In an industry of tightly guarded live space and hefty promotional fees, an open stage for unsigned bands at a high profile venue is quite a rare commodity. The Ignition gigs at TBMC over the past while have surfaced a wealth of underground talent, the cream of which were showcased at a six band ‘Best of’ gig last week.

First up were Seer, a rather impressive outfit combining ’80s keyboard synths, psychedelic chimes and samples galore with plenty of distorted guitars, a rocky rhythm section and soaring vocals, in a chilled out Incubus kinda way. Next up were Blue Sun, far too ordinary for their own good and sounding like a fairly bland amalgamation of cheesy pop infusions and happy rock, without the imagination. Jove took to the stage directly after with a fantastic, full, flawless sound, something like a cross between James and The Smiths with lashings of onstage charisma to boot; definitely power pop at its most energetic.

Fourth in line were a rather unlikely and out of place duo in the form of Pilot Stars; two men armed with one guitar and one PC. The overkill of the wonders of modern audio technology left their supposedly “live” set with little to be desired, although the approach was refreshing. Zeel followed up with a crowd friendly indie-rockish blend of heavy guitars and droning vocals, full of well-crafted, under utilised riffs that unfortunately went nowhere.

The finale was marked by a loud blast of Morello, a good, tight rock outfit who met with a rapturous crowd response. The judgement was unanimous, with prizes of free recording sessions in TBMC going to Jove and Seer (in that order).