8 Jessie Ware
9 The xx
7
Pink’s 6 Minus The Bear 8 Ariel Haunted Graffiti
Devotion
This album is like a transmission from a Bizzaro Pop-World, where SBTRKT’s subtle, melancholy two-step is what has been taken onboard by the David Guettas of the world, not wub-wub bro-step; a world where the Jessie who scales our charts is not a judge on The Voice - no, it’s Jessie Ware, classically-trained South Londoner with a love for Ella Fitzgerald as much as Sampha. ‘Devotion’ is future-pop. Well, no, it’s resolutely present-day-pop; but in an era where singers of Ware’s persuasion soulful, powerful - are retro-fitted with smoky eye shadow and the Phil Spector drumbeat, these songs have more in common with the trendy R&S ilk. There are some missteps along the way, but for the most part this is a flawless, breathless lap around both mainstream and ‘underground’ music; the sound of modern pop, modern love - and heartbreak. (Tom Baker)
Calexico Algiers
You can’t accuse Calexico of being unadventurous. With six-albums to date, the Arizonan band - headed by Joey Burns and John Convertino - have had a knack for evoking vast, vibrant images: 2003’s ‘Feast Of Wire’ conjuring South American Political icons and snowy Russian cities. Fast-forward four years and their latest LP, ‘Algiers’, traverses forward with the same vivid sense of exploration whilst hardly failing to impress. Recorded in a converted New Orleans church, the album discovers the history of the city’s soulful core that’s surrounded by a sea of darkness. ‘Splinter’ makes this quite evident as Burns, in his best Bob Dylan impression, croaks: “Through the gardens and fields / Beneath the tall green grass / You will walk beneath the moon / While covering the tracks.” In a similar context many other bands might have run dry by now. Not Calexico though, and ‘Algiers’ serves as a fitting reminder why they haven’t. (Alex Yau)
Coexist
They say if it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it; and nobody - not a single person - would claim that The xx are anywhere close to coming off the rails. Their sound is more an aesthetic, and it’s one deployed with a quiet confidence on their much anticipated second full-length ‘Coexist’. The rich tones of Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim intertwine with a warmth that plays brilliantly of their sparse surroundings, while the finger prints of modern-day genius Jamie Smith are everywhere you’d care to look. A band as much about the spaces in between as the notes played, there’s an assured edge that bleeds through tracks like ‘Fiction’ - they bare the same hallmarks as their brilliant debut, but the execution is more deliberate. Music for middle class dinner parties? The xx are far more than that. (Ben Marsden)
5 The Vaccines Coming Of Age
The problem with being successful, one would imagine, is the pressure to achieve more. There are few who aren’t expected to go one bigger. The same is never enough. That’s one The Vaccines have to wrestle with. Their debut album’s raucous guitar pop propelled them, just as everyone expected, slap bang into the middle of the mainstream, but where do they go from there? There’s been no hanging around in terms of a follow up - just over a year later we’re confronted with their answer. ‘The Vaccines Come Of Age’, bluntly, doesn’t do what it says on the tin. Neither is it a ‘bad’ album. It’s a record which is all about holding its ground; there’s little to show any massive evolution, but plenty to keep that chart friendly streak going strong. ‘Teenage Icon’ sums it up the best - rattling along like a chugging steam train, by now we know exactly what to expect from The Vaccines. (Ben Marsden)
Infinity Overhead
The fifth studio album by Seattle-based rock quintet Minus The Bear is something of a regression acting as revitalisation. The band’s previous long-player, 2010’s ’Omni’, attempted to incorporate a more overt electronic sound into their direct, crushing rock; however, that electronic diversion was something of a misstep that is pleasingly rectified here. ‘Infinity Overhead’ sees the band returning to a very much riffbased rock approach. Adding to the feeling of tradition, it’s been produced by their former keyboardist, sound guru Matt Bayles; a perfect combination. While the record largely eschews too much experimentation in favour of a very direct and straight ahead sound, it is in Minus The Bear’s own idiosyncratic style. Much of the material here is rooted in big powerful rock anthems. There are hooks a plenty all over the record, and Minus The Bear’s real skill is in harnessing these. A marked improvement on their previous album. (Martyn Young)
Mature Themes
What’s remarkable about ‘Mature Themes’ is how every banal detail is reproduced in excruciatingly high-resolution; the nice sentiments and images make you go “awww” and the uglier ones make you recoil in disgust, even if they’re not especially profound. But even more present is some genuinely humorous moments: Ariel Pink’s voice already has that ‘not really trying’ quality, so in combination with lyrics like “I don’t mean to burn any bridges / But I can’t get enough of those bitches,” you can’t help but chuckle. The album’s appeal seems to draw on the natural curiosity we have about the innermost workings of someone’s mind. Some people are fascinating. Some people are just good at externalizing their inner monologue. Either way, there is something enticing about someone’s most unadulterated thoughts presented to you. (Kosta Lucas) 69