tUnE-yArDs
Nikki Nack
[4AD]
“Refined” isn’t really a word that you’d associate with tUnE-yArDs; in fact, the charm of the last two albums from outlandish pop-powerhouse Merrill Garbus lies largely in the raw, brazen energy that thrums through them. Nikki Nack by no means abandons this, but it’s unmistakably another step away from the rough-edged sound of 2009’s BiRd-BrAiNs or 2011’s w h o k i l l. Even so, it’s one of the most engaging releases so far this year, proving that Garbus at her most restrained still packs a serious punch. – Emily Bourke
Ramona Lisa
Arcadia
[Pannonica]
Ramona Lisa is the side-project of the incredibly cool Chairlift vocalist Caroline Polachek. An album of MIDI meanderings, born in airport lounges and hotel rooms in the airless confines of a laptop, at its high points (usually when CP is singing) it has the potential to be Chairlift without the propulsion and heft that their band-ness gives them, but ultimately it tends towards completist’s curiosity, rather than surprise solo break-out, in classic side-project fashion. – Ian Lamont
Various Artists
Bob Dylan in the 80s, Vol. 1
The accompanying website for this record thankfully states “portions of the proceeds” go to charity here, but I’m not even sure that nod can cover this schemozzle of nonsense thrown together on the premise that “When you ask someone to name a Dylan song from the 1980s, you usually get a blank stare in return” or legitimately suggest that the solution to that falsehood was a load of lumpen cover versions from C-list indie small-hitters (soz, Built to Spill). – Ian Lamont
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Ben Frost
A U R O R A
[Mute]
A nominal Nord, avant-garde composer, and co-founder of the Bedroom Community label, in 2011 Ben Frost was selected to join Brian Eno as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Eno’s influence is evident on A U R O R A, in the quieter, ambient numbers as well as the musique concrète, sample-laden louder tunes. Occasionally, like on Nolan, the dirge parts and a woozy, recognisable dance beat enters, only then to outstay its welcome and prolong the uneasiness. – Eoin Tierney
Chad Vangaalen
Shrink Dust
[Sub Pop]
After an excursion into slightly more rocking territory on his last LP, Canada’s finest VanGaalen returns with a more sedate set of mostly folky tunes, with some electronic tinges and the welcome addition of pedal steel guitar. Monster is a song about, well, being a monster, and ties in well with the Akira-esque cover art. Beneath the veneer of grotesquerie in the lyrics and artwork, there’s a subtle beauty in the quieter moments of the album, which thankfully outnumber the tracks that rely on psych-ish bombast. – Ivan Deasy
Noxagt
Brutage
[Drid Machine]
Load Records alumni Noxagt return after an eight year absence with a characteristically caustic LP. The middle three tracks are the meat of the record, half an hour of glorious, writhing ugliness. The Norwegian trio make no attempt to hide their fondness for repetition as the songs churn around simple riffs, but finely detailed shifts in the rhythm section and slowly building layers of guitar atmospherics keep things interesting. Closing track A Drunken Person Kicked You at the Station and You Had To Go to the Hospital sounds like a nursery rhyme recorded in a haunted submarine. – Ivan Deasy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNGYQV2A-uQ
OFF!
Wasted Years
[Vice]
At just shy of 25 minutes, the new OFF! LP doesn’t stick around for too long, but somehow it feels a bit overlong when the straightforward hardcore formula is followed as slavishly as it is here. There’s something about a punk band fronted by a man two years off 60 that doesn’t sit right, and no matter how angry he sounds, Keith Morris’ vocals blend into the general noise of the album without making much of a lasting impression. – Ivan Deasy
The Horrors
Luminous
[XL]
The Horrors’ apparent passion for hairspray over songwriting seemed destined to earn them a spot on the NME cool list and little else, their continued relevance maintaining a shade of “whodathunkit?” novelty about it. Their latest finds them continuing their love affair with vintage synth sounds and shoegaze while maintaining a swagger reminiscent of their time as magazine cover lip-curlers. Nothing here comes near the heights of Sea Within a Sea off their Geoff Barrow-produced sophomore but then few things do. Worth a look though. – Danny Wilson
Swans
To Be Kind
[Young God]
Swans made a few headlines when news broke on how they intended funding new double album To Be Kind: for $500 frontman Michael Gira would pen a song using the benefactor’s name in it. Mystery solved who Nathalie Neal and Just a Little Boy are, then. The rest of the album is business as usual, with recursive guitars, violent lyrics, and throttling drums. It’s onerous and tiring, not something you’d wash dishes to, or necessarily ever throw on again, but great nonetheless. – Eoin Tierney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABIlJl8-4pE
Woods
With Light And With Love
[Woodsist]
The bearded Brooklynites’ latest finds some of the ragged charm of previous lo-fi wig-outs abandoned for a sun-kissed homage to alt-country and twee pop, though it’s not nearly as bad as that makes it sound. There are certainly less duds here than on recent albums but when undoubtedly the best track here is a wild jam that nearly tops ten minutes, maybe getting hung up on writing jaunty three minute pop songs isn’t the best shout. “Pretty good” in the way only passable indie rock albums can be. – Danny Wilson
