UK: SPOTLIGHT: Grace Gillespie Single- "Lady Make Believe" / "England" - China Tanks - "Smoke and Mirrors" - Simon D. James - "Burn The Man"

UK:
China Tanks alternative rock sound has late 80's early 90's post rock tones to me. Big with driving beats and active jammy guitars and David Poole's vocal performance that has that commanding presence of that bud who is worn and torn and has experienced everything before you. His sandpaper vox is offset by cool background vocals on Smoke and Mirrors.
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Robb Donker

Simon D. James hails from Brighton (UK) and the track Burn The Man from his Debut EP "Dream From A Long Forgotten Dream" is a mid-tempo dreamy affair with an elegant pop feel. At once it feels spartan but has big moments as well. James vocal performance is tender and pulls you immediately into the song. 

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Robb Donker

Grace Gillespie's brand of indie folk is so utterly self assured that it feels comfortable and warm. Her voice and melodies embrace you and it feels good. The track Lady Make Believe (which sounds like it could be a T-Rex song) is a tightly crafted light indie rock song with pop tendencies more than folk. The instrumentation feels so lush with a very cool drums and bass bottom. Gillespie's melodies are expressive and shift styles so well. The way the bass notes wrap around the musical lead break is amazing. The track England, pulsates with more folk sounds and again the musical intricacies are here. Gillespie sings in a wistful way and in a few spots I felt Joni Mitchell tones rise up. While Gillespie anchors this amazing evocative song it is the storm of music whirling around that give it, it's fury. Lovely stuff.

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Robb Donker