NOIZE MAKES ENEMIES:
London has often been the hub of scene after scene over the years. Be it the swinging 60's Rock & Roll, Carnaby St clad Vespa mounted mods, skinhead ska or the anarchic birth of British punk. Scenes that start with a few fresh musical ideals and spread city wide through language, fashion, attitudes and bus loads of new bands following suit soon leading to record company cash-ins.

Today it remains very much the same. With new rave, artrock and indie-pop dictating ever increasing numbers of wardrobe choices and nighttime movements. New bands that form at the time either have the choice to jump headfirst onto the speeding bandwagon, or ridicule it and it's passengers from the side of the road as it drives past. And Twisted Charm take up one of today's pavement places.

Taking the new rave concept, bog washing it and steeling its lunch money. Mixing its glow stick electronica with Mark E. Smith individualism, Stranglers twisted pop sparkle, Madness saxophone ska dances and John Lydon aggression. This disjointed hybrid of London scenes past and present with a Manc kick in the gonads make for a vital fresh injection of life to indie scenesters everywhere.

From the urban anti-anthem single 'London Scene', a fairly self-explanatory dissection of life in the modern capital, from musical and lifestyle perspectives, layered over apocalyptic synths and black shade sax. "On the tube no one dares to look at each other's face, the football hooligans put the policeman in their place. Teenage mums with their prams are taking over the streets, nobody has the time to bother to read John Keats … A&R people on the guestlist instead of friends… this is the London scene but we're still proud". Polished off by the iconic stylings of the thrusting chorus hook.

Stories of people's mundane lives under the microscope persist in 'Layabout', 'Boring Lifestyles' and the 'Driving in my car' given a re-invention for the naughties vibe of 'Phoney People', an attack on many a London stereotype. "Why is everybody so fake, let's all be real".

Twisted Charm are an important addition to the indie scene, giving it a much needed slap around the chops. They'll raise many an eyebrow, start many a nutter dance and cause many a snigger. Whichever way the London scene decides to flow next, you can be sure Twisted Charm will be somewhere to be found – and Mr. Doom will most certainly have something to say! As Strummer and Jones so aptly put it "London calling to the imitation zone forget it, brother, you can go at it alone", and as Twisted charm will testify, you always can – and you often should. Martin Kendrick.

The Razz Paper:
Whether it is because the album cover is one you'd ignore in a bargain bin or because of the bad band and songs names, there was much to dismiss here at first. However these label mates of the Klaxons are actually pretty good. Part Blur, part Spizzenergi, part Squeeze, this album is a real grower.

Sandman Magazine:
Whatever happened to concious thought and lyrics? Hip hop became diluted, people swapped books for good looks, and "substance" and "meaning" left town seemingly never to return. Enter Twisted Charm; the last bastion of concious lyrics and substance on the scene today. Front man Nathan Doom's appropriate castigation of the idiots of this country is nothing short of rousing a social revolution. No holds barred, his sharp scathing wit and neo-punk gusto is joined with the bellicose grimey bass lines, jarring guitars and industrial drumming, which makes for a dangerous front line assault; re-enforce the cause with the clever harassment of the saxophone and hypnotic synth and trouble is really brewing.
Taking on the quixotic fight against; layabouts, conventional socialites and the unambitious clones of this country; they throw a fierce yet intelligent cat amongst the proverbial bland pigeons on the scene at the moment.
"Real Fictional" displays varied interpretations of their sound without being an in your face political rant, precocious or pretentious- in fact quite the opposite; puntuated with clever songs about the cinema and finding happiness in singledom. They're not trying to change the world, it's music, and with at least six really strong different singles available i'm sure their fusion of social observations and music will resonate far and wide.
Loose lips sink ships, so shout it from the rooftops and make sure you evangelise about Twisted Charm; as their soapbox attitude and blend of punk and new-wave simply cannot be beaten. Adam Adshead.

Daily mail:
There is something agreeably un-cool about Northampton quartet Twisted Charm. They might have toured with Klaxons, but there are no concessions to trendy nu-rave in their robotic 1980's-style pop. The band's jittery guitars are augmented by space-age effects. Never Grow Older is a honking ska number and Socialite recalls early Blur. Tully Potter.

Disorder Magazine:
If the sax in The Zutons drives you to rip the speakers off the wall then Twisted Charm may grate at first, but TC have actually all the hallmarks of a band with the ability to get under your skin in a welcome manner.
Comparisons do fly thick and fast at you - Blur (their Modern Life is Rubbish era),Ian Drury, The Specials and Jilted John being the immediate ones, with Siouxsie and The Banshees and Dexys' coming in close by - which can make it hard to decipher on what merits you like this band, but please persist.
Twisted Charm use the sax as more of a decisive blade to chop their music up rather than as a cheesy accoutrement, and the overall effect is grubby gutter pop, the kind that hasn't been seen for about 20 years. Kudos to the band that 'Real Fictional' doesn't feel at all dated and if you're still with the album by 'Broken Girl', then you're probably hooked by their broken punk; strangely hypnotic and almost apocalyptic in vision. This could be the soundtrack to 'A Clockwork Orange' for the millenium - empty streets, blank shutters and packs of marauding teenagers with mobile phones and steel piping. Dark but rewarding listening. 4/5

Loud and Quiet:
To some extent Twisted Charm should be considered the Velvet Underground of their time: their art-house aesthetic aside, they've refused to dumb down their distinctive and unique sound, and what's more they've refused to fuck off. "Real Fictional" has taken it's time to reach us and while it's continual sax-parping and inner city (eastside, of course) chats will struggle to cement any kind of Reed/Cale comparisons, the likes of  "London Scene?" flag up all the interesting ideas that ***** are pilfering. Danny Carter. 

The Guardian Guide:
If the fleeting charms of new rave are in its party atmosphere, Twisted Charm are more likely to be found in the kitchen. Too clever to have a good time without thinking about it, the Northampton band are less revellers and more critics - their music, like their recent single "Cinema", generally sees them casting a wry view around their surroundings and feeling rather unimpressed. In this, the band are not alone - the current crop of indie dancers are nothing if not analytical of their scene - but Twisted Charm go for something a bit more collegiate. Boldly referencing the more emotionally detached synthesiser music of the 1980's, the band are more than faintly reminiscent of Ladytron, with whom they share a producer, and, as with that band, if you bring the enthusiasm, they will supply the mild disdain. JR.

Zoo Magazine:
Klaxons tour partners, but don't place this London four-piece in any day-glo 
nu-rave box. There's a fierce punk-attitude careering through the band's sardonic three minute mini-epics.

Vice Magazine:
The one-time most over-gigged band in East London defy cynics by not disappearing into the bottomless pit of passable but pointless scene bands. Instead they emerge with a real 12-track album, with real artwork, on a real record label. Like a starker, snottier Squeeze with worse hooks. Not without Charm then. Randy Pan.

Artrocker Magazine:
Ah, Twisted Charm. This album has been a long time coming from these off-kilter London oddballs. Their taught and tight brand of art-punk is at times difficult to listen to - but this is what makes it all the more challenging and enjoyable. From the opening squeaky saxophone notes on "Never Grow Older", which runs like a renegade teenager into a tantrum complaining about parents - take heed as we follow them to "dispose of maturity." Nathan Doom's vocals on new single "Cinema", sees them screech their way through world cinema and alien synth arrangements.
"London Scene?", is probably the closest they have to an anthem as the spiky drumming and disjointed guitar playing echo moments of The Cure, as Doom tells the tale of what all Londoners know well - teenage mums, suicide, not looking at people on the tube, upper-class city girls and working-class city boys. The saxophone parts bring to mind Acoustic Ladyland as they spiral through a bittersweet tale of the big smoke.
The haunting echoes of "Boring Lifestyles" spit out the grime of everyday life, whereas "Phoney People" mocks those who work out at the gym and then head to Waterstones top-twenty collection. This is snarling observation of everyday life, and we ought to be worried - the phoney people are taking over. "Why is everybody so fake? Let's all be real!" I couldn't have put it better myself. Twisted Charm are the snotty dysfunctional cousins of Art Brut. Enjoy. Lee Puddefoot.

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Twisted Charm (TC) are orphan quadruplets from a crazy midnight orgy that saw Pauline Murray & the Invisible Girls, Madness, Blur, Supergrass and The Specials, bang at it, as the theme of TVs 'Bottom' brainwashed all, playing over and over, beholding each and every influential stroke that eventually spawned these musically inbred babies. OK, that might not be strictly true, but I'd buy into it!

Following their earlier 2005/6 EPs, 'London Scene' & 'Boring Lifestyles', August 6th sees the release of TCs, Lance Thomas produced, debut 12 track LP, 'Real Fictional'. From the outset, its clear that Finsbury Park based Nathan Doom (vox / guitar / synth), Luke Georgiou (saxophone), John Garley (bass) and Dominic Cole (drums) are not only capable of composing songs that fuse all of their diverse sources of influence together; it's obvious that they're good at it and enjoy making the feversome, manic music they do.

Fleeting glances of songs like Monster Mash, Cool for Cats and even the Batman theme are commonplace and utilised superbly. BUT, with so much going on in their sound, it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed or bombarded by the full on delivery of each track. Coming at you thick and fast, it leaves you very little time to bask in the glow of any of the many highlights that can be found here, my favourite being 'Cinema', a subliminally catchy track that follows you around like next doors cat, half an hour before feeding time. It won't go away. It will follow you wherever you go. And, trying to kick it would certainly be frowned upon! I feel sure that given half a chance, any track on this LP could take the same hold on you and your subconscious, but as 'Cinema' was released as a single on July 23rd, why not go and check it out as a taster?! B-sides include live favourite 'Whore' and a South Central remix of 'Boring Lifestyles'.

There are a few albums that are better listened to with a ten minute breather between each song, so as to allow the proper appreciation they long to inspire to flourish. Real Fictional is certainly one of them. Unrelenting as it barrages your brain, each track of this LP demands that your ears keep on their toes! And just like those very ears, the tracks stand up tall and proud and challenge the competition to come and do better. TC have cleverly crafted their sound and injected each track they write with the necessary fervour to fulfill the infectious effect that they're fighting for. A little more time spent on the LP and the shaping of it as a whole, as opposed to gathering up all the tracks, lining 'em up and knocking 'em out, would've been time well spent. Like time spent listening to or watching TC. Ant Standring.

The Sunday Times Culture Magazine:
If a whole album's worth of material does Kate Nash's talent few favours, a similar exposé occurs here. Over the course of three singles, this Northampton four-piece have shown spark and flair, wielding sharp lyrics, loosely phrased, conversational singing and a sonic brew of Stranglers bass, Specials brass and stop-start spasmodics to great effect. Twelve tracks of this, though, may be asking too much of listeners, especially as Twisted Charm's subject matter is insufficiently varied (in their case, it's a prolonged, Arctic Monkeys-style sneer)... Plenty to build on, though. Dan Cairns.