"There's just so much fucking stuff here, I know exactly where to start. There's a whole crew of unaffiliated bands out there making pop epiphanies a daily occurrence and we lust ignore them as obscurantist indie. Last year Lazerboy gave us an hour of incredible out-rock and idyll-pop that prefigured and surpassed the new Blur LP, and it got barely a sniff. This year we've had incredible singles by Electroscope, 11th Hour, Feminine Complex, Amp, Soundsmith, Buddha On The Moon, Fureasteen, Mogwai and Transparent Thing and they've disappeared traceless. And Christ yes I do know what I sound like, but this isn't some invitation to a private play list party. These records are perhaps the only good thing to be said for indie - marginal, off-the-wall, pop perfectionists with too much time on their hands, crafting seven-inch slices of unique vision. These are fabulous pop records, full stop. Ignore the sads and spods who drown them in elitist obscurity and investigate these bands now.
Magoo are perhaps the brightest of the lot. This record could be the Great Lost English pop classic of spring, but only if you let that happen. Twenty-three tracks of skewed pop music popped open and exposed to as much unnecessary and fun surgery as possible. I can only offer edited highlights: "The Starter's Gun" is the perfect opener, guitars on frazzle-duty, "We're really glad you came" cooed in your ear like mama told you not to come. "The Advantage Of Noise" slinks out sumptuous death disco, "A To Z And Back Again" is Flaming Lips-quality fuzzpop. "Playing Cards With The Stars" rises from tiny hip hop thump to rolling epic in three minutes flat; "Say Goodnight" is a lovely Hawaiian lullaby outro that hulas and lulls beautifully and "British Cars" is a jazz-folk Sparks-eruption beyond description. And there's still six tracks to go. Just too much. My heart's a shed and Magoo have spent an hour filling it with all manner of glorious, useless, special, essential junk. Open wide and make it big." [4/5]