Hot Gossip - Angles

Chubby lesbian Beth Ditto may be the coolest person in rock right now, but it looks like someone's trying to upstage her in the hipster stakes, for now we have not just The Gossip but 'Hot' Gossip. Judging by the name, the edgy montage artwork and the scuzzy garage rock on offer, you'd place a safe bet on them being another shaggy-haired, leather-clad product of New York or London. But no, this band hail from Milan, more renowned for its Puccini than its punk. Despite the geographical glitch, Hot Gossip would fit nicely into the currently post-punk saturated UK scene with their ragged riffs and off-beat charm, best exemplified on the Ramones-meets-Daft Punk thrash of 'Haarp'. Angles isn't particularly intelligent and certainly not groundbreaking, but if it gets the hallowed Radio 1 treatment we could be about to hear a lot more from this band. [Nick Mitchell]