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.