So then, to a review of what for me is the most anticipated album of 2010.

Ever since grabbing my attention with Photoshop Handsome all the way back towards the beginning of last year, I’ve been keeping close tabs on the progress of the Newcastle/Channel Islands/Kent originating but Manchester based popular beat combo Everything Everything, and at last their debut album Man Alive is right in my grubby mitts. It’s an exciting time to be me (and them too, I should expect).

It’s probably important to preface this review by stating that I’m a big fan of the band. So big, in fact, that I can tell you which b-sides I’m upset didn’t make the album (all of them) and that I think some of the original versions are better than the ones that made the LP proper. I’ll try and leave that to one side for now and be subjective about the album, however.

Basically, it’s bloody amazing.

There’s no-one else making music quite like this. Aside from the refreshing sound it’s extremely well executed, and no-one seems to know quite how to describe it. Here just a few of my favourites from the blogosphere:

• “XTC-style brain-pop chemists”
• “skewering tropical rhythms with skyscraper synth lines”
• “razor wire post-punk-funk with opaque lyrics”

Which is all clearly bollocks, but shows how much fun people are having with these tunes. And that’s to be congratulated.

In my opinion, this is very well put together guitar pop music. Dress it up any way you like, but all that verbiage takes away from the innate song writing and thought that’s gone into all these tunes.

Yes, Jonathan’s lyrics are surreal, bordering on the mental and straying into the incomprehensible, but that’s part of the charm. Frankly, I don’t much listen to the words anyway, and it’s the melodies that are the strongest part of this record. As a side note Jonathan is also rather fond of saying “eh” quite a lot, which as vocal ticks go is one of the more pleasant.

Lead single MY KZ UR BF starts the album off, and as a slice of funk infused pop it’s pretty much peerless. In terms of up-tempo songs, it’s joined by possibly the most straightforward track on the album in Qwerty Finger and the riotous, live sounding Suffragette Suffragette with a chorus that might make you spit your lunch out if you’re not expecting it.

But don’t think Everything Everything have forgotten about the slow jams! NASA Is On Your Side contains off kilter rhythms, staccato drums and the feel of a waltz somewhere close to the end of the universe. Album closer Weights ramps up the epic level to about 11, and Leave The Engine Room covers suitably bleepy ground with some fat organs thrown in for good measure.

It’s with Final Form, however, that you hear a band really beginning to find their feet. Weighing in at a hefty five and a half minutes, it builds up into one of the more sublime choruses of the year, and just keeps going from there. It’s catchy in a way you wouldn’t expect, and as a song it gives me a great deal of hope for what’s coming next from these boys.

No, it’s not a perfect album – the live sound of Photoshop Handsome and Suffragette Suffragette, seemingly hastily re-recorded doesn’t quite fit with the polished feel of the rest of the CD, and the decision to omit Luddites and Lambs strikes me as odd given how strong a b-side it was.

What we do have however is one of the strongest debut albums I’ve heard in a long time – the time and thought put into this release really shows. Also Two For Nero has references to a Game Gear and any album referring to battery-eating portable video game consoles from the early nineties is always going to get thumbs up from me.

Make no mistake, this is only the beginning for Everything Everything. If you’re not humming tunes from this album already, give it a few months. They’re not going anywhere – apart from the top of the hit parade! Oh dear.

In conclusion, it’s a bit special.