ULRICH SCHNAUSS / AIRIEL / INTERNATIONAL JETSETTERS

The Cellar

Shoegazing was a term of description offered almost as a piss-take of bands the music press of the early-90s considered to be somewhat lacking in charisma, hiding their dearth of star quality behind vast walls of turbulent guitar drones as they studiously avoided eye-contact with their audience. The term has morphed since the days of Ride and their ilk to signify a particular strand of indie rock, one that had a major impact on the whole post-rock movement and where attention to sonic texture, either of the dreamy, ambient kind, or the more eviscerating variety still holds sway over performance or easy pop tunes. Sonic Cathedral is a regular club night, in Oxford, London and beyond that celebrates what, at its best, can sound like the music of the heavens.

As drummer with Ride Loz Colbert should know all about that and having joined his current Jesus & Mary Chain bandmate Mark Crozer's International Jetsetters, they're a welcome reminder of a time when indie really meant independence of mind and spirit. From the giddy, spiralling rush of 'Inside Out', they cut a dash through prime Wedding Present, while new singer Fi McFall provides an often strident counterbalance to the narcotic guitar squall. 'California Here I Come' is more 60s sunshine psychedlia with the guitar fuzz coating its lightness with a layer of sonic tar, while closing number, 'Inside You' finds Fi's voice at its peak as the band come close to matching Magoo's sublime 'Billion Dollar Brain'.

THE PURPLE TURTLE

INTERNATIONAL JETSETTERS, increasingly one of our favourite local bands. Formed by Oxford pop veteran Mark Crozer and former-Ride drummer Loz Colbert, the pair of them now also part of The Jesus & Mary Chain, they're an amalgamation of everything that was great about indie rock, when that term actually meant something. From the narcotic fuzz of Spacemen 3 to the insistent jangle and drone of The Wedding Present, and lifted spaceward by singer Fi McFall's ethereal vocals, they're dark and dreamy but they rock like bastards.

HEARTS OF DARKNESS

A swelling cacophony of cosmic beauty that pulses and throbs with a raw wantonness, whilst containing such power therein, that they could, quite possibly make distant stars implode.

THE OXFORD PUNT

It's no exaggeration to say that INTERNATIONAL JETSETTERS hitting the stage at all, never mind on time and in front of a packed house, is a minor miracle. They have pedigree, which shows in their mature songwriting and sophisticated sound, oddly reminiscent of Sisters Of Mercy without the goth baggage, and better haircuts. One of the bands tonight most likely to make waves, and true to their name they fly off to New York the next day.