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Ok, so first off I must iterate the fact that this particular run down is in no particular order, nor is it a definitive list of the best British record labels of all time (as if such a breakdown could ever be truly quantified). It is simply a list of some personal favourites within the British...MORE>>

With a somewhat odd fascination of late with defiantly obscure Alt. Folk, thanks to the likes of Fleet Foxes et al, it seems quite appropriate that W2 records have signed the latest, London, noise mongers, The Bishops, as an effort to promote what is apparently happening within the British scene & perhaps an attempt at (musical) world domination.

Sounding like a bastardised  version of The Jam & The Kinks, The Bishops are, seemingly, yet to find their voice. The sonic resemblance to The Jam is further exemplified by Mike Bishops jaunty, rhythmic guitar-led interplay with Pete Bishops  thumping repetitive bass.

With previous releases characterised by monikers such as; ’ I can’t stand it anymore’ & ‘The only place I

can look is down’, it seems the Bishop brothers have entered into a post-Thatcherite climate of social & economic apathy, and act which, if more gracefully undertaken, would prove to be particularly applicable to our recession-addled times. Such soporific self-indulgence exudes through The Bishops’ more recent work, including the homage to the city & city living, ‘City Lights’. The monotony of Indie, so it seems, as quickly as it is up heaved, reinvented & rearranged seems to always, somehow, finds it’s way back to the familiarity of style over substance. The mainstream expectantly shadowing the fruitful underbelly. A pitfall, I’m afraid to say, The Bishops fall into.

Dashingly coiffeured, skinny tied, suited & booted; The Bishops indulge in so many Indie stereotypes, it’s rather difficult to see where this band will fit-in  within a market place of so many bands perpetuating the paradigm. Whether this heavily stylized juncture is autonomous, or governed by trend & capitalistic interest, it’s hard to find anything unique or enduringly exciting. It all feels a little pastiched & faded. A crooked resemblance of a slanted recollection of a half remembered memory of an overheard musical idea.

That’s not to say The Bishops are bad necessarily, just  blah. Inoffensive & uninventive. Hapless background music I’d be unlikely to consciously switch on, but equally as unlikely to consciously switch off. A tender playfulness, like a child with two much energy, whilst initially relatively entertaining, watching them run into trees & so forth, becomes increasingly irritable as you realise this will be the state of things until a healthy dose of maturity ensues. I’m sure The Bishops will eventually become the Radio One flavour of the week, their tuneful style appealing to the orally aroused, their boyish good looks appealing to the visually aroused, but as quickly as they are heralded as the quintessential Indie ‘pioneers’ & promised the world, they will be equally as quickly resigned from favour and excluded to the depths of Indie obscurity. But perhaps I’m being a tad cynical.