoon-some love songs that make writers like me feel deep shame for making fun of their name.

THIRD! Are Brothers going to have to change their name to Vivas Brothers? It’s all the rage these days, you know. No matter – Brother make the kind of angry/cute, vicious/tender punch-pop that will make you sit up and listen whether you want to or not. Oh, and it doesn’t sound like there are many brothers in the band, which adds a nice layer of complexity to proceedings.

FOURTH! Miaow is the moniker of a man who says he mixes free jazz, French electro and, er, saxophone. If you think it sounds like something you’d want to keep at arm’s length, you’d be quite wrong – the truth is that She Calls Me The Cat is an unusual and clever re-tread of a well-worn path. And the sax sounds really good. There, I said it.