Kicking off today’s reviews with an approachable slice of jangly guitar pop courtesy of Animal Kingdom. ‘Tin Man’ is their first true opening single (‘Chalk Stars’ doesn’t count as it was only on limited release) and it hits the shops and digital emporiums of choice on July 6th.

It is a loitering little tune with a vocal that has a certain camp Neil Tennant charm to it mixed with guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place circa 1987 on some indie playlist or other. It’s the kind of thing Radio 1 wouldn’t touch with a shitty stick because frankly its listeners have the attention spans of fuckwits while 6Music might clamber all over it like a rash during a rare moment of lucidity. Pretty good.

The next single on my list comes courtesy of Nara with her latest output ‘Serenity’. I’ve encountered her before. Let’s not beat around the bush here, she is a leathery old bird who doesn’t turn up for a photo shoot without a million photoshop plugins primed to give her more touch ups than a night at Neverland. The single is a chunk of dire cod house with cliched Arabic influences. It’s described as “house influenced club friendly Middle eastern pop”, I wouldn’t mind but that’s not even a promising description. If it was a car crash you wouldn’t even stop to have a look. Avoid.

Next up comes 18 year old Chipmunk (currently revising for his A levels apparently…why did they bother telling me that? ) with his latest release ‘Diamond Rings’ out on July 6th. This one is going to get airplay but not necessarily on the strength of the rap or the guest vocal performance of Emelie Sande which while being slightly above average aren’t going to redefine your listening habits. No, the strength of this track comes from its summer drenched ska fueled backdrop which gives it a slightly infectious quality (like a mild infection but not a virulent disease). If you investigate this track it’s worth checking out the mixes which feature guest performances from Kano and Wiley (slightly more dynamic). Expect Jo Whiley and Edith Bowman to start frothing at the mouth about this track if they haven’t already.

Finally we finish with the latest release from The Virgins, ‘One Week Of Danger’ is one of those singles that will more than likely divide opinion. Mixing the stylistic influences of bands like The Strokes but with much shinier production this is the kind of track that could worm its way into dance music sets because while it ambles along comfortably in the pop/rock vein, under its suitably skinny legged attire it wears disco underpants and waits to be caught dancing in front of the bedroom mirror wearing them. Catchy!