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‘Cheers dude, urmm.. we’re all about rocking out and having a great time. We play fun time British pop rock, sometimes fusing different twists such as dance music and the 80′s into different songs.’ was the reply given by my latest band to download when I asked what they were all about. Saving Aimee, a Hertfordshire and truly British sounding band, recently released their debut album ‘We’re the good guys’, and amazingly fill the void in music between indie, punk, rock and dance. Fun time British pop rock brilliantly mixes solid vocals from Luke Quinn with guitar riffs and electropop that would make the best bands in the 80′s proud.

For anybody who played GTA: Vice City, you could believe that the songs We’re The Good Guys and Fresh Since ’88 would appear on the critically acclaimed in-game radio. The instant reaction would be to think of Saving Aimee as a cheesy pop band, but the depth of the vocals and the excitable music plants the band in a mixed bag of You Me At Six, Go:Audio, and Kids In Glass Houses, arguably topping the bag as the best and most excitable. Play Saving Aimee at any party, and you will not get a complaint from anybody. Music critics aren’t complaining either, as the band messaged me to tell me: ‘The press compared our last single ‘Fresh since 88′ as a revival of bands like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Europe and Duran Duran. What a fu$king compliment.’ Even their replies are excitable.

The summary of the band is the summary of the music. Borrowing guitars and a van, they set across the country spreading their music, and it spread like wildfire. For over two years the name Saving Aimee has rung bells in peoples minds, and since the new albums release, they can finally spring to the forefront of minds and playlists. Download their music, and stick We’re The Good Guys on your Christmas list. Music can be found on Amazon, or downloaded from Itunes legally.

To quote Saving Aimee one last time, ‘Bon Appetite!”

To kick off my first review, I urge you to download a rapidly growing artist called The Secret Handshake. In my reviews I’m simply going to nudge you in the direction of a band or artist and allow you to form your own opinions, while offering my general view in the hope that you will know what you’re letting your Itunes in for. (You wouldn’t want to mistake Paulo Nutini for N-Dubz, for example) The Secret Handshake is in all simplicity a man with an electronic keyboard, the hugely talented Luis Dubuc, and has to offer three full length albums and a couple of EPs and mixtapes.

The two main albums, One Full Year and the recent My Name In Lights, features electronica pop rock with soothing lyrics and upbeat music. All words used to describe the music gives an impression of a cheesy Eurotrash artist, but the depth of the lyrics coupled with the punk-esque dance style creates a lighter playlist to intersperse with your Bring Me The Horizon et al. ‘I Wish’, ‘Summer of 98′ and ‘All For You’ are such highlights, and ‘Little Song’ explains Luis’ ideas behind his creation amazingly.

So first I started with this simple beat and I even added a piano tune. But then I had to think of words that describe, the things i really wanna sing to you. So now I’m working on this melody and I think I can add a harmony, I just want for this song to come together. Then maybe you’d see what you mean to me’

This exemplifies such meaningful lyrics and an idea on how his music is created.

Luis’ voice is wonderfully imperfect, utilising small amounts of autotune to remove some slight tuning problems in his voice, but the simplicity of this coupled with the pureness of the music and beat makes each song a little classic that can sit on your laptop or Ipod, jumping on to lift any mood and gaining a great response from any passing listener. You will love this, and through each listen you will love this more, it’s perfect music for any mood or party. Albums are available on Amazon.com and Itunes, or downloadable through torrenting sites.

I’m not one to throw my toys out of the pram all too often, but this week marked a simple point that probably all groups should address but very few people would be willing to speak up on it. Not I, I’ll stick my head over the parapet and suffer the backlash which will probably just be ‘shut up’.

Spencer, our lovably hilarious lecturer, spent his time pacing the floor discussing our short films last week, and amidst the jokes and more hand gestures than used in a deaf conversation, basically laughed at the idea of the horror genre, and the urban life ‘gangsta’ drama. ‘Ohh you wouldn’t do one of those’ he says, ‘This project is about making something we truly wanted to do’ he says. Excellent, thought I and the girl next to me, also in my group, this would be an amazing opportunity. My, rapidly more hairy, arse.

What did we make? An urban, drug dealing, down on her luck girl turning to crime, drama film. You name a cliche, we managed to stick it in. Did we get sirens? Yes. Was she a single mother with children fired by the big bad boss at work? Yes. Did we have fades to black and a voice over from the girl with a witty line to end it on? But of course! From the idea for cars used, to the idea for script when she bumps into an old college expellee who turns her to drugs, every cliche from every film known to man was loaded into a cannon and blasted into our plans.

I speak here a lot about plans, though not much about finished articles. That’s because Thursday has passed and I’ve yet to see one second of footage. Turning up for the planning, I thrust my rubber ring into the sinking Titanic of a project, and down it went with it. No amount of texts in the following days ever gave an answer to when I should be there, and I was lumped into the group of, ironically, the same girl who was there with Spencer, as people who were not needed. I’m assured I’ll still be credited, I’m assured they’re sorry for forgetting to tell me our lecture was, in fact, one hour earlier than normal.

I am assured, strongest of all these assurances, that this whole project was ultimately a waste of time and effort, and hugely look forward to getting on with my Journalism, the whole point of me being at this university.