It doesn't get much better than this. The Curves And The Bends hits the floor running and doesn't let up as it burns with an insane energy for its incredibly short life. It's as if the world hasn't moved on much since 1976. Louie seem more than content to take the New York Dolls flamboyance and marry it to the Ramones' habit of writing songs that last for about a minute. That minute just happens to be an incredible blast of over-excited music.

To say the whole thing is a stripped down affair would be something of understatement: the only curves or bends you'll find are those of the title, because from the minute the basic guitar riff that introduces the song gets ripped along by some feral drumming, it's heading straight for the end of the song in a wide eyed sprint.

They still find time for the lyrics to touch on "smoking kills and taking pills" and "ecstasy all for free" whilst simultaneously managing to sound like a vocal from Blockbuster, though. Marvellous. You'd have thought with a record that sounds like it has its heart in the early years of punk it'd be all about cheap speed - so maybe it isn't all about 1976 in Louie's world after all.

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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees