Pretty similar to the Badly Drawn Boy thread this, but why is there so much fuss and adulation over The Coral? To me, their music is simply an uninspired note for note retread of the sixties bands that they clearly idolise (and unlike other bands that have attempted this, they don't have the quality songwriting to overcome this), only without the excitement and impetus of pushing back musical frontiers as said bands enjoyed at the time. Surely Super Furry Animals, The Beta Band, The Charlatans and Royksopp do a much better job of keeping the 'spirit' of psychedelia relevant in the present, seeing as they manage to combine their influences with thoroughly modern approaches?

You hit in on the head again - too buried in their mythical idea of what "60s music" is to do anything worthwhile - EVER. I hate ALL these new band, The Music, The Coral, The Vines, The Libertines, my dislike of The White Stripes is well known, of course. I'm repeating myself when I say that I love noise, and none of these bands make enough noise to satisfy me. You want noise? Check out Lightning Bolt on Load Records, two pulverising musicians(just drums and bassist) that will make your skin melt. Or Erase Errata, four punk girls who blast out No Wave style rock at ferocious speeds - both of these bands are American....at least they know what their amps are for, people.

I was distinctly underwhelmed by them as well. In all honesty, it wasn't unlike watching an Inspiral Carpets tribute band - there was little charisma on display, and they looked completely out of their depth. This was back at the beginning of the summer when the fuss about them was really starting to kick off.

I'd go as far as to say that their new single is actually an irritating disgrace. It has little or no relevance to psychedelia and actually sounds more like Showaddywaddy. I'm not being vicious for the sake of it, either. It genuinely does.

Paul Weller once remarked in an interview, much to my surprise, that the Chemical Brothers were more 'mod' than Oasis as they embodied the 'moving forward' ethos of modernism instead of just churning out slavish retro stuff. It's a pity then that Weller continued to make equally dreary music himself, but it's still a very pertinent point, and one that I think applies in this instance. As I said earlier, The Beta Band, The Charlatans, Royksopp and Super Furry Animals make psychedelic music that employs the services of sampling, drum'n'bass and other dancefloor rhythms, electronic programming and other hallmarks of modern music, not to mention Portishead with their 'virtual' music, and there's a genuine sense that they are trying to push forward. So with such bands around, and with plenty of perfectly good late 1960s records already in existence, why do people feel that they need the pointless revivalism? Orbital, whose borrowing from the past is only a small part of a vast sonic tapestry that is specfically designed to take advantage of modern technology, and Jamiroquai, who at least make an effort to sound different from other jazz-funk acts by employing the services of didgeridoo players and DJs, are regularly kicked for being 'retro'. So why aren't those who are 'retro' and nothing else?