It's another list of our favourite things to hit the 4ZZZ Library. If you see anything you like you can request it: requests@4zzz.org.au
You can also SMS a request: 0416 281 220
Or call: 07 3252 1555
Thanks to Hayley Elliott-Maclure, Lauren Sachs, Ian Powne, Mitch Cutting, Kian Todd, Ella Dann-Limon, Linda Finlay, Adrian Marsh, Sarah Romero.

The pick of the pick:

Australian Artists:

Beast & Flood: All Singing, All Dancing (Single) (Indie)
Caitlin Park To Breathe You Out EP (Create/Control)
Geoffrey O’Connor Fan Fiction (Chapter)
The Prince Of Seagulls: The Prince Of Seagulls (Punk Groove)

Local Artists:

The Kite String Tangle Vessel (Warner)
The Plastic Fangs: The Plastic Fangs (Indie)

Overseas Artists:

Alvvays: Alvvays (Polyvinyl / Popfrenzy)
Cold Beat: Over Me (Indie)
Daisuke Tanabe: Floating Underwater (Ki / Tailored)
Hawk House: A Handshake to the Brain (EMI)
King Creosote From Scotland With Love (Domino / EMI)
Strand Of Oaks: Heal (Dead Oceans)
Witch Mountain: Mobile of Angels (Svart)

The rest of the best:

Australian Artists:

Alpha Beta Fox: It's Nothing Till It's Something (Indie)
- Ethereal but rocking guitars and dreamy vocals to take you on a psychedelic-pop trip. (Linda Finlay)

Bad//Dreems: My Only Friend (Single) (Ivy League / Mushroom)
- Adelaidian slack-rockers Bad//Dreems showcase a more reflective side on their new single 'My Only Friend'. Ben Marwe's vocals are in particularly fine form. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Beast & Flood: All Singing, All Dancing (Single) (Indie)
- Messy and rambunctious but ultimately compelling, Beat & Flood serve up a slice of maximalist art-rock like a meeting half-way between Animal Collective and something excruciatingly loud like, I dunno, The Paper Chase? Whatever if you like a bit of pop-sweetness in your broken glass, this is for you. (Chris Cobcroft)

Caitlin Park: To Breathe You Out EP (Create/Control)
- A strangely effective accompaniment to Caitlin’s recent album. Mostly sparse, instrumental and acoustic numbers that unexpectedly complement and complete the work begun on The Sleeper. A meditative, zen-like perfection.

Caitlin Park: Wake Up In A Whirr (Single) (Create/Control)
- Sydney's Caitlin Park goes from strength to strength in her unique electro-acoustic folk stylings. Wake Up In A Whirr exposes unforeseen lyrical depths as well as stellar production. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Captives: Insomnia (Single) (Indie)
- Everything I said about Captives remains true: Cramps + Bronx = Captives. They pull it off consistently.

Childsaint Dessert (Single) (Indie)
- All female Perth group Childsaint release a gritty yet ethereal single. This dreamy but percussive indie-rock sounds like a few Angels having a cigarette after a hard days nine to five. (Kian Todd)

Conspiracy of One: Gravity, It’s Just A Theory (Indie)
- Folk / singer-songwriter. Really catchy and beautifully poetic. (Mitch Cutting)

The Devil In Miss Jones: Shake (Like You Feel) (Single) (Indie)
- Toe tapping blues rock. So good and catchy. (Linda Finlay)

Dreamin' Wild: Dreamin' Wild (Moontown Tapes)
- Dreamin’ Wild bring together the off-key ‘cool’ of jangle-pop with lounge. Great combo as it turns out: the jangle fits perfectly with lounge’s already slightly bent character.

Geoffrey O’Connor: Fan Fiction (Chapter)
- Australia’s crooning synth-pop king goes quite a lot louder on his new record, but maintains that same self-lacerating lyrical style. Actually these little vignettes on love lacerate just about everyone they touch on, but it still sounds pretty sweet. (Chris Cobcroft)

Graveyard Rockstars: Sleepless September (Single) (Doomsday)
- Heavy Horror Rock from Sydney. Graveyard Rockstars are dark, heavy and catchy. (Mitch Cutting)

Heath Anthony: Whiskey Monday (Open Grave)
- Acoustic guitar strumming with a bittersweet gusto inspired by that lady-killer Frank Turner. If fans of The Smith Street Band were crying even harder into their beers than usual, they’d probably like this too.

HYLA: HYLA (Indie)
- Fuzz-soaked shoegaze from Perth. We could always do with more.

I Killed The Prom Queen: Bright Enough (Single) (Epitaph / Warner)
- The album might be a bit samey, but as a standalone track, Bright Enough has plenty of the muscular brutality that made IKPQ better than most metalcore bands and also made it worth waiting for them to come back after six years. (Chris Cobcroft)

Jessica Mauboy: iTunes Session (Sony)
- I have such a massive soft spot for Jessica Mauboy. She is one impressive woman, what with her exploding pop career, working as an indigenous ambassador and with underprivileged young people. This stripped-back acoustic set of her best hits showcases some solid songwriting and an amazing voice behind the production ear-candy. Pop A Bottle and Inescapable are obvious standouts. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Laura Jean: Don’t Marry The One You Love (Single) (Chapter)
- A jangly but quite country-folk ditty on a theme of marrying sensibly, worthy of Saki or Oscar Wilde. The bitter country laughter sounds a bit more like Laura Imbruglia than the Laura Jean I know. Also has echoes of the dry as dust humour of new Australian alt-star Courtney Barnett. Whatever, those are not bad things to be referencing and I’m keen to hear the rest of the record, due later in August. (Chris Cobcroft)

Lower Spectrum: Traces (Zero Through Nine)
- Fremantle-based experimental producer Lower Spectrum somehow manages to nimbly hop from dancefloor-friendly beats to sweeping ethereal soundscapes at will. The synth textures on this record are tasty, check out Hex for a prime example. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Magic Hands: Limousine (Single) (Indie)
- That crazy pair of Alex Badham and Lucy Roleff return with a more uniform but quite likably slow, smooth, loud and tuneful slice of electro-pop. Roleff’s vocal, particularly, is rich, deep and an asset to the track.

Mannheim Rocket: Mannheim Rocket (3BS Records)
- Heavily pulsing but still minimal, ambient techno from this Sydney based artist. (Ella Dann-Limon)

Mata & Must: Get Your Mind Right (Pang Productions)
- Quieter and more reflective than most boom-bap, which fits just right with the moody but smooth flow. Oldschool, tasteful and restrained.

Monte: Reminiscence (Single) (Indie)
- There is no wimpy Melbourne rock in Monte’s single Reminiscence, this is a strong alt / prog-rock album with forceful rhythms yet melodious vocals. (Sarah Romero)

Oslow: Days Are So Bright Now (Eunoia Collective)
- Sydney band laying down a loose but muscular post-hardcore sound, with a streak of lyrical emo through it. Fans of Eleventh He Reaches London and The Smith Street Band will surely find something to hook into.

The Pink Tiles: The Pink Tiles (Cobra Snake Neck-Tie)
- This Melbourne band mix up an old-timey collection of power-pop, garage, 60's girl groups and more in a loud, fuzzy and pleasantly poppy sound.

The Prince Of Seagulls: The Prince Of Seagulls (Punk Groove)
- A producer and an analogue synth-aficionado come together and make a burstingly energetic album full of all sorts of styles. Mainlining afrobeat and soundtrack funk, but also krautrock, space-rock, instrumental hip hop, ambient, electro-blues and more. Rough around the edges and a record from which nothing was cut, but, nonetheless, one of the most vibrant and exciting things I’ve heard all year. (Chris Cobcroft)

Sainthill: Man Alive (Hawkmoth)
- Sparse, lonesome Australiana, with a convincing echo of The Paradise Motel.

Segression: Scar Me Now (Single) (Murder Machine)
- Groove/Thrash Metal from the Wollongong boys. Solid and heavy, with a bit of a metalcore edge. (Mitch Cutting)

Slumberjack: Felon (Single) (Onelove)
- A trappy dance track that wears its debt to TNGHT on its sleeve, but sure doesn't sound half-bad.

SPOD: Last Dance (Single) (Rice is Nice)
- SPOD is getting too old for this **** and is proving it by remaking his sweaty pop 2003 debut, Taste The Radness. The first single off Taste the Sadness is Last Dance, a lovely piano-driven pop cover of Letz Dance!!! and perfectly captures that fading melancholic buzz so familiar to anyone who has ever partied all night long, dancing like no one is watching, spilling beers on unsuspecting patrons, shouting absurd things through bathroom doors, scrabbling on the floor for a dropped cigarette slurring "It's still good! It's still good!". The party has moved to the lounge room. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Stephen Cummings: Nothing To Be Frightened Of (HEAD)
- Lead singer of now defunct seventies new wave outfit The Sports, Stephen Cummings has proven himself an exceptional lyricist and storyteller. NTBFO is a collection of bittersweet pop tracks as simple as they are heartfelt. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Sticky Fingers:Land Of Pleasure (Sureshaker / MGM)
- Adding the dance-rock sounds of Madchester to their already highly convincing if strange blend of indie and reggae, the bad boys of Australian pop-rock will continue to get away with murder, as long as they write songs as good as this. (Chris Cobcroft)

Strangers From Now On: Cologne (Indie / MGM)
- New EP from the sexy post-punk four piece, based in Melbourne. If you dig atmospheric yet precise noise rock complete with angelic vocals and pulverizing guitar, this is for you. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Thhomas: Thhomas (Moontown Tapes)
- Strange sample and analogue drum sounds abound on this tape from Melbourne's Thhomas which falls somewhere between a Madlib sample-fest and soundscape art. (Hayley Elliot-Maclure)

Tkay Maidza: U-huh (Single) (Dew Process / Universal)
- The pint-sized rapper turns in another winner. Bouncy, bright and melodic synths, but with a big, heavy beat, great party-rap stuff. Both Tkay’s singing and rapping are easily the equal of her backing: speedy, dextrous and tuneful. Really looking forward to hearing a more substantial release from this talented artist. (Chris Cobcroft)

Yes I’m Leaving: One (Single) (Homeless)
- More sludgy, mathy, vicious goodness from the Sydney band. Jesus Lizard fans hook in.

Local Artists:

Blonde Tongues: seilu / Beer (Single) (Indie)
- New, jangley indie / dream pop / shoegaze outfit Blonde Tongues emit an invigorating wash of sound, wisely conscious of the groundwork that genre defining artists such as Pavement and My Bloody Valentine have laid down. (Kian Todd)

The Cairos: Row of Homes (Single) (Island / Universal)
- Local heroes The Cairos re-assert their alt-rocking credentials on this single which surges around the borders of shoegaze. A good place for them to be, because it allows them to be a little pop as well.

Dr. Parallax: Malady (Demo) (Single) (Indie)
- The demo quality of this recording gives what would otherwise be a neat math / prog-metal tune a rough and sludgy attack which...well it really works. Nil vox, absolutely no piss-farting about, just a really intense focus on a band grinding out a heavily timbred roar of complex rhythms. Good. (Chris Cobcroft)

Gladyys: Winter Man / It Won't Last (Single) (Indie)
- A delightful blend of chanteuse-fronted garage / surf / post-punk, with a lo-fi glow. (Linda Finlay)

GXNXVS: Easily (Single) (Indie / Thinking Loud)
- Trappy snares, finger clicks, ambient synths and pitch-shifted divas - you know the drill, but this is very competently put together.

Hound: Concrete (Indie)
- Local boys playing a mixture of 80’s post punk and 90’s alternative, and a remarkably strong concoction it is. (Lauren Sachs)

Inigo: Constant Beat (Single) (Indie)
- What a voice to come out of our humble town! Erin Fitzsimon channels Erykah Badu on this new soul track, and the band are a jazz-pop maelstrom. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

The Kite String Tangle: Vessel (Warner)
- Impressively accomplished and diverse EP to back up Danny Harley’s hit -the appropriately titled- Given The Chance. Downbeat, r’n’b, eurodance and anthemic synth-pop combine on a number of tracks which may well prove even more infectious. For once a pop sensation that’s worth the hype. (Chris Cobcroft)

Moses Gunn Collective: Shalala (Indie)
- Brisbane lads channelling Tame Impala for the betterment. Sunny vibes abound. A little bit of the wacky juice, but not too much. (Ian Powne)

The Plastic Fangs: The Plastic Fangs (Indie)
- This three-pieced unsigned Brisbane band is a mixture of genres which allow them to stick out from the crowd. The surf / goth / country / rockabilly blend makes an EP really worth checking out. (Sarah Romero & Chris Cobcroft)

Subsea: Grey Knotts (Indie)
- The now London based producer continues to confront with a formidable array of glitch / idm / soundscape / ambient and noise. Adequate competition for Autechre and substantially more listenable than they have been, lately.

Symbolic Weapon: Headshot (Single) (Tall Poppy)
- Groove metal all night long. (Mitch Cutting)

New Zealand Artists:

Fis: Iterations (Tri Angle)
- This Kiwi producer is quickly becoming known for his unusual rhythmic constructions. Folding in glitch, noise and field recordings, repurposed to great effect in sometimes downtempo, sometimes speeding beat constructions. It wouldn’t be out of order to describe this as a more danceable version of what Ben Frost was doing on A U R O R A, earlier this year. A fine balance of the abstract and very focused rhythm. (Chris Cobcroft)

Overseas Artists:

Various Artists: Country Funk Volume II 1967-1974 (Light In The Attic)
- Well this is a beast that shouldn't be if ever there was one. Still, it worked so well the first time, why not do it again? Some of the biggest names in country and pop: Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Bobby Darin, Townes Van Zandt, JJ Cale and a bunch more you'll be less familiar with, all laying down a dusty, white funk. The results are highly listenable, uniformly impressive and the cream of a very unusual crop. (Chris Cobcroft)

Airhead: October / Macondo (Single) (Hemlock / Tailored)
- Two more interesting cuts from the James Blake collaborator. October is 808 bass heavy and full of mutated and scary vocal samples. Somewhere between techno, downbeat and dub, whatever it is, it is proper fearsome. Macondo brings a syncopated dance beat for another quasi-techno pound, that still lurks mysteriously between styles. Airhead continues to really catch my attention. (Chris Cobcroft)

Alestorm: Drink (Single) (Napalm)
- The Scottish pirate-metallers embrace the silliness of their style and transcend it at the same time, by just being metal as ****. A thunder-jig that will have you drinking till your liver explodes.

Alvvays: Alvvays (Polyvinyl / Popfrenzy)
- Alvvays, from Toronto, have released their self-titled album and it’s very pleasant. This five-piece have mastered the old c86 style retro-pop: loud, ever-so-slightly fuzzy, but with charming melodies and fronted by the powerfully pure voice of Molly Rankin. (Ella Dann-Limon & Chris Cobcroft)

Anand Wilder & Maxwell Kardon: I'm To Blame (Single) (Mute / Create/Control)
- First single release from the forthcoming rock opera album 'Break Line' from Yeasayer's Anand Wilder and collaborator Maxwell Kardon.

Ben Khan: 1992 (Blessed Vice / Dirty Hit / Caroline / Universal)
- An intriguing, well produced combination of electronic beats and soul tracks. (Lauren Sachs)

The Black Angels: Clear Lake Forest (POD / Inertia)
- Official release of the originally 10" vinyl, Clear Forest Lake, which previously saw an extremely limited release on Record Store Day 2014.

Brian Setzer: Let's Shake (Single) (Foghorn / Planet / MGM)
- Grab a gal and take her for a spin around the dance floor to this rockabilly goodness. (Linda Finlay)

Broken Bone: Willowbrook EP (Aperture)
- Extremely dark, midway between techno, bass music and soundscape art, in these fuzzy, glitch-ridden tracks. Very experimental and minimalistic. Fans of Prurient, Kevin Martin and The Haxan Cloak will be very comfortable (Ella Dann-Limon & Chris Cobcroft)

Brother Earth: Out Like A Lion (Single) (Hidden Shoal)
- Mumbling, lofi, downer folk-rock given terrifying dimensions by ritualistic repetition and enormous, crashing chords.

Christopher Owens: Nothing More Than Everything To Me (Single) (Turnstile / Caroline / Universal)
- A combination of sweetly retro-pop crooning, rock'n'roll and country with a very catchy hook indeed. (Lauren Sachs)

Cold Beat: Over Me (Indie)
- As you might get from the name, there's quite a lot that's chilly and metallic (speedy post-punk and drum machines abound) in this female-fronted San Fran band. However, there's also a lot that's prettily dreamy and melodic and they add up to a whole album that is consistently strong. A great listen that's got something for quite a lot of people. (Chris Cobcroft)

Cold War Kids: All This Could Be Yours (Single) (Downtown / Create/Control)
- More ragtag indie stomp-rock from Long Beach. However, much more anthemic and polished than previous efforts. . . yet to decide on whether this is a good thing or not. Awaiting the new album with bated breath and slight trepidation. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Daisuke Tanabe: Floating Underwater (Ki / Tailored)
- A fascinating record: the Japanese producer mashes so many styles of beats together it’s quite difficult to keep track. There’s a spritely, glitchy, bright and slightly twee personality that informs all of this record and it seems unapologetically Japanese. Tanabe’s skills and knowledge as a producer are extremely impressive and Floating Underwater is a testament to them. (Chris Cobcroft)

Doom Asylum: Stress Techno (Hot Releases)
- Super-old-school techno: sparse and techy sounds of Chicago. Admirable authenticity.

Dryft: The Blur Vent (n5MD)
- Slow, ponderous beats are set against huge, ambient soundscapes, sometimes blissful, sometimes sludgy and malevolent, by this Oakland producer.

Eluveitie: The Call Of The Mountains (Single) (Nuclear Blast / Bullet Proof)
- Swedish folk/symphonic-metal. Beautiful and powerful. (Mitch Cutting)

The Empty Hearts: The Empty Hearts (429 / The Savoy Label Group / Universal)
- A bunch of old reprobates from some of the best bands of the late ‘70s -Blondie, The Romantics, The Chesterfield Kings, The Cars- hark back to their teenage rock'n'roll influences with this self-titled LP. Pretty cool stuff, and they sound like they're having a blast. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Four Tet: Beautiful Rewind Remixes (Indie)
- A collection of remixes of Four Tet's seventh studio album, Beautiful Rewind. Standouts come from future soul producer Seven Davis Jr's reworking of Buchla as well as Champion griming all over Kool FM. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Hawk House: A Handshake to the Brain (EMI)
- Hawk House is a three-piece from London and this experimental album merges a range of genres whilst maintaining a jazzy-smoothness in each track. A brilliant collection of luscious r'n'b and conscious hip-hop, with a hint of jazz and electrofunk. Handshake often feels like the lovechild of J Dilla and Erykah Badu. It’s unpredictable and seriously interesting. (Ella Dann-Limon)

Hildur Gudnadottir: Saman (Touch)
- Fourth solo album of cello and vocal based compositions from Icelandic artist, Hildur Gudnadottir, most well-known for her work with múm. Gentle vocals mixed with rich cello tones make for a moving listen. (Adrian Marsh)

Ill Nino: Till Death, La Familia (Victory)
- Way less of the usual Nu-Metal stuff on this one. Yet the Latin influence remains. Strongest Ill Nino record to date. (Kian Todd)

The Interrupters: The Interrupters (Hellcat / Epitah / Warner)
- Female-fronted ska / punk good-fun times will be had by all! (Linda Finlay)

James Williamson: I Got A Right (Single) (Leopard Lady)
- Stooge and musical all-rounder James Williamson shows he’s still got every bit of what it takes with this stupendously energetic slab of punky blues.

King Creosote: From Scotland With Love (Domino / EMI)
- Contemporary folk king pin King Creosote has crafted this exquisite soundtrack to a documentary film about Scotland edited together from archival footage, created for The Commonwealth Games. The soundtrack works just as well without the film, but the two together is an absolute tour de force. Covering topics such as loss, love, migration, community, political unrest and war, this soundtrack is a poetic ode to Scotland minus the stereotypical trappings of tartan and heroin addicts. Some of King Creosote's best work. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Little Dragon: Pretty Girls (Single) (Because)
- A soulful jam from Sweden's Little Dragon, with Yukimi Nagano channelling the finest old school Motown divas. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Low Concept: Bugz (White Asega / Tailored)
- Berlin duo producing straight-to-the-point, largely minimal techno, with a slightly fuzzy, techy, industrial edge. (Lauren Sachs)

Machines On Blast: Machines On Blast (Pitch Black Impact)
- Proper ebm / industrial. Pounding beats, wailing synths and shrieked vocals from Melbourne, Florida (the other Melbourne).

Mark Lanegan Band: Sad Lover (Single) (Heavenly / Mushroom)
- Every time I hear a Mark Lanegan song that opens with synthesisers it freaks me the hell out. He always manages to win me back, though. This time it’s with some kind of weird heartland rock / new wave / krautrock hybrid. Mark Lanegan is having a very strange but ultimately quite rewarding artistic reinvention. (Chris Cobcroft)

Marketa Irglova: This Right Here (Single) (Anti- / Warner)
- Marketa Irglova continues to give the likes of Tori Amos and Regina Spektor a run for their money and on this single she does it very convincingly. The strings and the choir that takes the song out are nice touches, but it’s the core of piano driven singing and songwriting that makes this very good indeed. (Chris Cobcroft)

My Panda Shall Fly & Mau’lin: Push (Project Mooncircle / Tailored)
- With the bridging of two creative minds come five compositions (and one remix) with elements of broken house, downbeat and ambient music, maintaining Project Mooncircle's mission to bring a wide variety of electronic sounds together and make them sound bloody stylish. (Lauren Sachs & Chris Cobcroft)

Nick Drake: A Day Gone By (Rover)
- Huge collection of odds & ends from the legendary, shy and short-lived folky. As such, some of the sound-quality is a little sub-par, but, especially since his discography is quite small, it’s very nice to hear more.

Nona: Through The Head (6131 / Mandible)
- Good 'ol (‘90’s) chick rock at its best! (Linda Finlay)

Noveller & Thisquietarmy: Reveries (Shelter Press)
- Four heavily processed guitar pieces from two well-respected drone artists, Brooklyn's Sarah Lipstate and Montreal's Eric Quach. Rich drones are interspersed with reverberated guitar plucks and twangs reminding us that a guitar is at the centre of it all. (Adrian Marsh)

Prince Fatty Meets Nostalgia 77: Medicine Chest Dub/Seven Nation Army Dub Feat. Dennis Alcapone (Single) (Tru Thoughts)
- Britons unite in dub. Mike Pelanconi (aka Prince Fatty) adds his production skills to the versatile sounds of Nostalgia 77 for some old-school dub, meeting triphop on the A-side and a cover of The White Stripes Seven Nation Army on the B. All good.

Prurient: Washed Against The Rocks (Indie)
- 7 inches of glowing, stylish noise from NYC's leading purveyor of the genre, Ian Dominick Fernow A.K.A Prurient. Doors Closed in Secrecy features a pulsing ambient beat and reverb-drenched unintelligible vocal snaps, slowly dissolving into a wall of distortion. B-Side Washed Against The Rocks, for which the 7-inch is named, features some ominous drone. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

The Raveonettes: PE'AHI (Beat Dies)
- In my decidedly biased opinion, this album rules. The end! The Raveonettes can make fingernails and chalk boards sound like magic with their beautifully tight harmonies, mechanical drums, shredding noise and sweet melodies. Check out the track Sisters. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

SBTRKT: New Dorp. New York. Feat. Ezra Koenig (Single) (Young Turks / Remote Control)
- Deep dark beats under Ezra Koenig's (Vampire Weekend) vocals leave us waiting with bated breath on the upcoming LP Wonder Where We Land, due out in September. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

SD Laika: That’s Harakiri (Tri Angle)
- The inventive beats of SD Laika tumble along with the experimental verve of The Knife or Laurel Halo, but this is darker than either of them. Hell, I don’t need to tell you, just read the album title.

Sky Ferreira: 24 Hours (Single) (The In Sound From Way Out / EMI)
- A heartbroken triumph of melodic pop from she of the sweet smoky pipes, Sky Ferreira. Always lifting her game, this one. She manages to take the bones of another vanilla, top 40, happy-clappy singalong and twist it into something as interesting as it is catchy. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Slowclub: Complete Surrender (Caroline / Universal)
- The versatile Sheffield duo change things up with even greater gusto. A more experimental pop record than they've previously attempted and one that's at its best when being most innovative.

Spazzkid: Promise (Magical Properties)
- The LA beats-man lays down four very likable cuts of dancey electro-pop with twists of the ‘80’s, j-pop, chillwave, glitch and contemporary chart-pop. There’s always a pop lightness, throughout, which is only ever disarming and refreshing, never banal. (Chris Cobcroft)

Strand Of Oaks: Heal (Dead Oceans)
- Tim Showalter continues to add strings to his bow on his third Strand Of Oaks record. Not too much here that sounds like folk-rock, but plenty of gutsy yet anthemic indie-rock. Throw in synthesisers and drum machines and you get a varied record of consistently excellent song-writing. Difficult to imagine this guy won’t blow-up significantly in the near future. (Chris Cobcroft)

Sweetie Sweats: Cambium (Hot Releases)
- Florida electronic artist Sweetie Sweats does very DIY but also quite dreamy and melodic electronica: a real balance of cheap and nasty ‘tronics and ambient pleasance. Not a million miles away from what Brisbane’s own Scraps does.

Tune-Yards: Hey Life (Single) (Remote Control/ 4AD)
- Another single from Merril Garbus' Nikki Nack, bringing the same unique mixture of West African and jazzy rhythms, bright synths, philosophical lyrics and her enormous voice.

Wang Wen: Eight Horses (New Noise)
- Jazzily complex post-rock thunder from this mainland Chinese band.

”Weird Al” Yankovic: Mandatory Fun (Sony)
- Still doing it after all these years and still laying them in the aisles.

White Lung: Snake Jaw (Single) (Domino / EMI)
- Another single from the loud but easy-to-listen-to (mostly) girl punks out of Vancouver.

Wife: What’s Between (Tri Angle)
- Regular, heavy bass beats propel the slow electro-pop in this side project for Altar Of Plagues frontman James Kelly. The crushing beats are reminiscent of Swans without being as terrifying as Michael Gira and the moody electro is like Trent Reznor, without being as self-indulgently adolescent. Add some cavernous production wizardry from The Haxan Cloak and you’ve got a record. (Chris Cobcroft)

Witch Mountain: Mobile of Angels (Svart)
- The veteran, female-fronted, Portland crushers have still got all the fire they need for these long, bluesy slabs of stoner-metal, inlaid with a filigree of doom. More than that, the song-writing is really clever: even a ten minute track never has a wasted second. (Chris Cobcroft)

Yelle: Bouquet Final (Single) (Sony)
- Rich and crisp electro-pop from this French, female-fronted outfit.

Yuji Kondo: Radiate The Ocean From My Back (Perc Trax / Tailored)
- Unbelievably heavy techno beats. Seriously, most of this EP sounds like an actual avalanche. Kondo's focus on this monstrous timbre and texture might be a little obsessive for some, but to me it grooves like the bastard lovechild of Jack Dangers and Burial. (Chris Cobcroft)

Ziguri: Bella Hopp (Single) (Bureau B)
- Veteran kraut-rocker Günter Schickert shows off the hypnotic potential of the style in the amazing and beautiful rhythm section that drives this single.