As the likes of the Futureheads and Maximo Park gatecrash their way onto CD:UK alongside Beyonce and Britney, it seems the north-east of England is currently enjoying something of a musical resurgence.

The Catweasels hail from Sunderland, a place more associated with Nissan factories than New Wave/noisepunk/funk combos, but that is exactly what we have here.

In spite of their influences (The Cure, the Bunnymen, Radiohead), anyone expecting a.n.other Killers/Interpol hybrid will be hugely disappointed, although to these mightily relieved ears, thats probably the most exciting thing about the Catweasels. Yeah granted, you can hear Will Sergeant's guitar textures on parts of 'Sunny Side Up', provided you can make them out through the noise-laden, bass-heavy mangle and the heavily accentuated chirping vocals that recall both Paul Draper from Mansun at his most enigmatic and the buoyant enthusiasm of the Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson.

Musically, the Catweasels owe more to the likes of up-and-coming upstarts like The Longcut and Punish The Atom, in that they so obviously don't want to play by the rules or get pigeonholed into some safe genre-specific haven. Instead they're quite content destroying the static around them with fast and loud contentious blasts like 'Never Learn', which sounds like XTC's 'Science Friction' as played by the Dyson DC08 quartet, which in itself can only mean this band display all the hallmarks required to achieve greatness personified and still remain distinctly unique.