Like The Streets' albums of recent years, Stars Of CCTV is an album that reflects on, with total and beguiling honesty, suburban working class life.  It's infused from beginning to end with the bravado of chav attitude ('nobody likes us and we don't care') but whilst they swagger, they're just the right side of cocky.

Lead singer and songwriter (and co-producer) Rich Archer has put together a fantastic collection of songs that cover the universal topics of love, lust, breaking up and being skint, as well as some things that some may not be so familiar with:  Middle Eastern Holiday is written from the perspective of a 21 year old serving in the gulf, and Feltham Is Singing Out, about mates who've ended up 'inside'.

Musically it's the sound of the suburbs, and it couldn't be more british.  Hard-Fi follow in the footsteps of suburban punk, but are spattered with the colour of west london reggae and ska, and, as recently pointed out on Round Table by Steve Lamacq, a little touch of 80s songwriters like Prefab Sprout or World Party. 

Of the recent crop of new British bands, Hard-Fi are one of the ones that are more likely to make it to the next round; it's a mature enough debut to be already looking forward to what they'll do next.


Jude Adam