My favourite holiday spot as a child was Disney World in Orlando, Florida, because with the sun always shining and the palm trees swaying, it was a world away from what I was used to growing up in the Mid-Atlantic. My parents probably recognised early on that I had boffin tendencies, because I avoided the roller coasters of the Magic Kingdom and gravitated towards the technologic geekery of Epcot Center. But as a child, there was wonderment to be had to be thinking about what could be in the future, and that’s what Epcot, ‘Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow’, offered. And from the sounds of Windmill’s second album ‘Epcot Starfields’, Matthew Thomas Dillon and I had similar memories.

The London-based Dillon became fascinated with Disney’s vision for the future and seemingly limitless ideas for this Florida amusement park that was only realised after his death. Dillon’s fascination with these fueled the writing of this album, and even a glance at the song titles (‘Ellen Save Our Energy’, named after a ride at Epcot, for one) indicate an obvious Disney/Epcot influence. The Independent and the Sunday Telegraph gave ‘Epcot Starfields’ their kudos. Have a watch of the whimsical, aeronautically-themed video for ‘Big Boom’, a track from the album, and see if you agree. Aborted attempts at eating ice creams are always love.

‘Epcot Starfields’ is available now from Friendly Fire Recordings.

Last year was quite refrshing for classic rock with the return of AC/DC, Airbourne punching above their weight and The Answer starting to really blossom but all this meant that Dirty Sweet were largely overlooked. The Californian five piece are right on the brink of dropping the support act tag strapped around their necks and I have a feeling they will be highly rated after their current tour.

If you love melodic vocals, inventive drum beats and mind splitting guitar riffs then these guys will be for you. The band are pros at cooking up a galloping track and “Baby Come Home” is already a big hit, but what’s exciting is that there already is a catalogue of other tunes that could follow it up.

“Born to Bleed” is a rock solid track and shows us, through awesome harmonies, that the guitar players know their stuff. The chorus is catchy and having been a fan for a while, the rate that Dirty Sweet have improved and grown is simply fenomenal. “You’ve Been Warned” and “Golden Sole” are also great listens and make the ingredients for a great album.

The boys are almost certain to meet a lot of fans in 2009 with their pure rock tone and fantastic sense of humour and I suppose you have to be quite good to support The Killers among other bands, but 2009 should see the band become a well polished act and I’m certain they have a great year ahead of them.