Welcome advances
Bristol based five-piece Fortune Drive eschew noodly experimentalism for good old fashioned rock 'n' roll on their fan-flippin-tastic new single 'Recent Advances Vol II'. Strangely jarring time signature aside this is an impressive slab of meaty rock that cuts to the quick leaving the listener battered, bruised and in a state of exhausted ecstasy. Imagine a British version of The Strokes injected with added testosterone and you're half-way to envisioning the melodic chops of these guys. The heavy mod-ish stomp of flip side 'To The Rye' is perhaps even more impressive. A cacophonous riot of distortion, angst and blistering riffage it's the kind of song most bands would sell a relative to get their hands on. The ending is a touch self indulgent but given a judicious edit it's hard to see how this track could be left to languish amongst the also-rans of the band's back catalogue. With a Chris Potter produced album on the way and a lucrative support slot with The Young Knives in the bag, expect to be hearing a lot more from these guys in 2007.