Whoop! And so the Great Debut Single Chart Battle Of July 21st 2003 steps up a further notch with Dive Dive. Damn these indie labels and their release dates going back. Messing up my reviews plan. Making me do everything at once. First Four Day Hombre and now this. Bastards. But I digress…

Most notably in the haven’t-I-seen-these-people-before? band member stakes, singer Jamie and basser Tarrant came to the fore once upon a time in John Peel and fanzine darlings Dustball. They were but nippers at the time and, well, they’re still pretty young now actually. Dive Dive, however, produce a much more angular and twisted sound, a far cry from their giddy punkpop days.

No, they’ve not gone all math rock – they have tunes! Thankfully, unlike the last couple of Dustball releases, Dive Dive have a recording here which actually does them justice. Jumping in at the deep end with crunchy guitars, breaking into an almost REM-like verse, ‘Good Show’ is an uplifting and brilliant little song. With a slight chord diversion at the end, it also shows they’ve got the knack of the Art Of Songwriting (coo, get me). Meanwhile, ‘double A-side’ ‘Swedish Song’ is a take-no-prisoners, faster, shorter, quiet/loud affair.

“It was a good show/ It was a good show/ It was a good show/ It was a good show…” Yes, jolly good show actually, thank you.