Ikara Colt's time may have come. Too brutal, arty and just too plain British to get caught up in the first wave of nu-garage or whatever it's called now, their first, terrific album "Chat And Business" was only a minor hit on the British indie scene. However, with the media now all a-frenzy for all things shouty and post-punk, Ikara Colt's monochrome, Fall-accented, one-chord, stop-start punk noise should find itself the subject of rather more flattering attention this time around.

"Wanna Be That Way" is as fierce and direct a statement of intent as they come, all thundering drums and fuzzy jackhammer guitars, it's a streamlined, sharp-suited monster that screams down the motorway leaving lumbering dinosaurs like The Datsuns coughing and spluttering on its dust. B-side "Leave This Country" runs along similar lines but with a more straight-edged rock slant. New album "Modern Apprentice" comes out this June. -Ian Martin, Mar.27.04

Wanna Be That Way