The New Indie - 'Alive and Amplified' (Umtv) Released 20/06/05

The compilation CD: saviour of bewildered parents everywhere. “What does Johnny want for his birthday? What is this Bloc Party we keep hearing about? Maybe he'd like to go to that.” Fear not, confused gift-givers – this CD is guaranteed to elicit tight-lipped smiles of gratitude from seven out of ten gloomy young adults.

You have to question how a disc with groups like Kasabian (BMG), Embrace (Geffen) and the Kings of Leon (RCA) can call itself 'indie,' but indie hasn't been about politics for a long time. No, what we have here could quite happily call itself 'Now! That's What I Call Indie!' It's a collection of pop songs - but that's ok, we're all here because we like pop songs. The real question is: are they any good?

The brightest and best of MTV2's playlist are all represented. The Bravery weigh in early with the pounding 'Honest Mistake', and cult favourites The Mooney Suzuki provide the titular track, camped squarely in the album's chewy centre. Alas, most of the album's big names are represented by overplayed singles from last year, though. 'Bend and Break', by Keane. Snow Patrol's 'Chocolate'. 'Mr. Brightside', which was recently re-released so I suppose could technically qualify as “new.” Just.

But there are treats. Joy Zipper and The Duke Spirit make an appearance on the second disc, the astonishingly non-awful new Ordinary Boys tune finds itself in good company with The Others, and it's against the law not to like the The Futureheads. It's the kind of collection you can happily leave in the CD player for a while, and if you're not familiar with any of the names this is a good opportunity to get to know 'em. There's a good mix of big names and small, and if it means the lesser known bands get heard then it's something everybody can get behind. It's a fair bet that if you see bands you know and like, then you're going to like the others too – and what more could you ask from a mixtape?