This Is Music @ Henry's Cellar Bar, 25 Jan

Henry's Cellar Bar is a tiny venue, easily filled in time for the late kick-off of January's This Is Music. Local lads The Damn Shames (2*) know all the moves to put in a textbook performance, but it's a real pity this is 2007, not 1977. Thirty years ago they could have been called Gang Of Three and achieved legendary status, influencing youths-with-guitars for generations to come. As it is, they're more like elaborate karaoke performers.

Midlands three-piece The Ripps (3*) are being watched by the NME and attracting plenty of buzz for their painfully fashionable britpop moves. Is that Vince Noir on lead vocals? Their first singles are whipped out to start, treading the thin line between Blur and the Libertines, before it emerges as a set of energetic, mindless fun, like the Ramones.

My Tiny Robots (3*) are assembled from all over the UK, and do a better job of assembling their influences from all over the indie world. Nobody can quite put their finger on where they've heard it before... meaning we haven't, exactly. Particularly welcome is their final song, self-titled, a slow-rolling number with heavy keyboards, which comes as a nice break from the fast-tempo standard of the night.

O.B.E. (4*) aren't happy with that slowdown and come out all guns blazing, a funk foursome on fast-forward, tight as a kite and giving good-time vibes for the dancing assembled. Funk-rock is no one's favourite genre, and these lads may struggle to sell CDs to Sunday brunchers, but as a live spectacle they ensure that This Is Music finishes on a high. [Ally Brown]