Faux-nostalgia is all the rage. Chief current exponents are Brother, the new band who, against the explicit wishes of nearly everyone, have managed to discover musical potential in Menswe@r’s most quickly cast-off B-sides.

If their attempts at rekindling the not-so-golden days of the 90’s is destined for defeat, or at least mass mockery, then what of more measured stabs at reliving the past?

K-X-P yearn for the glory days of 1950’s USA, when the future seemed a bright, nuclear-driven frenzy of convenience. They have found the wafer-thin line between the past and the past’s vision of the future – a bold and difficult balance.

Their name makes me bristle with faux-nostalgia for 1950’s test pilot heroes, leaping bravely, cigarette clamped between white teeth, into experimental jet planes with names like – well, just like K-X-P.

Dragging Slo-Motornik drums and the simplest, most endless, of synth stabs in its wake, Pockets throbs with the white light and dry heat of the desert; its epic chord changes mirroring the euphoric washes of adrenal excitement felt as the temperature cranks ever upward.

Seven-minute singles rarely catch the attention, but this one’s a beauty – languid, precise, golden. Ace.

K-X-P are on tour now:
19 Jan LONDON, Lexington
20 Jan DUBLIN, Button Factory
21 Jan KILKENNY, Cleere’s Theatre
22 Jan CORK, Pine Lodge
23 Jan CORK, Crane Lane Theatre
24 Jan GLASGOW, Captains Rest
26 Jan LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club

Hey, remember the fuss about the proposed closure of BBC 6Music? No, neither do I.

But plenty were enraged at the time. A fuss was splurged all over Twitter; tiny, ironically hi-topped, feet were stamped; and online petitions – the world’s least-regarded form of complaint – were clicked.

I am pleased at this volte-face, not least because it makes BBC grand fromage Tim Davie look just like the hopeless cretin that one 6Music DJ memorably described him as to me.

Moreover, it presents me with a readily-seized opportunity for smugness, as my wildly hopeful 6 Music Conspiracy Theory turns out to have skirted around the edges of truth after all.

Dipping into Scandinavia’s vast new band resource is always reward in itself, and yet with the good 6 Music news, it becomes yet another reason for celebration. Here is Zebra and Snake, a typically bonkers Finnish band who make music that will rattle your ears with its invention, audacity and downright strangeness.

Zebra and Snake // Big Bad Drummer

There is always pleasure in re-appraising beauty, and by listening to the synth-heavy cracked pop of Zebra and Snake, we can hear the strains of all the confused brilliance contained within all the other Finnish, Swedish et al bands that have graced ANBAD’s pages.

There’s no other part of the world that I can think of which is making such deeply pleasing music, with such an absence of self-importance, and having such a good time doing it.

These are qualities that we all ought to celebrate, happily and loudly, and with the salvation of BBC 6Music, one that we can do that little bit longer. Viva 6Music!

www.myspace.com/zebraandsnake

The Mixtape in which ANBAD is Back, Wack and the Axis Of Mack…

Well, that was an extended break wasn’t it? ‘On holiday’,said the tab on the logo, but blistered fingers, aching back and a fried mind bely a misnomer of epic proportions.

In reality, ANBAD was moving flat – which, as, any morono-pop psychologist will tell you, is the second most stressful event in life, after being trapped in a lift with a hungover Mark E. Smith.

So here’s a Midweek Mixtape to soothe a troubled soul. The donkey picture returns, but this time googly eyes are tastefully utilised to convey sadness and shock. And LOLZ. The tape:

FIRST! I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper have a name that belongs to a sludge metal band, but actually the truth is even more predictable – they’re yet another tuneful, winsome and thrillingly tidy Scandinavian pop-rock band. Finland, to be exact.

I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper // A Day Like This

Spoken-word lyrics, a driving beat, squeaky synths – A Day Like This is a scrabbling, scuffling thrash-pop nugget of joy. Just as you’d expect. Excellent, inevitably.

SECOND! Daddy Lion must be some kind of rapscallion. The music demands it. Rumbustious songs like Divine are the mark of a scallywag, at least. Rousing dum-dum-bullet (IMPORTANT N.B.: not ‘The Dum Dums’) songs. Nice.

THIRD! Woozy Viper make supremely satisfying and – yes – woozy, stripped-down, sharp, sing-a-long quasi-rock/blues numbers. They are giving their album away for free. I could think of much worse consequences of a few errant social-networking mouse-clicks. Justin Bieber, for one.

FOURTH! 5 Cent Theatre Can you imagine Fiddy Cent doing Shakespeare? “Alas, poor Tupac, I knew him well…” wait – it’s 5 Cent Theatre. Ah – well, imagine Fiddy’s thesp leanings whilst listening to their excellent creep-rock and you’ll have the best of both worlds. Nice. Brrrap!

THATS IT! That’s it. Normal service resumed tomorrow.

PS: This month’s radio show is delayed while ANBAD gets its act together. It’ll be along soon, promise.