A supergroup of sorts, Brakes are Tom and Alex White from Electric Soft Parade, Eamon Hamilton from British Sea Power and Marc Beatty from The Tenderfoot.

Part rock, part punk, part country, Give Blood features 16 tracks and comes in at a tad under 29 minutes. Racey it certainly is, but speed doesn't mean this lot skate over decent tunes, for they are here in bucketloads, albeit short and sweet. Whether it's Ring A Ding Ding - strong echoes of Roxy's Virginia Plain - or the gloriously irreverent 10-second opus, Cheney - "Cheney, Cheney, Cheney, Cheney; stop being such a dick!" - Brakes give value for money.

Dark one minute, as on the Joy Division-esque I Can't Stand To Stand Beside You, or hilarious on Hi How Are You, charting that all-too-familiar attempt to chat up a girl at a gig. Having introduced himself and repeatedly asked her in plaintive tones who she's with and what does she do for a living the object of the singer's interest rasps back: "Won't you shut the f*** up, I'm just trying to watch the band."

Wonderful stuff...