Wild Beasts, on tour, Pop preview

A band can search in vain for an original voice; Wild Beasts, miraculously, have two. For a start, there's the bizarre falsetto of lead singer, Hayden Thorpe. Then, there's the absolutely unique tone of the band itself: in the tradition of faintly foppish northern indie rock that includes Pulp, and even the Kaiser Chiefs, but somehow far more eccentric and delicious than either. So far it's been heard by a fairly limited number of people, but the band's new album Two Dancers deserves much better. As with British Sea Power, this band can bring out the latent nostalgist but Wild Beasts are surging, bizarrely, forward.

Nick coos about pooch Betty

KAISER CHIEFS star NICK HODGSON couldn't stop coo'ing about his new pooch BETTY at Dame Shirley Bassey's album launch at the Ritz on Monday night.
Nick said Michael Crawford's Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em was the inhalation behind the name choice.
He said: "Michael Crawford is brilliant. Ooh Betty. I've been re-looking it.
"Betty is excellent and will keep me company as the band take a bit of a breather. I'm content."
Nick also said the band are a fan of the Biz Sessions and hope to pop by and record one soon. .
He added: "I've seen them and they are great.
"We look forward to coming in once we've got some new material under our belts."

POMPEY CALL ON FIFA OVER BHASERA

Portsmouth have asked FIFA to look into the transfer of Kaiser Chiefs defender Onismor Bhasera.
Pompey thought they had signed the 22-year-old on a free after a work permit was granted on appeal, however doubt has since surrounded the deal after Chiefs declared the player still had 12 months to run on his contract.
Portsmouth are reluctant to pay a fee for a player they thought would cost them nothing, leaving Bhasera in limbo.
The South Coast club are still keen to bring in the left-back and have confirmed FIFA are looking into the situation.
"The situation is that Onismor believes he is a free agent and Kaiser Chiefs say he isn't, so we have asked FIFA to look into it to enable us to progress with the move," a Portsmouth spokesman told the club's official website.
"We have successfully appealed a work permit and want the player to sign for Pompey but he can only do so once we know the true nature of his registration."
Bhasera's manager at Kaiser Chiefs, Bobby Motaung, believes the only reason the deal has not gone through already is because the Premier League side are struggling financially.
"Portsmouth have financial problems, I have a letter from them and they say they owe Chelsea, they owe this one, it is their problem not our problem, he told KickOff.com.
"They can't afford to pay us small change, we said it is compensation, not a transfer fee. We even said to them we will give you six months grace period to keep the player and pay us in January."
However the Pompey spokesman venomously denied that the hold-up in the transfer was because of the club's lack of funds.
"This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with finance and to suggest such is misguided and inaccurate," he pointed out.
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Kaiser Chiefs aren't rending, we're just taking a break

KAISER CHIEFS have denied rumours they are rending up and claim they are just planning a long holiday.
Frontman Ricky Wilson discharged speculation that their performances at last weekend's Reading and Leeds festivals would be their last.
Instead, Ricky says the band's diary is empty because they all want a rest.
Ricky said: "It's our last show for the foreseeable future, so it's a bit of an abyss.
"If it was our last one ever, we wouldn't be having a good time, would we?
"I don't think bands split up when they're still friends and having a best time with each other.
"We just haven't booked anything. If people look at your diary and look you haven't got anything lined up, they think you're stopping.
"We've been on tour for five years and need to pass some of our money on air travel.
"We don't want to convey out an album before Christmas, we don't want to bring out an album after Christmas. We don't want to go into the studio, there are no more gigs."