Byline: Andrew Mueller

BURNING BRIDES Glass Slipper EP (V2) This rumbustious Philadelphia outfit get the silver salver and the limp handshake from a visiting dignitary this week for a record which at least sounds like it was made by, and for, people with an interest in rock music. Burning Brides' sound is the product of a youth mis-spent in the sonic and spiritual company of the Stooges, Sonic Youth and Radio Birdman, and is elevated above the usual turgid morass spawned by such influences by a faint but decisive knack for melody. The guitar solo is commendably unreconstructed.

* AVRIL LAVIGNE Sk8er Boi (Arista) The title, translated back into something that might be recognised...