Not a lot of bands make it as far as a record deal these days. For those who do get signed, it's not as horridly cynical a crossroads of art-and-commerce as you may think. Pretty much always, love dilutes money. So, having run a label of love, DiS thought it might be nice to start a new feature and get those with their pen on the pulse to tell us about their new signing.

First up, we hand you over to Phil Canning, Warp Records' International Manager:

Band Name: Pivot

How did you discover them:

I'd heard their name a few times thru working with Australians. People would refer to their drummer as "the best living australian drummer," whatever that means, and tell me what an insanely good live band they were. They had an old album out in Australia already. And then Sarah, who was working for us at Warp at the time, brought in an entire new album of their demos - before they had even been to Chicago to mix the album with John 'Tortoise' Mcentire. She played it to me and it was obviously a cracker. I put a copy on my boss's desk (Steve Beckett) with a post it note saying "Lets sign our first Australian band!" and the next day he came up to me and said "Its pretty fucking good that Pivot thing..."

What was it about them you loved:

It was pretty instant. There was a mega hook and groove to lots of the songs, and its always brilliant to hear a band that have some nice addictive tunes despite being instrumental and a little out-there. You can tell they are going to be pretty ace live by listening to the rhythms and noises on the record. And their influences - like Vangelis mixed with Talking heads - was right up our street.

Who do you hope they'll appeal to:

The fans are pretty disparate. I'd say its pretty open. For instance the first big support slot they got asked to do was Sigur Ros, but now they have been asked to support the Arctic Monkeys too! Pretty different audiences! But both those bands are big fans. Pivot go down well with loadsa folks from synth nuts to post punkers via electronica freaks and they've been compared to both John Carpenter and Foals several times each. Go figure!

What are their plans for the next few months:

They have been working hard touring Europe for a few months and doing festivals etc, and are now in OZ doing some more shows and working on new songs. They'll be back in Europe in a few months time (possibly after a quick trip to USA and SXSW) to release some more delicious fantasy space rock on Warp Records.

Where can people hear more:

Their website is pivotpivot.net and they are on myspace at myspace.com/pivotpivot but for a quick fix you should check out this new video of the album title track / tour 7" single 'O Soundtrack My Heart':

DiScuss: Thoughts on Pivot? Do you find it fascinating the way in which Warp Records has mutated somewhat post-Maximo Park and more recently Battles? Or does it make a lot of sense to you? Are you a friend or foe of columns like this? Can anyone think of a better name for this column?