Ah, Newcastle-based Blank Maps. Ever since we covered their self-titled EP last year they've seemed like a band on the brink. They have that perfectly balanced blend of chilled beats, modern pop nous, indie stylings and good tunes; surely they're just a breakthrough song away from joining the ranks of the bands we mentioned in that review (Friendly Fires, Delphic and Delorean to be precise), all of whom have achieved a certain degree of chart success. With Friendly Fires missing in action, Delphic seeming to have lost some of their spark and Delorean still bigger news in their native Spain, there's perhaps no better time for Blank Maps to launch a military-style attack on the nation's media.
Whether Radio 1, NME and so on pick up on new single 'Lucky Dip' or not is really a game of chance, but there's no reason why this shouldn't grace the nation's airwaves. It has just about everything going for it. Perhaps you could argue that they need something with a little more power towards the start; the rumbling drums take a while to get going here, but there's a gap there and Blank Maps seem the perfect shape to fit it, crossing over into many branches of the musical tree and sounding thoroughly modern with it. B-side 'Calm' (which they've made a free download) is made from the same building blocks and is better than mere throwaway space-filler. A little more chilled maybe, but you can feel the thought that's gone into it. They have a 'Lucky Dip', now Blank Maps just need a lucky break and they could really take off.
Download 'Calm' for free by heading here
Blank Maps' website
Buy the single
Catch them live:
WED 16 OCT The Cluny 2, Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
FRI 18 OCT The Washington, Sheffield, UK
SAT 19 OCT Fibbers, York, UK
MON 21 OCT The Islington, London, UK
SAT 26 OCT The Independent, Sunderland, UK
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