Hadouken! live up to their punctuation. Photograph: MySpace
Anyone with a MySpace account will know the daily trials of trawling through endless friend requests from bands reaching across the cyber void to promote their next gig or single in the hope of following in the footsteps of other net-spawned favourites like the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen.
But no one wants to spend a precious spare evening witnessing the whines of another singer-songwriter baring his jaded soul, or some sub-standard, watered-down pub-rock outfit. So, hopefully, Unsigned Update will help you spot the gems and see the Next Big Thing, before they become just that.
Because, let's face it, live music is buzzing right now. While there may be an overwhelming number of bad acts out there, there's certainly a wide choice. Any avid gig-goer can take their pick from an endless heap of artists in the listings pages each night and nearly every venue now boasts live music. Nothing is better than getting to see a brilliant act burst out of the intimate settings that pepper the streets of towns and cities across the country.
On my first venture, I find myself hopping out of London and towards Bristol's students union, to witness two of the hottest unsigned acts take to the stage for the filming of MTV2's Brand Spanking New Music.
Straight from the flurry of South by South West in Austin, Texas, two Liverpudlians and one Norwegian - better known on the gig circuit as the Wombats, kick-start the evening.
Already this troupe has a wedge of accolades tucked firmly under its belt - including entertaining 10,000 Chinese punks and goths at one of Beijing's biggest rock festivals, having Zane Lowe label their new single as the hottest record in the world, and making history by becoming the first unsigned act to headline a show at the 1,200-capacity Liverpool Carling Academy.
Such events mean this band currently stand as one strong contenders for the title of the UK's biggest unsigned act - a crown last year worn by the Long Blondes. But impressive feats aside, are they good live? The answer is clear by the strength of support from the fans tonight.
Any sign that they've just played 150 gigs in the last six months and are about to embark on a 50-date tour are hidden away as they enthusiastically launch into a three-part, Beach Boys-style harmony named Boys Girls and Marsupials. Animal references are a running theme with the fourth member "Cherub" taking the form of a cuddly toy wombat and the boys liking themselves to a rat (Dan, drummer), a dog (Murph, guitarist) and a fox (Tord, bassist). But furry-creature fetishes aside, the boys display a superb ability for crafting happy little ditties catchier than a stomach bug from a festival food vendor.
A particular treat is watching two large hairy men, who appear more suited to the blood, sweat and guts of an Iron Maiden gig, rock out to the 'Bats (as they are affectionately known) pop-punk favourites such as Moving to New York and Backfire at the Disco. Likeable melodies, easy-to-sing-a-long-to tracks combined with bags of good humour and energy mean that the Wombats are bound to become a staple on the radio and warmly embraced by festival audiences.
Next up are current darlings of MySpace - they recently featured on the site's bleep bleep tour - Hadouken! Yes, that ! is compulsory as it becomes near impossible to say their name out aloud with out impersonating the fist action from the Street Fighter move the band were named after.
On paper, Hadouken! should be all wrong: neon T-shirts, ghastly glowsticks, beeping electronics... But as they bound onto the stage, the atmosphere turns undeniably electric and lazy labels of "just another nu-rave act" seem a little unfair. Stirring together a bit of metal, a bit of rapping that Mike Skinner would take a shine to and, yes, a bit of electro-dance, the band come up with short, punchy numbers that would stop only the iciest of queens from breaking into a sweat. The shouting that forms a large part of their songs and the harsher drum'n'bass beats tie them closer to that other passing genre created by the NME - Grindie (Grime meets Indie). But whatever genre critics try to lump them into, the fact is Hadouken! are rather fun and worth taking note of. That Boy That Girl is the one that everyone is talking about and you can see why. A racket and a half, but one that sends the room shaking to its core. With the dancefloor heaving like this, maybe for this once the scenester hype can be justified.
