New Blood: Mishkin

It increasingly seems that the solution to finding your niche in the grander scheme of alternative music is simply to chuck a bit everything in the mix, affix some casually indifferent vocals and hope for the best.

Mishkin embrace the spirit of the diverse, shape-shifting rock band with a gay abandon that makes songwriting sound as easy tuning up your axe, flinging on a few CDs and laying down a critically acclaimed EP in a few hours. Alas, as many an aspiring band knows, it's never quite as simple as all that: but with songs that smoothly glide between heavy and mainstream, melodic and pulverising, the 2006 release State of Mute Fear throws its marker down as an arrival for Mishkin to the national and international stage.

Those already indoctrinated into the Mishkin live experience are drawn by the tunes that command the immediate formation of a pit. The tracks then turn on a sixpence into any number of sonic departures: bass grooves, hushed melodies and vibing jazz are all in the repertoire, with an admirable array of vocal performances to boot. What else could you expect from a vocalist who lists his influences as Slipknot, Madness and Jack Johnson? Or a bassist mixing up Silverchair, The Cinematic Orchestra and New Kids on the Block? You get the feeling these guys would make up an ace mix tape, given the chance.

Going together since 2003, the five Leeds lads this year toured China, playing the massive Midi Festival in Beijing. Currently signed to indie label Grillburn, they embark on a UK tour this July, calling at Monty's in Dunfermline on the 11th and Edinburgh's Bannermans Bar on the 12th with local support. Nights of mottled rock-outs, ear-bending genre crossbreeding and dreadlocks aplenty await wherever they tread this summer.