Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV

Genre rock Publisher Necessary/Atlantic Records External Links Official Website Necessary Records

Amidst the debates on who was going to win this year's Mercury Music Prize the loudest shouts have gone out to MIA and the Kaiser Chiefs. Languishing at the wrong end of the betting is Hard-Fi's Stars of CCTV. It might be the preponderance of new guitar acts on the shortlist or the plainness of Hard-Fi's presentation but it's a shame; this debut, recorded for £300, has an energy and eclecticism that most of their contemporaries lack.

Much of Stars of CCTV harks back to post-punk Britain. The Clash, with their stiff-legged punk and reggae, are constant ghosts here and it's easy enough to tick off a whole host of 1979 soundalikes. "Middle Eastern Holiday" recalls The Jam at their most raggedy whilst the album's one real low spot, "Feltham is Singing Out" could be a lost Sham 69 track.

So far, so 2005. The production line of NME-championed, pork-pie-hatted goons producing photocopies of photocopies of Two-Tone era post-punk shows no signs of slowing down - what sets Hard-Fi apart is they throw a few curveballs in their influences. "Hard to Beat" has been all over British radio this summer and it's not hard to see why. The gruffness of it's delivery and conventional instrumentation can't disguise the fact that the song itself would fit comfortably onto a Daft Punk album. It's a beguiling mix. What it has, and what so many of the class of 2005 lack, is a sense of moving forward; of trying some new combination. And there's the rub. The Clash are worshipped by a slew of new British bands and a fair few have got the impersonation off pat. What they don't have is the magpie joy of The Clash; drawing from all the musics around them. there's something risible about a new band being called 'experimental' for mixing together the best sounds of 25 years ago.

At the height of the Madchester boom we thought all bands would be this way. At the start of the 21st century a brit-guitar band who've listened to house and hip-hop, dub and punk shouldn't be a rare thing. But it is, and it makes this little gem shine all the brighter.