For goodness sake, what is it with Katie Melua and her love of transport, when she’s not rabbiting on about five million bicycles or throwing herself to the bottom of the sea for intimate gigs she’s releasing singles like her current one “If You Were A Sailboat” which is out on the 24th September. Sadly the words twee and sickly were invented for records like this, more of her middle aged ramblings sung in her undeniably sweet and innocuous tones only this time with aided and abetted with some frankly horrific lyrics although the line “if you were a piece of wood, I’d nail you” did raise something of a puerile chuckle in these quarters. Terry Wogan will love this and will doubtless hammer it to pieces on his breakfast show, the rest of us however I would say…have one listen…laugh…then walk away.

London 4 piece Rushmore throws their hat into the ring with the new single ‘Last Chance’ released through Mercury on September 17th. Now common sense tells me that given my tastes in music I should hate this with a passion, yet strangely its an endearing little toe tapper that given two or three listens should seep inoffensively into your grey matter, maybe it’s the fact that the chorus owes more than a passing nod and wink to The Rolling Stones number of yore ‘The Last Time’ that gives me the guilty pleasure factor. For those that fancy seeing this lot play you can find them playing The Enterprise in London on the 20th Sept.

Sheffield coat tail chasers Milburn release their new single ‘What Will You Do (When The Money Goes)?’ on September 17th. Not a bad little offering either alas they will always be plagued by Arctic Monkeys comparisons and its understandable because vocally Joe Carnall sounds like he was hatched from the same egg as Alex Turner and musically they follow a similar template (both musically and lyrically) but in truth this isn’t bad. The question is, will they be able to stand and shine on their own merits or be lost in the current trend of Sheffield offerings. Still for now, this does get hearty thumbs up from this quarter. Milburn will be playing the Astoria in London on the 27th September.

Finally the Warp stable release a sophomore single ‘Hollow Men’ from Gravenhurst on September 17th. Tasty it is as well, coming on like a cross between early doors New Order before they discovered synths and an eerie wispy Ian Brown styled vocal. However it’s inflected with sufficient dark energy and drama to give it an identity of all its very own. Definitely my must have recommendation of this bunch. Gravenhurst are playing The Luminaire in London on Tuesday 30th October. Nip along, should be worth a gander.