Dale Earndhart Jr Jr, Barfly, Camden, Sunday 12th February 2012

A brilliantly poppy and fun show. It brought to mind Prince or the White Stipes bluesy rock.

There were nice touches through the set. They used a phone for some vocals. They sang into the guitar when a strap broke. They played a version of God Only Knows that seemed to do justice to the sounds bouncing around inside Brian Wilson's head. They jumped into the audience, and put arms around us. And they pulled out a absolutely blinding cover of 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' at the start of the encore, in a tribute to Whitney Houston, and while wearing fluorescent tailored jackets, which really got the crowd going.

They made a massive sound for the three of them, and are obviously very proficient musicians. A really excellent and enjoyable show. The whole crowd left on a real high.

We Are Animal, Barfly, Camden, Sunday 12th February 2012

A really good uptempo set of songs that could well become indie dancefloor classics, but also sounded quite like Hi-NRG dance at times, reminiscent of tuneful techno. They also reminded us of lots of danceable bands - Doves, Hot Chip, Arctic Monkeys, The Music, Dandy Warhols, as well as Stereophonics' Dakota and Primal Scream at the time of 'Give Out But Don't Give Up'.

Eagulls, Barfly, Camden, Saturday 10th February 2012

The initial reaction to Eagulls starting their set was how incredibly loud it was, which came as quite a shock The band members also looked quite incongrous. The singer was rocking an early-90s dole queue chic, carrying himself like a punk Ian Curtis. The bassist and one of the guitarist were grunging. And the other guitarist looked like he was holding down a well-paying office job.

They were incredibly tight as a band and produced a really great, coherent sound. Once we'd tuned our heads to the volume, they sounded really good, particularly the latter part of the set, or it may have just been that they'd put their stronger material towards the end of the set.

They had some great poppy moments (such as song with lyrics 'You don't care about me') and made us think of early Idlewild, but also of a heavier Vaccines or the Fall. The guitarist on the left hand side of the stage had some great early-90s British inide guitar sounds, which melded really well with the grungy arrangements. The singer had a swaggering charisma about him, and the fact that they were selling tapes, rather than CDs, also suggested a certain charm, so we'll keep an eye out for them and will be interested in hearing what they sound like in the studio.

History of Apple Pie, Barfly, Camden, Saturday 10th February 2012

There were lovely melodic vocals, although these were somewhat drowned out by the grungey guitars (discussion in the audience seemed to suggest that was an issue with the mix, rather than their usual sound). They had a some good tunes – Mallory, in particular, stood out – and made us think of Veronica Falls.

MoonJets, Barfly, Camden, Saturday 10th February 2012

An expected bonus after the HMV Next Big Thing show.

Upbeat chirpy guitar pop, a bit like McFly. They got feet tapping and had the audience (particularly the girls,of whom there seems to be a strong contingent) enthusiastically bouncing along.

Little Comets, General Fiasco and Fossil Collective, The Borderline, London, 7th February 2012

Fossil Collective played enjoyable lilting alt.country melodies. They made us think of Fleet Foxes with a bit more driving rhythm. We'll certainly try to look out some of their stuff as we didn't know anything by them before the show.

General Fiasco were really excellent. Their name gave no indication of what they would sound like and we were very pleasantly surprised by their energetic, spirited guitar indie. Some of their songs had a Libertines inflection and they made us think of a range of slightly Britpoppy bands that we're fond of, from Tribes, Hockey, Mona and the View to the Bluetones and Menswear.

The whole General Fiasco set really rattled by, with a high tempo and hardly a pause between songs. The musicianship was really tight. The singer had a great voice, with a touch of Buddy Holly.  There was a slight change of pace with an acoustic song from their first album towards the end of the set. The audience went crazy for it, with lots of fans were singing along. The songs seemed stronger towards the beginning, so if those were the newer songs, that may bode well for things to come.

The first song of the Little Comets set took people by surprise. It was understated and a chunk of the audience did not seem to realise that the headliners had started. The tempo rose with the rest of the set. It might be lazy to lump bands together because of where they come from but there was something reminiscent of Maximo Park in their sound.

Having started their third song with a Rolling Stones-esque lick, Little Comets launched into some great afrobeat rhythms for the rest of the set. This gave them vibrancy and got the audience moving. At the same time, the use of language in the songs made for a poetic pairing with the rhythms. The singer dedicated one song to his grandma who died last week, which was very touching, and they seemed to be having good banter with the crowd, so it was rather inaudible at the back. An enjoyable set though, with a few really great tracks in about the third quarter of it.