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TRACK: Pump Yr Brakes.

WHO: Brooklyn four-piece Amazing Baby. They know MGMT, don’t you know.

WHAT: Psyche-folk-prog-stadium-flounce-rock.

HYPE: “These Brooklyn scenesters pile layers of noisy, cascading guitars onto an ‘aohw aohw’ chorus like wayward glam refuges munching ’shrooms." - Spin

WE SAY: So this one time I was at Ascot (don’t worry, it was a work thing), and our party was given a bunch of hot tips from Statto himself, Angus Loughran, a man who spends all day making sure he knows about these things. I merrily patted my wallet and headed for the bookies, playing it safe by going each way on the lot. Out of about ten tips, only one or two made me any money.

Now this either suggests something hooky is going on in the sport and teaches me for gambling or provides a fitting metaphor for what we do on this page. We put a wet finger in the air, look at the runners and riders, have a quiet word with our mates at the stables, then have a flutter. Very often we’ll get it wrong, and have the joy of looking back on having tipped Gary Glitter And The Neo-Nazis, but as they say, you’ve got to be in it to win it. Still, our mission is to help keep the rock star glue factory out of business, so we soldier on.

Beneficiaries of The MGMT Effect, along with bands like Boy Crisis, whereby any band from NY that deviates from the Ramones/Strokes template is given a head-start in the rock critics’ relay race, Amazing Baby do share their state-mates’ sprawling genre-ransacking outlook. Their debut EP floats from Suede-esque pantomime rock to prog-folk, but Pump Yr Brakes feels a touch friendlier to the ears. Launching like some FM rock opus, it slides into a cocky stadium rock pattern, blessed with vocals that flit oddly between the mouthy sneer of Liam, the theatrics of Jarvis and the strain of Doherty. The drums plod like the reluctant footsteps of a sulky teen and guitars solos flail in the air like King Kong swatting at airplanes, but it’s all grandstand fun.

I’d give you 12-1, but make sure it’s an each-way, just to be safe. Tell em we sent you.

IF YOU ONLY NEED TO KNOW ONE THING: As buddies of MGMT, Amazing Baby have unsurprisingly snagged a support slot with them on their November tour.

WHERE CAN I GET MY HANDS ON IT: As yet they’re without a deal, but thanks to the web, that’s hardly an issue. Be a sport and head over to www.theamazingbaby.com and treat yourself to their Infinite Fucking Cross EP, which includes Pump Yr Brakes, for nada.

FIND MORE: www.myspace.com/theamazingbaby

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