By WORDS BY TIM WALKER It's the height of the festival season, and across Britain Identikit groups of tight-trousered, floppy-haired boys with guitars are taking to the stage, to thrash out a homogenous jangle. Critics have dubbed their sound 'indie landfill'.

When trendsetting turns into trend-chasing, it's time to hang it up. For a healthy stretch of the '80s and '90s, the benchmark for boundary-breaking pop music was, unquestionably, Madonna.

By Simon Price CDS INDIE The Kooks Konk VIRGIN "Don't heap this praise on me," sings Luke Pritchard (on "Gap"). "I don't deserve it." It's generous of him to offer his permission to withhold praise, but we'd have gone ahead anyway.

Brighton indie pop quartet The Kooks have announced a late spring date at Plymouth Pavilions as part of a UK tour promoting their second album which is released in April.

EVER been to a fortune teller? Do you check your horoscope every day? If you do, Professor Richard Dawkins has you down as one of "The Enemies of Reason".