The headliners at tonights Spiral Scratch are the Spanish three piece Zipper who must feel at home in the compact surroundings of Monkey Chews. The heat in the converted living room come venue is as bad as on a humid day on the Iberian peninsula! The band are in England for a short two date tour and after playing in Stoke last night the band make their first visit to London town.

New and very young Bristol band The Bumblebees are also down for their first visit and they open the proceedings. "We walked around Camden today" they tell us. "Very nice. Well done London!" I guess it's improved greatly after the recent fire then? The band are fun and cute, a description I seem to use more frequently for many first on the bill bands these days. The guitar string breaks on the first song and they borrow one from Zipper. "We are a shambles" they say. Not seen the Deirdres then I wonder? The songs are patchy but fine and they sound like a BIS on Postcard Records. Their best song by far is Cool Science with it's wonderful casio beats.

Roque from Cloudberry Records wrote recently that Horowitz's legacy will go further than the likes of The Decemberists and all the other major label acts who term themselves as indie. Before the show an enthusiastic Ian from Horowitz proclaims their gig the previous night in their home town of Stoke was the best they have ever played. If it was better than their performance tonight I am gutted to have missed it. The band are now a two piece with the bass parts joining the drums on the gadget thingy bob with Pete now playing the now departed Matt's guitar pieces. They were loud and solid tonight (well done to the pop kid soundman) and the songs sounded better than ever. Ian disses London's new bumbling buffoon of a mayor before the band launches into Pop Kids Of The World Unite. The bands fuzzy DIY pop songs are now well engrained into my head having now seen them countless times now and having played their album Frosty Cat Songs to death. I Need A Blanket and Tracyanne sound sweet, sublime and Roque's point will no doubt be proven when the next indie pop revival, if the current one ever dies, emerges in twenty years time.

Also in town tonight is Alex from down under and I manage to say a quick hello before MJ Hibbett appears minus his Validators. Hibbett must now lead the indie pop banter stakes ahead of Darren Hayman and he sets the scene lovingly before each song. His songs cover Thatcher dying with a few adjustments to take care of the new mayor, IT love stories, his time in the scouts and school reunions. The songs are all clever, witty and touching detailing stories from points in his life. New single Do The Indie Kid appears but only one amongst us dares do the songs dance moves. The highlight tonight is The Fight for History which wets the appetite for his show at this years indie tracks.

Monkey Chew suddenly seems to be transported to Madrid such is the Spanish presence. All what's missing is some tapas at the bar. The band come on but they disappear from view due to the large number of people, all of whom seem to be taller than me, make their way to the front. Their EP on Cloudberry last year was one of the years highlights for me and I have been looking forward to tonight for some time. It's fast, fuzzy, punky indie pop which is all about having fun and they even get a chorus of viva españa going during a lull in proceedings! People start dancing and the band look overwhelmed as I crane my neck in order to catch the view. They have just released their début album 11which could be had for a bargain fiver tonight. I guess most of the songs were drawn it as I didn't recognise anything until the brilliant Former Friends from the afore-mentioned EP is played. It's even better live and the band follow up up with a Fat Tulips cover which was sung in Spanish. Sadly I had to dash off and miss the set's end plus the indie pop disco that follows but I did so with a smile on my face. Don't stop indie pop!