Little Man Tate - About What You Know (Yellow Van) (WEB REVIEW)

A Sheffield band with self confessional lyrics on the grim realities of living in an English Northern town. Sound like anyone you know? Forgive me for not jumping for joy at the prospect of another in a long music industry production line of soundalikes to "This Year's Biggest Band." What you're actually getting though, is a self assured debut that, while having more than a passing nod and a cheeky wink to the same school of references you would expect, is actually pretty fresh sounding. You know that these guys have grown up listening to Pulp and The Jam but there's a swagger and confidence that marks them out as more than just indie guitar also-rans. 'Man I Hate Your Band' and 'Sexy In Latin' are singalong standouts but the album as a whole does at times come across like it's trying just a bit too hard. This isn't ground breaking stuff by any stretch and it would be easy to label them as also-rans before they've even begun, but on this evidence the future is looking pretty good for them. [Garry Thomson]