BRIGHTON pop duo Things in Herds is riding high at the top of the charts - without even having a record deal.

The duo beat thousands of other artists to the Number One slot in the Indie chart of the world's most popular music website, mp3.com, pushing aside the likes of Alanis Morrisette.

In a chart which changes daily, the duo rode the top slot for nearly three weeks with their hit, Always Disappear.

Backing singer Julie McDermott, from Medina Terrace in Hove, says the Internet chart is the shape of things to come: "One day I hope we will get into the real charts, but this is just as valid.

"People have lost interest in the old-style charts and they are looking around for something new."

mp3.com is the world's largest music website with 273,000 songs by 50,000 artists. Artists upload songs which audiences can then download from the site without paying.

Things in Herds, formed less than six months ago by singer and guitarist Pete Lush and vocalist Julie, has become an international concern.

The pair receive around ten e-mails a day from fans across the world, from the U.S. to Belgium, but they have never even played a gig.

Julie, 24, said: "We probably will play live soon because we've had such good feedback.

"But at the moment we make all our music in a bedroom with a couple of guitars, a digital 8-track recorder, a PC and a microphone."

Things in Herds describe themselves as "a sometimes confusing concoction of little melodies, indecipherable lyrics and cat noises played on a variety of acoustic instruments and synthesisers".

Julie, who runs an art studio in Hove and makes music as a hobby, compares their music to Pavement or indie favourites Belle and Sebastian.

The vocalist says the appeal of their music is its down to earth quality.

She said: "It's not like listening to a normal CD. They often sound over-produced, but you definitely couldn't say hours of studio production time had gone into our tracks."

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