THE HISS

Good rock'n'roll is made all the time, it's just that most of the time, we aren't listening. The arrival of the White Stripes et al has alerted us to just how much great stuff was marginalised during the late-1990s days of Radiohead. Two years on, it's still coming through.

Since the Hiss's arrival is somewhat tardy, they may be accused in the music press of trend-hopping. Originally from Gainesville, Florida, now based in Atlanta, they're actually an energetic, cool-looking, high-quality band who have arrived in the right place at the right time (well, almost). After one quick listen to their debut, it's easy to see how they've landed up at a major label.

The opening four or five tracks are all chart-worthy, heavy-rocking in the Stooges idiom, but never painfully so, and unstoppably tuneful to boot.

The last three tracks, especially the melodic Hard to Lose, mix punk and pop in a way that should appeal to British sensibilities – there, the Hiss sound very like Oasis, circa Definitely Maybe. A perfect blend of Anglophilia and Americana, then