Nite Songs

  Time for the third part of our end of year countdown as we reach the Top 40. As always, feel free to cue up the old chart rundown music from Radio 1 if it helps enhance the experience for you... *** 40. WET LEG - "Wet Leg" Yes, it's easy to be cynical about Wet Leg but the truth is that when all's said and done they came up with a bit of a cracker for their debut album. It's quite simply fun music with a lot of the songs having an endearingly gleeful vitriol to them. Yet there's a serious undercurrent there as well with the likes of Wet Dream  and Piece Of Shit  having a genuine anger underpinning the playfulness. For once, a case of the hype being deserved. *** 39. KAE TEMPEST - "The Line Is A Curve" Kae's first album since coming out as gender neutral is all about seeking solace in tough times, be that their recent struggles or the recent struggles all of us have had thanks to lockdown etc. Backed up by lush orchestration and with Tempest...

  Hailing from Minneapolis, this is the second album from the Von Tramps and I have to be honest and say it's my first encounter with them. Supposedly written following the end of the lockdown and being based around the theme of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it's an agreeably upbeat affair. If you remember the Amorettes from a few years back (around the time of their Game On  album when they still had that vital rawness and urgency to them) then it's safe to say that the Von Tramps’ brand of chantalong choruses and barrelling riffs may well sound a bit familiar. They come at things from a more punky angle than a classic rock one though so there's definitely an element of the Donnas and the Dollyrots in there as well. It gives the likes of the opening title track and Live Fast  a fired up and sunny quality to them making them difficult to resist. They're not afraid of chucking in a curveball rather than just keeping things straightforward though - Love ...