Annies last month on air, in The Big List and on this blog. Desert Hearts remain one of the most underrated bands of all time - albums in 2002 and 2006 were scandalously overlooked.

Part of the problem was the band were a little....unpredictable live - scrappy and loose one night, mesmerising the next. Seeing them at Auntie Annies though - with Stu and Leaky from General Fiasco playing guitar and drums to properly beef up the sound and add a little discipline -I got the impression that had changed. 

'This is the best the band has ever been' explains Desert Hearts front man Charlie Mooney. 'It feels like we're just starting. We have an album's worth of music ready to go and the older songs finally feel the way we imagined, with Stuart and Leaky putting everything into it. DSR2011 - NO CHALLENGE!'

Their next show is this Thursday (2 June) at The Empire, Belfast. Support from Sea Pinks and CBOO.

You can listen to Hotsy Totsy Nagasaki, the second album from Desert Hearts, on their bandcamp page. We'd recommend the tracks Ocean, Sea Punks and Gravitas....to start.