Compiled by *This Aint Vegas *6-stringer Richard Amundsen 'Twice The Town You'll Ever Be' is a lovingly assembled collection of tracks from the North East’s finest underground indie-rock treasures, and is precisely the kind of compilation that has me rueing the day I ever moved down to the smoky, non-cultural maze of concrete and suits that is London. From the very start this compilation bristles with modest talent and soul-prickling passion, developed in a potent indie-punk DIY community and made all the more inspirational given the music industry’s infamously London-centric tendencies.

It’s an eye-opening, ear-popping listen right from the start as scene-breakers The Futureheads *shoot straight for the jugular with an early version of the shifty, hip-jerking call-and-response anthem _‘A to B’_, fittingly shouting out against everyday complacency. And thus the lo-fi smorgasbord of John Peel-playlist-tempting tunes snowball into your hearts, *Red Monkey’s sunburst of funk and earthy indie-girl vocals continuing the theme with their contribution. “Work is a religion of money and buying is its altar”, explains vocalist Rachel in the sleeve, _“It scares the health out of me." Which seems an accurate enough representation for most of the musicians on this CD and probably the indie-rock scene as a whole, the CD filled with music created by young people for the simple reason that they’re creating music totally unaffected by some outside money-hungry corporation and in effect, constantly fuelling that awesome feeling of buying a small-run 7” without the interference of some huge marketing campaign.