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Having toured tirelessly for a number of years, Fortune Drive are a formidable proposition. Bobby Anderson has grown from the man with a great voice behind the mic-stand to the man with a great voice in front of the absolutely stellar band.

The combination of Mark Bent鈥檚 crashing, thudding drums and the sound of Alan Akehurst's guitar pinging off your ear drums is utterly addictive, and that鈥檚 not all these boys have to offer.

Undeniably the best thing about the band is that they have a sound completely of their own. Admittedly, the cracking From Start to Finish has a Smiths-esque swagger, and admittedly, new single Girls in Stripes sounds like the best song The Cooper Temple Clause never wrote, but Fortune Drive, mercifully, aren't interested in being derivative.

What they ARE interested in is exploding from the speakers of every stereo in the country, and with debut album A Modern Question out on September 24th, they're one step closer to doing just that.

Essential Listen: Girlfriend鈥檚 an Arsonist, Sparkle

Fronted by the 鈥渧ery impressionable鈥� Mancub, aka Little Tom, who stands at a whole 5ft 2 and his hirsute colleague Bloodworth, Babyhead are comprised of no less than ten genre misfits - musicians who couldn't decide exactly what they wanted to play, and ended up creating an inimitable mix of ska, dub and hip hop.

And you know, you should be awfully glad that they did.

The real beauty of the sound that Babyhead have made their own is the constant swirl of styles and influences. The curiously moniker-ed horn section (comprised of Pleeth, Fluff and Byron Valentino) rides heavy in the mix, and these ska flavours combined with DJ Benny Legz's intelligent sampling and scratching would give the ex-Glastonbury residents the edge over all the other bands that do what they do. Except that there aren't any, so they needn't worry.

As impressive on the stage as they are on the stereo (Babyhead regularly perform with cabaret dancers and in full suits n鈥� ties get-up, and even incited a stage invasion at the 2006 Boogie for Brizzle festival), this band are cutting a swathe through audiences across the country, and are one to see. Soon.

Essential Listen: Recording Device

Deep in his dear little programmed heart, Kid Carpet (better known to his Mum as Ed Patrick) has found the key to making almost unspeakably wonderful music. His unique attack on pop is orchestrated through the healthy arsenal of tools at his disposal.

Making use of Fisher Price toy guitars, a sampler solely financed by the Dole and somewhat disturbingly, a Furby, Patrick spins his own brand of 鈥榢iddy disco punk鈥�. Think The Rapture locked in the Stevenage branch of Toys R Us, with only three Big Beat mix-tapes and a shedload of sugary sweets to keep them busy. Yeah, exactly.

His extensive collection of remixes and mash-ups (I strongly suggest you try out his 鈥榗ardie鈥� remix of Generator by The Holloways for starters) secures his legendary status, and the sheer genius of debut album Ideas and Oh Dears will keep you going back again and again, and again, and again and, well. You see where this is headed.

Essential Listen: Your Love, Shiny Shiny New.

The good news though is they're not gone forever, in fact, they're far from it. Holed up in the studio, work is underway on the follow up to debut album Songs from The Lodge, and its time for people to start getting excited all over again.

The reason for the said imminent excitement is that this band have got something quite marvelous going on. James Williams and co, at some point in their salad days, must have made a tasty little pact with our old friend Lucifer. The sheer mastery of melody that New Rhodes possess is not the kind that you come across on a very regular basis.

Each second of every song fizzes with the kind of hooks that would stop wars if only everyone who was fighting would tune in, and the Bristol natives can lay claim to having the kind of sound that brings a taste of sunshine to even the darkest corners of the country.

Maybe, just maybe, if New Rhodes hadn't been on hiatus this summer, Tewkesbury wouldn't have spent most of July as an island and Ashton Court Festival wouldn't have been cancelled.

Don't hold that against them though, because hopefully sooner rather than later, they'll be back to brighten our days. I, for one, can't wait.

Essential Listen: The History of Britain, I Wish I Was You

So, if in the next couple of weeks you find yourself walking through the city centre and you hear a substantial explosion and spot a scattering of five string basses, fear not. It鈥檚 just Bristol scene-saviours You & the Atom Bomb planting a massive incendiary device under all of those same-old-same-old merchants and busting the city a new sound hole while they're at it.

Like US post-pop heroes Q and Not U and The Dismemberment Plan before them, You & The Atom Bomb have found that special place just ever so slightly off the wall, from which the most special of sounds can be harvested

The flaring synths and part-twinkle-part-slash guitars blend superbly with the boy/girl swapshop vocals of Jean-Marc de Verteuil and Suzi Gage - it鈥檚 all a little bit like the best bits of The Futureheads. Well, if Barry Hyde were a lady.

Y&TAB's captivating discord sits happily with the quirky intelligence boiling under the surface of their music - I had to check my Cretaceous-era encyclopedia to discover the true identity of the titular monster in Behold, Coelacanth. Turns out it was a sizeable ancient fish. Who knew?!

Even discounting their IQ boosting qualities, You & the Atom Bomb are a fantastic band, not least because they're about as much fun as one can partake in legally. Five minutes in an empty room with these guys on the stereo and you're a grinning idiot. And you know what? There鈥檚 not much wrong with that.

Essential Listen: Mudwig Bahnoff