Music Go Music (Not a Noisettes Tribute Band)

Let's get the Negatives out of the way first:

1) Crap name. It would've been marginally better had they added another Go, but it's still rubbish. Not that that held The Beatles back, mind....
2) NME covered them quite prominently in the latest issue, making this post resemble something of a bandwagon-jump. "We were listening to them ages ago" etc. When we start raving about The Drums, eyebrows will no doubt be further raised (note: we will never, ever rave about The Drums. They're Not Very Good At All).

Music Go Music are a seven-strong bunch of allsorts from Los Angeles.

Well that's enough Biog.

Their debut album, Expressions, is released on the rather trendy Secretly Canadian label in October 2009. It's an accusation (and a compliment) that will be thrown their way a lot over the next twelve months, but it does not sound like a 2009 record. Play it to your Mum and tell her it's a long-lost Abba / ELO / Queen / Carpenters album, and she will believe you. She will also absolutely love it.

There's nothing necessarily cool or progressive on show, but it's difficult to argue with pop songs quite this massive. 'Light of Love' is 'Waterloo' in all but name, although it somehow avoids falling into the pitfalls of pure pastiche. Even better is 'Just Me,' featuring a wicked bit about "spreading out my wings so I can fly" (which simply demands corresponding, look-at-me-I'm-a-Bird choreography).

Like Abba at their best, Music Go Music's music (PLEASE CHANGE THE NAME) is bright and shiny enough to hide a darker subtext. The lyrics are proper moody, especially on the hysterical yelping of 'I Walk Alone': as album openers go, it was incredibly tempting to throw the CD in the bin as she started screaming. We are glad we persisted, though, because the record's real treat is saved for its closing segment. 'Warm in the Shadows' is an exquisite, nine-minute disco epic, not too dissimilar to Blondie's 'Rapture' (as we said, there are going to get a lot of comparisons). Like Gone with The Wind, it goes on for-fucking-ever, but you're never bored.

Expect to see Music Go Music in the BBC Sound of 2010 poll. It'll probably be topped by a bloke this year, but we'll be shocked if this lot aren't in there (they've recently been signed by Mercury, and could quite easily appeal to the 6 music lot / Radio 2 / the masses who flocked to Mamma Mia). They may sound like lots of things you've heard before, but Music Go Music are still a breath of not-quite-fresh air.