Mystery Jets - Twenty One

The first Mystery Jets album was brimming with potential but weighed down by pretensions and affections that didn't really suit them, no matter how quirky they were as a band. Hailing from Eel Pie Island and featuring father and son Henry and Blaine Harrison, the Mystery Jets had a bunch of decent singles with wonderful names like You Can't Fool Me Dennis, but when it came to album Making Dens they struggled for an identity, something that Blaine has since admitted: "I love what we did on Making Dens, but it's almost like we were wearing other people's clothes on it. It was really just a collection of songs that we'd been playing live - we were young and we didn't really worry about how it was going to hang together." Other than questioning how young a band with your dad in it can really be, it's refreshing to see a musician admitting mistakes, and thankfully Twenty One is the sound of a band fully focused on their strengths and cutting out all of the problems. Part of the weakness of Making Dens was that the Jets were just a bit too enveloped in the 'London music scene', and it was all just a bit too phoney, and they have ditched some of those Cockney quirks here to make an album that is cohesive and fun from start to finish. Replacing the prog-rock affectations that didn't suit them before is a more relaxed approach that takes in slightly less 'cool' influences: "Basically one of the few things that we all agree on is Michael Jackson, especially the stuff produced by Quincy Jones. We're all loving 80s power ballds too. Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark. Phil Collins." Most of that, and particularly those last two words might strike fear into the heart of any self-respecting indie fan, but fear not, because Twenty One doesn't sound like Phil Collins, but nor does it sound like a poor man's Pink Floyd either. Part of the reason for the shift has to be the sidelining of Henry Harrison, who is no longer a part of the live act even if he still contributes to the writing and recording. With the younger members to the fore, Twenty One is full of great exuberant songs like recent single (featuring Laura Marling) Young Love and the wonderful Flakes. The Michael Jackson/Phil Collins influences are not entirely obvious other than a generally poppier approach to production and choruses, with edgy indie guitars still very much to the fore, even if they occasionally go a bit U2, like on MJ. Ironically, it has taken a more youthful approach to help the Mystery Jets come of age, but the effect is very welcome and this is a very good album.

The Whip - X Marks Destination

The Whip could hardly be more Mancunian if they made an album calling 'We're From Manchester We Are', so it's no surprise to find that their debut album is full of references to great Manc bands before them, most notably New Order and Happy Mondays. Bruce Carter and Danny Saville have been here before of course, with Nylon Pylon, who were also linked to New Order at every turn, and some of their songs survive with The Whip, most notably single Sister Siam. The comparisons to Sumner, Hook et al are something so obvious that they hit you in the face, as with Frustration, which couldn't be more NO if it tried, but at other times The Whip sound worryingly like someone like Reverand And The Makers, like on opener Trash, which also brings to mind Body Rockers. Not a good comparison if you want to be taken seriously, but Carter's gruff vocals and simplistic lyrics don't help. This is the problem that The Whip have, because when they sound too obviously like they are ripping off their hometown's musical legacy, they are opening themselves up to criticism, but yet that is also when they sound at their best. There is more than that to them of course, and Save My Soul is a pretty decent slow-paced electro-pop song while early singles like Divebomb and Muzzle #1 are excellent dance tracks. It's hard to know entirely what to make of The Whip, mainly because they don't seem to know entirely what to make of themselves. There's so many influences here and too little real cohesion, which makes X Marks Destination a fun if frustrating listen, but if they can build on it, there's still potential for them to be the kind of great Manc band they want to be.