This week we review the latest albums from Yacht, Blk Jks, Deja Voodoo, Karen O and the Kids, and Frank Turner.
5 stars (out of 5)
Yacht is the kind of band MGMT at times wishes it were. Instantly catchy but acutely eclectic, See Mystery Lights is an album that seems to finish all too soon.
It is populated by a multitude of personas and alter egos that emanate from Portland's Jona Becholt and Claire L.
Evans, and it is musically as intelligent as its lyrics are incisive. The duo say they work by taking "anthemic OCD power jams", "[soaking] them in holy water and [rewriting] them into new mantras".
None is more anthemic than second track The Afterlife, in which the pretence of high poetry is undercut and made fun of musically.
Single download: The Afterlife
For those who like: Square on Both Sides, The Phenomenal Handclap Band
- Thom Benny
> Blk Jks. After Robots. Secretly Canadian Records.
3 stars (out of 5)
The production on this much-hyped debut from Johannesburg quartet Blk Jks (pronounced Black Jacks) does the outfit little favours - Secret Machines' Brandon Curtis has immersed everything in a bath of delay and reverb, stamping his band's prog-rock mark on a sound that is otherwise difficult to define.
Should Placebo meet Fela Kuti for a mash-up of psychedelic rock and mbaqanga jazz, the results might approach what we get on this expertly played nine-track release, but that would ignore a host of other influences. Here's hoping they pare back the effects on their next effort.
Single download: Lakeside
For those who like: Psychedelic rock, world music, African rhythms
- Jeff Harford
> Deja Voodoo. The Shape of Grunge to Come. Sub Grunge Records.
2 stars (out of 5)
As bands originally tagged with the "grunge" moniker are reassembling en masse, Dunedin's dark sons Deja Voodoo have the perfect fodder for a new album ... if only they could learn to craft songs that aren't saturated in sonic mud.
The latest outing lacks the droll pathos found on gems such as Today, Tomorrow, Timaru and P. Still pining for drinks at the Empire, Stapp and Heath are caught in a flannel-shirted time warp.
It may have been remotely amusing if Cameron Crowe hadn't perfected the grunge mickey-take with "Citizen Dick" 17 years previously. The concept should have been buried after Brown Sabbath.
Single download: Girls with Guitars
For those who like: Toilet humour
- Mark Orton
> Karen O and the Kids. Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. DGC Records.
3 stars (out of 5)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O provides the Where The Wild Things Are movie with a soundtrack that possesses the same cross-generational appeal that Maurice Sendak's book enjoys.
By roping in the likes of YYY bandmates Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, and Deerhunter's Bradford Cox, O has imbued this collection with a distinctly grown-up sense of wonder, her fragmented songs ranging between outbursts of stomping tribal folk and oases of melancholic reflection.
Lovers of indie music might be quietly chuffed to see their kids pick up on the vibe.
Single download: All Is Love
For those who like: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev
- Jeff Harford
> Frank Turner. Poetry of the Deed. Epitaph Records.
3 stars (out of 5)
Folk-punk troubadour Frank Turner tones down the anger and amps up the production on Poetry of the Deed, drafting in a backing band to provide a fuller sound behind songs that range from anthemic calls to arms to introspective ballads.
Turner's rousing pub-strummer vocals give the album a grow-old-ungracefully edge that imparts a somewhat ironic touch to his meditations on ageing and the grind of the road, while his band's punk/country-rock stylings come off as convincing, save for some odd keyboard flourishes that add nothing to an otherwise lively mix.
Single download: Richard Divine
For those who like: The Gaslight Anthem, the Levellers, Billy Bragg, pubs
- Paul Mooney
