THE evergreen Wichita's finest electronic acts - Cardiff's Bravecaptain, Her Space Holiday and Weevil - take to the road next week on the Music Machines Tour 2004.

Other than a city in Kansas, USA, Wichita is a record label that specialises in left-field/indie electronic music, often of the dance variety but with songs about girlfriends and tea parties.

With the Music Machines Tour they are showcasing three of their best acts all of which have records out this month or next.

Bravecaptain Bravecaptain releases his new album All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace on Monday, August 2. Bravecaptain is Martin Carr who was a Boo Radley and thinks a Super Furry Animal persuaded him to leave his native Bristol and runaway to Cardiff.

His first single came out on the now ceased Welsh singles club run by Boobytrap and he's released two mini-albums on Wichita, The Fingertip Saint Sessions I and II.

But the first recording of major note didn't come until 2002 in the shape of Advertisements For Myself.

An avalanche of lo-fi beat-pop and breakbeat sound collages, at times, Martin<pi>s two creative personas intertwined, not quite gelling Lee Mavers and Squarepusher like sounds.

In contrast, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace has primarily been made with machines yet, paradoxically, it's his most human sounding album for a long time.

His vocals float Beach Boys like over the top of a sometimes throbbing, sometimes reeling, electronic underbelly. Whether he'll stick with this sound from now on or change again remains to be seen but the artist is currently on fine form and well worth a look.

Weevil Weevil released new single Halfsmile from their recent album Drunk on Light last month.

They based it on a poppy New Order groove with woozy vocals recalling the work of electronic pioneers Yo La Tengo.

Halfsmile grew out of Weevil looking at old photos with his girlfriend. They came across pictures of an old flame of his which made unsettling memories come flooding back. They stayed with him and everyday things kept reminding him of her.

Weevil are Tom Betts and Jonny Pilcher. Back in the early 90s there was a wave of bands like New Order, My Bloody Valentine, Moonshake, Bark Psychosis and Seefeel who mixed guitars with electronics in a distinctly 80s fashion.

Betts and Pilcher have taken on this aesthetic and given it a 2004 workout. They have a sound that is very much their own and this includes a wonderful mish mash of acoustic guitars, close vocal harmonies, swirling samples, static, cut and paste drums etc.

Her Space Holiday Her Space Holiday, aka Marc Bianchi, is gearing up for a remix album of tracks from his recent Young Machines LP. His last release was the single, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend in March from the YM LP.

The Young Machines is currently being remixed by artists such as The Postal Service, The Faint, Minotaur Shock and Super Furry Animals for the forthcoming mix album.

Bianchi occupies a middle ground between West Coast pop and European electronica.

Dreamy, but edgy too, his gentle, string-soaked electro tunes and softly spun tales have always been tinged with a dash of melancholy.

The Wichita Music Machines Tour calls on Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff on Monday, July 26. For more info dial 029 2023 2199 or surf to www.wichita-recordings.comwww.weevilmusic.co.uk, www.bravecaptain.com or www.herspaceholiday.com