The center of quite a bit of attention in their native England thanks to their big win in Virgin Mobile’s Road To V battle-of-the-bands competition, Bombay Bicycle Club followed their victory with dozens of live shows, were featured in NME, and entertained a good number of offers from big labels–all before graduating upper secondary school! Signing to Island after they completed their studies, the band released “I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose”, a polished listen comprising the kind of punchy, brooding vocals-and-pounding-bass indie rock championed by Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. Also evident was a more playful side, as on the Vampire Weekend-esque “Always Like This”, a jumpy, Afro-beat-influenced number. “Ivy & Gold” comes from the Bike Club’s acoustic second installment, “Flaws”.

by Mark Emge

On paper, things don’t bode well for the UK’s Bombay Bicycle Club: Their curry house-inspired name implies a wacky and erroneous grasp of irony that wears a traffic cone for a hat; they started out playing funk songs to their school assembly; and the ink’s barely dry on their A2 certificates. BBC might be teenagers themselves but they are not just a band for their age group, as evidenced by debut album “I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose”, a record with its heart in Seattle and Portland instead of Camden, and all the better for it. The influence of US alt.gods Pavement and Guided By Voices looms large with the slacker vocals and lo-fi strumming of the guitars, not to mention some killer bass riffs in “Evening/Morning”.

by Mark Emge