Ah yes, indie, isn’t it supposed to be dead or something? Obviously not if tonight’s gig is anything to go by. First up are Berks/Bucks four-piece 50 Hertz, who might initially seem to confirm every stereotype of the genre - four skinny white lads from the Home Counties with noisy guitars and a few Smiths albums in their collection. But the reality is so much more special. Singer Mark Nilsson looks and dresses like a young Tim Booth (if Tim Booth looked like a young, blonde Rowan Atkinson) and has a similarly disaffected worldview to Gene’s Martin Rossiter. He’s got a wonderfully natural falsetto that easily swoops into a harsher bite as muscular guitars grind and chime behind him, never encroaching on his central floorshow. From The Chameleons to The Psychedelic Furs, 50 Hertz breathe new life into cool, semi-forgotten 80s pop influences. ‘Welcome To The World’ is defiantly sad, like the last dance at the last indie disco in town, but it’s debut single ‘Armchair Army’ that’s the key to future success - a strident anthem for suburban insurrection. Current fashion might be against them, but 50 Hertz have a star quality that deserves to take them from their tree-lined avenues to the bright lights of the big city.

Norfolk’s Magoo, by contrast, are old hands. They’ve just released their third album, the excellent ‘Realist Week’, and continue to expand their cosmic horizons. Singer Andrew Raynor is a classic speccy geek but he’s got a voice on him like Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick while the band fizz and boil in that place where the psychedelic dream went sour and Spacemen 3’s narcotic haze came in. They’re often awkward or deliberately oblique but in many ways they’re like an eccentric genius pet dog: loveable and reliable but can still surprise you at any turn.

Magoo’s songs come from a place where Bowie, The Stooges and The Beach Boys clatter off each other at odd tangents, but as each song gains momentum and reaches a hypnotic plateau, you have to just rock back on your heels and surrender. Not every band wants to change the world but let Magoo into yours for a while. See, you feel better already!

Dale Kattack