Habits Neon Trees, Mercury
Habits is the debut album from Salt Lake City pop rockers Neon Trees. You’ve heard their hit single Animal, trust me you’ve heard it, it’s one of those songs that infiltrates your brain without you knowing, it’s on the radio, in the background in shops, playing on TV, it’s everywhere , it’s the one that goes ‘Oh-oh, I want some more, Oh-oh, What are you waiting for?’ If you like that then you’ll love the nine similar tunes that make up this album. Catchy rockin’ numbers with good hooks and sing-a-long lyrics abound. Play once and then discard.
Graeme Watson
Anna Calvi Anna Calvi, Domino / EMI
Grab your rattlesnake and hit the dusty road, Anna Calvi’s darkly seductive debut album is here. It’s a brooding road trip through the a dark heartland of epic proportions. To hear her sing it’s no wonder that the likes of Nick Cave and Brian Eno are champions of her cause. What surprised me the most is that at times she sounds like Mia Sonos aka Coco Pop from Perth’s own Electric Limousine – that same haunting sensitivity. But then there are moment Calvi strikes it out of the ball park, making the world hers. Desire is a stand out track, it’s wailing melancholia blissfully addictive. Worth searching for if you like your drama dark.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Star of Love Crystal Fighters, Zirkulo / Liberator
Next level anyone? Take the psychedelic twang of MGMT and mix it with some dirty electro beats and a whole swathe of Spanish folk inspired acoustic guitars… plus some really really cute Spanish accents… and you have the epic debut from Crystal Fighters. After all, if the world is getting smaller, then we deserve to have as many parts as possible seep into our lives. Crystal Fighters deliver. Xtatic Truth and I Do This Everyday have frenetic carnival beats that make you wanna dance – in fact, the whole album is moreish and tribal and addictive. Get. Get this now. And dance. An infectious must-have.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
London Sessions LCD Soundsystem, Parlophone
I used to veer away from LCD Soundsystem. All the hipster kids listened to them, and to be frank, there’s really nothing worse than being a hipster. Skinny jeans only work if you’re post adolescent by a few years… not in your 30s. So on a whim I listened to their last album. Now? I’m addicted. Just as they’re about to break up. Oh well. At least they’re leaving us with a brilliant parting gift such as this. This is the band stripped back, slowed down with guitars, less polish, more spit. I like it. LCD Soundsystem are typically a band whose rhythms are a little hard to predict, but here it’s all rock swagger. Not the skinny jeans type though, thank god. Worth it.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Fading Parade Papercuts, Sub Pop
Papercuts the one man band that is Jason Quever return with their fourth album, ten tunes of perfect lo-fi blurry pop tunes. Filled with reverb and jangling guitars, Papercuts sound like a hot summer day when you realise you’re not sober from the night before. Catchy tune Chills sounds like a song from the 60’s that you’ve heard before, instantly hummable. Winter Daze is a loose and stumbling almost alt-country song with plucked guitars, while album closer Charades leaves with you an upbeat feeling with its multilayered keyboards and slightly psychedelic guitars. Throw this one on your iPod and head to the park.
Graeme Watson
Oh Mercy Great Barrier Grief, EMI
For their second album, the soft-spoken kids from Oh Mercy have proven what isn’t broken won’t need fixin’. ‘Great Barrier Grief’ continues where their debut ‘Privileged Woes’ left off for the acclaimed Melbourne band. Soft acoustic-pop weaves through the record as the lead singer Alexander Gow creates an intimacy that is entrancing and provocative. ‘Lay Everything On Me’ and ‘Keith St’ are stand-out tracks as they serenade and leave you swooning like all good timeless records should. While the title ‘Great Barrier Grief’ may look like an eco-warrior war cry, the album, in fact has little connection to environmental activism.
Benn Dorrington
Boy GeorgeOrdinary Alien: The Kinky Roland Files
Boy George returns with his first album of original music in over 10 years, after a series of acoustic and rock releases through the nineties, the Culture Club front man returns to electronic dance music with a reggae tinge. Clocking is at a huge 94 minutes length the album contains many singles released online in recent years alongside new tunes. Yes We Can is an Obama inspired uplifiting anthem, while Amazing Grace is a gospel choir stomper, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own way is surprisingly effective. The album falls down a little in the second half as it moves away from pop into club tunes.
Graeme Watson
