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 Ian Powne, Louis Whelan, Keara Forde, Nick Rodwell, Chloe Willats, Hayley Elliott-Maclure, & Adrian Marsh for their contributions to this list.

Australian Artists:

Beaten Bodies: Crowns (Single) (Indie)
- What a curious name for a band, especially a jazzy soulful urban band. Good song though. A smooth and slinky lounge shark led by the voice of Marli Wilde. She sounds just like someone, it’s nagging the crap out of me: I keep thinking Martina Topley Bird or Andreya Triana, but that ain’t it. Still, all of this sits in that company. (Chris Cobcroft)

Bell Weather Department: For The First Time (Single) (Indie)
- Seriously, how many times can this band change up their sound? Falling somewhere between Boy George and 90’s Depeche Mode, this is quite slinky and subtle new wave / synth-pop. I’d be happy to hear BWD stick with this style. (Chris Cobcroft)

Bitter Sweet Kicks: Eat Your Young (Beast Records)
- Bitter Sweet Kicks make "Well Educated" Rock 'n' Roll. They know how to make the humble, swung, dirty and fun rock with that prized Motor City fervour. With this album, they're doin' it right, pay attention. (Nick Rodwell)

The Black Sorrows: Certified Blue (Head Records)
- This is the kind of music that your uncle enjoys, and secretly you do too. Especially after a breakup.. Old men singing songs about love and heartache with soulful R&B vocals and alt-country/blues instrumentation. Nothing wrong with that, right? (Louis Whelan)

Brody Dalle: Don't Mess With Me (Single) (Caroline / Universal)
- Brody Dalle brings together garage punk with Holesque alt. rock and a quite commercial appeal, but somehow manages to make it all as stylish as the rustle of black leather and not at all like some pretentious Pink clone trying to be a rocker. (Chris Cobcroft)

Client Liaison: That’s Desire (Single) / Free Of Fear Remixes (Indie)
- When Client Liaison were, to my mind, just a gimmick -celebrating all the cheesiest excess of the ‘80s- they were already pretty good. Every new thing I hear from them raises them in my estimation. Excursions into euphoric, early-nineties rave, a stylish techno remix by Knightlife, or a tech-funk tune-up by Com Truise, it’s all good, but better than that it’s muscially aware and it turns that goodness into frickin’ style. (Chris Cobcroft)

David Craft: Smokey Lungs & Dirty Puns (Indie)
- West Australian singer-songwriter David Craft you may know as part of Big Old Bears. Here, by himself he’s got a subtle folk-country-rock strut going on, fronted by his baritone drawl. As I said, it’s subtle, almost laconic. It’s a bit like if -when Tex Perkins becomes almost a self-parody- he went the opposite direction instead. It might sound like this and that’s alright. (Chris Cobcroft)

Darren Sylvester: For You (Single) (Chapter Music)
- A fifteen minute, really badass ‘80’s instrumental, the soundtrack to Darren Sylvester’s latest art installation. Sometimes sounding a bit like John Carpenter, sometimes a bit like Yello, always good. Honestly, this stripped back approach maybe the most appealing thing I’ve heard from Sylvester.­ (Chris Cobcroft)

Dear Plastic: Buck Up And Pay The Reaper (single) (Indie)
- Melbourne's Dear Plastic’s latest single, Buck Up And Pay The Reaper, is a blues-inflected, trip-hop-esque slow burner. It's intricate and methodical in its dynamic structure, harking back to the Portishead side of the trip-hop realm. The b-side, Physical/Chemical is a more modern piece. It successfully blends the acoustic and electronic, a la Radiohead's In Rainbows, to engage and entrance you with subtle glitches and swirling backing vocals. A very tidy offering. (Nick Rodwell)

Doc Neeson: Walking In The Rain (Single) (Sony)
- Making the leap from ageing rocker to elder statesmen of rock -one that actually still has something worth saying- is a pretty big ask. Johnny Cash did it, Leonard Cohen can do it. Doc Neeson, on this very understated, purring spoken-word number, he may be doing it too. (Chris Cobcroft)

Drunk Mums: Plastic (Single) (123 Agency)
- The controversy of Drunk Mums heavy-breasted, 2012 debut seems so far away. Garage rock seems to be getting further away too, but the DMs are still -messily, punkily- plugging away. Hopefully, as the hype recedes, only the good bands will be left in garage rock. Drunk Mums may well grow up to be one of those. (Chris Cobcroft)

Dusty Ravens: Stories of Love and Death (Laughing Outlaw Records)
- Putting together alt-country with Mariachi music is probably notable in and of itself. Sydney’s Dusty Ravens bring the melancholy, slightly gothic, slightly Western qualities of alt-country together with the tuneful and fiery flourishes from south of the border and make something that would be evocative, even if it weren’t full of stories of shadowy senoritas, lonesome cowboys and desperate zapatistas. (Chris Cobcroft)

Emma Russack: You Changed Me (Spunk)
- Melbourne-based Emma Russack's portrayal of the human condition is tastefully produced and perfectly executed. The album, largely guitar-based, has been crafted with varying textures in ways that will draw you in as Emma shares her flaws and exploits with humility. And, I suspect, a dry sense of humour. Well worth an attentive listen. (Nick Rodwell)

Empat Lima: Night Rider (Single) (Indie)
- Taking their cue from the likes of The 5,6,7,8s and The Cambodian Space Project -the only other band I can think of that anyone would know around here doing this sort of thing- this Melbourne trio make old-school, loungey psych-rock, sung in Japanese, but heavily influenced by the rock’n’roll timewarp that much of Southeast Asia lives in. Without being anything like the same, this floats happily in the same crazy fluid as The Cramps and Messer Chups. I welcome it. (Chris Cobcroft)

Graphic Characters: The Birds and the Bees (Single) (Indie)
- Debut single from Perth rockers. Sounds like Trent Reznor fronting a muscular pub-rock band. Or maybe Bobby Gillespie fronting The Cult? (Hayley Elliott-Maclure & Chris Cobcroft)

Greta Mob: Gypsy Town Revisited (Indie)
- A rework of a couple of songs you know and live versions of a couple you don’t. Everything is blues rock fed on meth and bile. Even compared to the originals this is intense, which is really saying something. Greta Mob are absolutely competition for Nick Cave and The Drones. I’ve never seen them live, but those live cuts are sensational, I’ll really have to make the time. (Chris Cobcroft)

Hello Satellites: 84000 (Two Bright Lakes / Remote Control / Inertia)
- Sharp and synthy art-pop, delivering on the promise of Eva Popov and crew’s debut record. Despite all the brightness, needling trebles and loungey silliness, there’s a depth and beauty lurking in this record and it’s well worth your time and effort to sit down and sink into it. (Chris Cobcroft)

HTRK: Psychic 9-5 Club (Mistletone / Inertia)
- Beautifully painful moments captured in recordings so fragile they could shatter if you listened too hard. The death of a member seems to have wormed its way into the songwriting of the remaining two with every lyric sung with a sorrowful yearning for a better outcome. The backdrops are minimal and washed out, providing ambience more than structure. Listen to it alone but try not to drink too much. (Krishan Meepe)

I, a Man: Gravity Wins Again (Indie)
- This is a superb little album from Melbourne-based boys I, a Man, and is sure to boost their prominence on the Australian music scene. Gravity Wins Again was mixed by mastermind Tim Whitten (the Go-Betweens, Augie March, and the Hoodoo Gurus) who underwrites its Grizzly Bear/The National stylings. (Keara Forde)

Infinity Broke:River Mirrors (Come To The Dark Side Luke / MGM)
- Bluebottle Kiss frontman Jamie Hutchings had a Pozible campaign which produced a record. Kraut-rock inspired drums, assorted percussion, soulful bass and indie rock stylings. There’s tons going on here and all of it pretty exciting. This is a record that’s both mature yet stuffed full of energy, it justifies the faith of every single one of Jamie’s backers. (Louis Whelan & Chris Cobcroft)

Justin Bernasconi: Winter Pick (Liberator / Mushroom)
- Justin Bernasconi -of The Stillsons- is out on his own and taking the opportunity to indulge in some complex acoustic work. Stylistically it’s all over the shop: folk, blues, roots and country all get a look in. The Stillsons have always been very good at what they do, but this may be just that little bit more masterful. (Chris Cobcroft)

Little Bastard: High For You (Four|Four / ABC / Universal)
- Little Bastard is a self described ‘punk-string’ band, featuring seven members out of Sydney. Something about NSW seems to make it a breeding ground for decent folk/punk and these guys are staying true to form. Think the Clash meets Billy Bragg in a Banjo hoe-down. (Louis Whelan)

The Love Junkies: Flight Test (Black Recordings / MGM)
- This EP is just a sampler leading up to The Love Junkies debut album, Maybellene, in May. And, if it's as wild and contrasting as this effort it should be a very entertaining listen. They've conjured up this noisey power-pop beast, something very similar to a slice of Damon Albarn's (applies to both Blur and Gorillaz eras) imagination. Bring on the album. (Nick Rodwell)

Magic Hands: Tone (Single) (Indie)
- A nouveau take on folktronica, bringing together a boy + girl folk duo over shimmering, ambient synth, tinny snares and handclaps and thundering bass. It’s SO folk and SO bass music it’s almost a parody, but it is craftily put together and just pretty damn good. The b-side, I Believe In You is similarly strong (and sounds, tragically, only a very little like the Kylie cover it is) with Alex Badham going all Bill Callahan over the vocal. The two remixes of Tone, one a blissed-out, ambient / easy-listening lull and the other simply the folk bits with all the ‘tronics chopped out, round out a surprisingly fulsome EP. This teeters on the edge of being too twee, too generic and just plain wrong, but, somehow, seemingly effortlessly, succeeds perfectly. (Chris Cobcroft)

Meniscus: DBT (Single) (Bird’s Robe Collective)
- New single from the Sydney post-rockers. I don’t think they’ve always had synths, but this cut has lots, providing a gunning, growling rhythm section under the wailing lead guitar. Like a soundtrack to a Michael Mann film that hasn’t been made yet (if that doesn’t excite you we can’t be friends) and it makes me very excited for the album due later this year. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Morrisons: Hard Hoarse (Indie)
- Somewhere between power-pop and psychotic punk lurk The Morrisons, who...all appear to be related; make of that what you will. Stumbling along in the tradition of the Hard-ons, Hard Hoarse features pretty lo-fidelity production but pretty speedy and accurate playing through fourteen terse tracks that are tossed off and then we’re done, the hell with you. (Chris Cobcroft)

Ned Collette + Wirewalker: Vanitas Quack (Single) (Dot Dash / Remote Control)
- Ned Collette is never anything if not interesting. This advance single off the forthcoming album continues the trend: phasing synths, piano and bass lurk in the murky reverb, as Ned sings in a monotonous drawl. It’s some kind of haunting kraut-psych-pop that sounds a call to the faithful, telling them to return and hear the mournful cheese. (Chris Cobcroft)

Phile: Middle Head (Single) (Indie)
- Sydney producer Gareth Psaltis and Hannah Lockwood (who I don’t know) team up to be Phile and do a subtly more upbeat variation on Psaltis’ smart but shudderingly muscular techno. Bloody great single, pounding beat and as atmospheric as a thunderstorm on Saturn (I haven’t been, but I’ve heard). (Chris Cobcroft)

Sex On Toast: Sex On Toast (Indie)
- Sex On Toast have about as much name appeal as The Stiffys, but it belies the strength of their commitment to the music of the 1980s and late ‘70s. They swing like Wham! and yet their true interest is in complexly cheesy fusion. Electro-funk and r’n’b rub shoulders along with late Bacharach-esque style pop. There’s a lot of Prince influence apparent, so maybe Sex On Toast isn’t the most inappropriate name; whatever, this is really tasty tube-cheese, I think you need some. (Chris Cobcroft)

Sunnyboys: Catch My Heart (Single) (Mushroom)
- Insanely catchy single from a 1981 unreleased demo by the newly reinvigorated cult post-punk power-poppers. I feel cheated that I’ve spent the last thirty years without it, but I’ll make up for it in the next thirty. (Hayley Elliott-Maclure)

Tim Shiel: Duet Duets (Indie)
- Tim shopped his rather well-received soundtrack to the vidyagame Duet, round to a bunch of his mates to have a play with. The result is Duet Duets which takes the blissful beats and ambient melodies of the original and twists them, subtly, in all sorts of directions. It adds renewed interest while -largely- maintaining the hypnotic excellence of the original. You may also have the chance to hear people you haven’t heard from in years, like Clue To Kalo or Aoi. A very satisfying addition. (Chris Cobcroft)

True Vibenation: Crazy But… Ft. Sela (Single) (Big Village)
- True Vibenation come back with another strong cut. A positive, libertarian vibe is carried on fast flows and a kind of electro-reggae beat. Always one of the most refreshing hip hop crews in Oz. (Chris Cobcroft)

Urthboy: Someone Else's House Ft. Josh Pyke (Single) (Elefant Traks)
- A song that was written for kids in care who have to constantly move between foster care homes. Written in collaboration with Josh Pyke after Urthboy visited an orphanage the song talks on all the things those kids wanted to hear. (Krishan Meepe)

Virtue: Spit Them Back (Indie)
- Melbourne based alt/rock band with hard-hitting female lead vocals. Almost too clean to be cool. They’re fans of both QOTSA & PJ Harvey and both influences come through in their sound, strongly. The clean from the former, the dirt - of which there’s just enough - from the latter I reckon. An intriguing combo. I prefer Hole over Melissa Auf de Maur any day, and this could go either way. (Louis Whelan & Chris Cobcroft)

Local Artists:

Adam Cadell: No Address (Indie)
- A live recording from composer and improviser, Adam Cadell, consisting of a 27 minute piece performed on Gonje, a one stringed instrument he was taught during his one year stay in Ghana. A mixture of traditional African styles and modern drone. A very unique and engrossing sound. (Adrian Marsh)

The Babe Rainbow: 1964 (Single) (Indie)
- The Babe Rainbow -from the zany southernmost climes of Queensland’s Rainbow Bay- bring together psychedelic era Beatles with contemporary jangle-pop (or perhaps the 80’s era Flying Nun roster). It’s mind-bending but easy-going, with a goofy grin and is pretty tough to say no to. (Chris Cobcroft)

Blonde On Blonde: Weekend Behaviour (Single) (Indie)
- A final dose of whiskey-soaked alt. rock before the leather-clad kids decamp to Berlin (it’s just easier to wear leather over there). (Chris Cobcroft)

Driven Fear: Yatala Drive In (Single) (Pee Records)
- How good is this? Melodic hardcore­ with the perfect balance of brutality and precision and just the bare minimum of sweetness. Christ, heavy music should be heavy, you guys got it. Also, Yatala! (Chris Cobcroft)

Forever The Optimist: Arecibo (Pricewar Music)
- Prog-metal can mean all sorts of things, but too often, these days, it means smeared-mascara, emo bull-crap barely worth the name ‘metal’. If you’re going to do that sort of thing you’ve either got to be very, very good at it or you’re going to get extremely short shrift from me. A band like Tesseract, though undeniably a guilty pleasure, are just so jaw-droppingly awesome you must bear witness. On their latest record, Forever The Optimist are coming closer to that kind of success than I’ve ever heard from them before. Blissful, ambient soundscapes, mathy rhythms snarled out in menacing djents and converging harmonies that soar for prog-metal heaven. Not half bad. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Furrs: Get On Your Horse (Single) (Mirror Music)
- Local band spouting some old school 60's rock 'n' roll. Lyrics of revolutionary social commentary are all you'll hear and it's f***ing cool. Infused with a vigor and a sense of risk that hasn't been seen since indie pop took over, this is too catchy to forget about and so fun you'll start thinking you can change the world again. (Krishan Meepe)

Harley Young Music She's On The Wires (Single) (Indie)
- This young man has been hanging out in Canada and has picked up some of that country’s unhealthy fascination with roots music, but he also does a sweetly soulful, Elvis Presley-esque rock’n’roll. His production is very live, quite lo-fi and thus everything ends up sounding like a sort of a radio-friendly version of Harmony. I struggled with that for a bit, but most people won’t, this is actually awesome. (Chris Cobcroft)

Go Go Fish: A Little Like You (Single) (Indie)
- This remembers garage in a completely different way to most contemporary bands. Where most folks take the Easybeats most aggressive qualities and amplify them to psychosis, Go Go Fish pushes further into melodious guitar and vocal harmonies. Very pleasant. (Chris Cobcroft)

­Hits: Loose Cannons (Single) (Conquest Of Noise)
- More strung-out but still completely balls-to-the-wall, punky, alternative rock’n’roll from Brisbane’s finest. (Chris Cobcroft)

Holy Holy: The Pacific EP (Wonderlick / Sony)
- Psychedelic Synth influenced rockers Holy Holy have come home to Australia after two years collaborating across Europe. Dripping with guitar riffs and beautifully intricate vocals this duo has created a unique EP that draws the listener into a cathartic bliss. (Chloe Willats)

Lost Curlews: Between The Door And The Ceiling (Indie)
- Like a slightly quieter version of The Breeders / Throwing Muses / Belly. The comparisons are helped along by vocalist Airlie Finlay’s American accent. Could be a tiny bit tighter, but full of subtle, sexy, 90’s guitar warmth. (Chris Cobcroft)

Pigeon: Settle In (Single) (Create Control)
- Have they released every track from this EP as a single now? I gotta say, comparative to some of the other synth-pop excellence in there, the title track was not my favourite by a long shot. However, by itself, it starts to shine a little brighter. The 90’s house melodies and bright synth-pop sound at which the band have worked so hard come together pretty winningly. I can’t wait to hear what they do next. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Phoncurves: Lover (Single) (Indie)
- There’s a new soulfulness in The Phoncurves’ sound, one that’s sorta hard to place until you think of Kimbra. Is that a shameless shot at the stars? Maybe, but, like Kimbra they do a fairly convincing and very well produced soul-pop. (Chris Cobcroft)

Pirates Alive: So Fine (The A & R Department)
- It’s always great to see surf bands fresh from an actual beach and this three piece Gold Coast outfit are just that. Taking their soaking surf sounds and hiding them under a wall of fuzz tones and catchy garage lyrics, Pirates Alive are definitely worth a listen if you too love this whole surf/garage revival that’s going on (and on and on and on :) -Ed). (Louis Whelan)

Sacred Shrines: Apollo/Hung Up On Your Wall (Single) (Indie)
- Sometimes heavily pounding, sometimes sweetly hypnotic space-rock. Both tracks are remarkably good. Spaceman 3 / Spiritualised fans, cut sick. (Chris Cobcroft)

Smoking Martha: Smoking Martha (Indie)
- Female fronted, local hard-rock group. Produced by Powderfinger's Ian Haug, these songs are tried and true rock’n’roll tunes that aren't aiming to start a revolution of any sort. But that doesn't mean they won’t punch you in the face during sex. (Krishan Meepe)

Stoutfinger: No. 1 (Indie)
- This band of veteran Brizzrockers have taken a curious approach to this project. All sorts of styles are on display: funk-rock, jazz-fusion, country, reggae, blues, latin and so on. About the only thing that unites all of this is their frontman’s sung-spoken vocals, and the tongue-in-cheek lyrics. This kind of messy, all-over-the-place comedy-rock is a bit of Brisbane tradition, and it’s certainly worth one more trot around the paddock. (Chris Cobcroft)

Tincture: Tryst (Silo Arts)
- A blissful r’n’b / ambient synth-pop amalgam; robot divas float in shimmering, pixelated cloudbanks, further punctuated by trappy snares and the corresponding rush of bass. It’s not bleeding edge, but it’s still pretty future and it feels like a world of tomorrow that would be very pleasant to live in.­ (Chris Cobcroft)

The Valery Trails: Buffalo Speedway (Indie)
- This is definitely one for fans of 90’s indie rock, especially those who love a bit of Husker Du with their breakfast. Comprised of members from Brisbane bands We All Want To and Grand Atlantic, the Valery Trails are wonderfully easy to listen to. This album has subtle textures that float in and out - nicely cooked guitars, cool synths, melodic basslines, and inventive drum patterns. An album waiting to be discovered. (Ian Powne)

Velociraptor: Ramona (Single) (Remote Control)
- Hardly need to recommend a new Velociraptor single, but, here goes. That likeable retro-pop gent, Jeremy Neale, grins his way through another throwback tune full of warmth and tongue-in-cheek fun that will please millions. (Chris Cobcroft)

New Zealand Artists:

Grayson Gilmour: Infinite Life! (Flying Nun / Remote Control)
- Grayson Gilmour renews my faith in pop. With the intricate complexity of someone like Owen Pallett and the all-consuming reverb of John Maus, Gilmour probably has a more genuinely poppy sensibility than both of them and balances all three qualities perfectly. A record both infectious and deep, that sort of thing doesn’t come by too often. (Chris Cobcroft)

Liam Finn: Burn Up The Road (Single) (Create Control)
- It’s kinda scary how much Liam sounds like his Dad sometimes. I mean his voice, here, but it could equally apply to the music. The fact that both of them put out arty, distorted, psych-rock, at the same time, shows how closely they’ve been working together, I guess. It might be a chip off the old block, but it’s a good ‘un, I reckon. Without abandoning his pop credentials, this is some of the most interesting music I’ve heard from Liam. (Chris Cobcroft)

Kerretta: His Streets of Honey, Her Mouth of Gold (Single) (Midium)
- Not necessarily the most polished of the post-everything types, but their mixture of prog-metal thunder and instrumental rocking is gutsy and, like a viking, they do not need to be polished to cleave you in two. (Chris Cobcroft)

Opiuo: Meraki (Indie)
- Phat, in-your-face electro from Kiwi producer Opiuo. The sound isn’t ‘now’, and those who make it are usually a little musically clueless, but not Opiuo: everything about this bumps, while still being as smooth as you like. The guest-list is a couple of years out of date, too: Gift Of Gab and Spoonbill for instance, but Opiuo encourages everyone to turn in their a-game. A beautiful blast from the past. (Chris Cobcroft)

Overseas Artists:

Various Artists: Only Lovers Left Alive OST (Sony)
- Jim Jarmusch has been pushing his band Sqürl pretty hard lately, so it’s no real surprise to see them turn up on the soundtrack to his new film, Only Lovers Left Alive, which has a heavy rock’n’roll focus anyway. They’re also joined by regular collaborator, Jozef Van Wissem and his lute, producing an Eastern European eeriness and enhancing the already creepy, meandering guitar-fuzz of Sqürl. A great soundtrack, and not -like so many these days- because of a brilliant curator. Rather a bunch of musicians have come together and created something sparse, but nuanced and evocative. A brilliant accompaniment to what will, hopefully, turn out to be a similarly excellent film. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Amazing Snakeheads: Here It Comes Again (Single) (Domino / EMI)
- I’m quite hyped for this record, I must admit. This is not as psychotic as the earlier TAS I heard, but that’s like saying a hail of machine gun fire is less lethal than a 500 pound bomb. Their combo of Little Richard rock’n’roll with murderous distortion and a presentation that seems more unhinged than Little Richard and James Brown combined, is a force to be reckoned with. (Chris Cobcroft)

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks: Enter The Slasher House (Domino / EMI)
- How much you enjoy (Animal Collective frontman) Avey Tare’s latest ‘solo’ foray (with Angel Deradoorian, formerly of Dirty Projectors), depends on how willing you are to indulge his Goblin-esque conceits on this b-grade soundtrack ‘sploitation’o’rama. It’s so loaded with Avey Tare’s trademark silly strangeness that you can never take it at face value, but, if you’re prepared for that and for lots of z-grade samples as Avey jumps around the haunted house going ‘boo!’ for the length of the record of left-field pop, then you may well have a very good time. (Chris Cobcroft)

Basia Bulat: World Cafe Session (WXPN / World Cafe)
- NPR’s World Cafe recorded this set of four songs off Toronto singer-songwriter Basia Bulat’s 2013 album, Tall Tall Shadow. Beautiful, really: classic 60’s folk that recalls Joan Baez. Often very moving. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Black Lips: Underneath The Rainbow (Vice)
- There’s a subtle negotiation going on between bratty garage rockers the Lips’ traditional nasty mess and a more mature approach to making an album. For instance, The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney brought a very steady hand to producing roughly half of the tracks here. It’s up to you as to which half of the record you think is better. (Chris Cobcroft)

Boris The Blade: The Human Hive (Faction Records / Sony Music)
- Absurdly popular but very real, technical death metal out of Melbourne. It’s all pretty fricking sweet, but -and maybe I’m missing something, you DM experts tell me- it’s the drumming of Karl Steller which just floors me. I’ve never heard blast beats that fast. He literally sounds like a machine, one that goes really, really fast. Simple technical virtuosity is often quite sterile, just by itself, but Steller is the key ingredient in a band that is so brutally precise, I get shivers. (Chris Cobcroft)

Bruno Bavota: The Secret of the Sea (Psychonavigation)
- Italian modern classical artist, Bruno Bavota presents an album of gentle instrumental tracks. A mixture of guitar based and piano based pieces consisting of repeated melodies with enough subtle changes and intricacies to keep you interested. With most tracks around the 3 to 4 minute mark, nothing overstays its welcome. (Adrian Marsh)

Cheatahs: Leave To Remain (Single) (Wichita / Pias / Mushroom)
- Latest single from an album of rather melodic and easy to digest shoegaze. To my mind it strikes the perfect balance between the heaviness of shoegaze, rocking energy and pop sweetness.(Chris Cobcroft)

Cloud Nothings: Here and Nowhere Else (Carpark / Stop Start)
- Dylan Baldi and co. don’t sound like they’re running out of ideas. In fact, as the zeitgeist becomes rowdier and noisier, this band sound like they’re coming into their own like never before. Thundering and gritty punk, with just the bare minimum of alt-pop sweetness to keep you from calling the cops on these badseeds. It’s a great time to be the Cloud Nothings. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Courtneys: Lost Boys (Single) (Conquest of Noise)
- After hearing this single I can't wait to hear the forthcoming album of the same name.These 3 girls from Vancouver sure know how to write a pop tune. And yes, vampires are still as current now as they were in 1986. The inherent nineties influence amps up the dreamy nostalgia even more. (Ian Powne)

Eels: Mistakes Of My Youth (Single) (Pias / Mushroom)
- Ahead of their first album in...forever...the uniquely voiced E sounds kinda wrecked. It really only adds to the bittersweet pathos he has so often brought to his music. With the vaseline smeared string-section and easy-going melodies it’s hard to think of a more MORish formula, yet if you hate this, you may well have an ice-chip for a heart. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Family Rain: Under The Volcano (Virgin / EMI)
- This UK trio of brothers have created twelve tracks of blues / indie-rock bliss. With hits such as ‘Pushing It’ and ‘On My Back’ they riff their way through classic UK garage and remind us that The Arctic Monkeys aren’t the only English rockers charting this territory. (Chloe Willats)

Holy Fuck: Sabbatics (Single) (Mistletone)
- This is the b-side to their new 7”, released on the eve of an Oz tour. The Canadian electronic rockers are making sounds which are part some kind of primitivist edm and part like a giant space insect in rut. Makes me very keen for a night out with Toronto’s finest. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Horrors: So Now You Know (XL / Remote Control)
- The Horrors continue to morph into new sounds. Shoegaze appears to be well-nigh entirely missing from their repertoire now. Their medicated synthy psychedelia bops on by itself, sounding like Ride at their lightest or Primal Scream at their most easygoing. I have hated The Horrors for changing in the past, but I don’t hate this. (Chris Cobcroft)

Howler: World Of Joy (Rough Trade / Remote Control)
- Howler’s new album ‘World of Joy’ has a bit of surf, a bit of pop and a whole bunch of garage and fuzz. It’s pretty safe to say these kids like the Pixies, but they have definitely thrown in some of their own modern rock elements. (Louis Whelan)

Hunck: Toy Trucks (Single) (Indie)
- This London duo sound like a shoegaze version of Johnny Suede, with a little bit of stylish synth thrown in. Is there a David Lynch soundtrack with an opening any time soon? (Chris Cobcroft)
Imelda May: It's Good To Be Alive (Single) (Universal)
- More ol’ timey, rockabilly goodness from the bequiffed Irish woman. She does a mighty good job of it. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Juan Maclean: Get Down (With My Love) (Single) (DFA / Pias / Mushroom)
- I’m probably getting boring still running on about how I’m waiting for JM to release something to match Happy House. This latest one, finishing up a trilogy of songs from last year, might do it. LCD’s Nancy Whang fills in the diva duties again on a house epic that’s a bit proggy, a bit electro and drips quite a bit of the infectiousness that I’ve been looking for. A happy omen ahead of the next full-length. (Chris Cobcroft)

Johnny Cash: Out Among The Stars (Columbia / Sony)
- It ain’t Man In Black era, it ain’t American recordings era; would you call this Highwaymen era? There’s less of the bite of the former and also of the heartbreaking sadness of the second, and a more chart-focussed sound that you’d associate with the latter. It’s not a side of Cash that most of his contemporary fans would know, and one they’re least primed to get. Still, at this stage, just about any Cash is welcome and this record reminds us what a country great he was (and June Carter-Cash, she was pretty great, too). (Chris Cobcroft)

Kevin Devine: Bulldozer / Bubblegum (Hobbledehoy)
- An Australian release for these two records put out late last year by the US (largely) solo rocker. An energetic mix of indie / alternative / melodic punk fronted by Devine’s voice which sounds -impressively- like a blend of James Mercer and Frank Black. These are pretty great. (Chris Cobcroft)

Kevin Drew: Darlings (Create Control)
- Darlings is the second solo album of Kevin Drew, originally the lead singer of Canadian avant-indie band Broken Social Scene. Darlings features Drew’s indie-rock vocals backed by waves of synth, noise and laid back electric kit sounds, as he continues to try and reconcile his middle age with his sexual rampage. He’s done it before, so it’s not that bizarre: somehow he continues to turn it all into a self-indulgent but fairly listenable formula. (Louis Whelan & Chris Cobcroft)

Kevin Saunderson Presents Inner City: Bad Girl (KMS / EPM)
- Worth it for the history lesson alone. Techno Pioneer rep.s his new outfit, which also includes Anne Saunderson and Paris Grey. Although Kevin is a Detroit pioneer, the lead mix of the five of track Bad Girl, is a slinky New York Garage take (which confusingly means tricked out disco house). Pretty nice. The many other variations on the theme are mostly worth a visit too. (Chris Cobcroft)

La Dispute: Rooms of the House (Workhorse / Staple / Better Living / Resist)
- Tense and terse, not even particularly loud, but absolutely gripping. La Dispute still remember all the best things about post-hardcore, immortalised by bands like Fugazi and ATDI and sweep aside all the crap that’s been emptied like a burst sewer pipe, into the genre, in the last few years. (Chris Cobcroft)

Liars: Mess On A Mission (Single) (Mute / Create/Control)
- The very fact that Liars have always been so stylistically mercurial almost certainly helped them survive the end of the dance-punk fad, but their latest left-turn -into electro this time- may have played that card one too many times. The production is so bright it’s stifling and the electro flourishes are supercilious. There’s still a Gary Numan-esque quality to this that may appeal, but, I’m not certain how much, or to how many. (Chris Cobcroft)

Lindi Ortega: Tin Star (Last Gang Records)
- There are no surprises in Canadian songstress Lindi Ortega’s new album Tin Star. It’s straight up alt-country, folky goodness with some slide blues thrown in for kicks. If you’re a fan of country music, she’ll be touring Australia soon. (Louis Whelan)

Mac DeMarco: Salad Days (Captured Tracks / Spunk)
- Mac DeMarco is quite possibly the slackest of Slacker Rock's affiliates. And thats a good thing. Salad Days carries on with the tape warble and tin-pan guitar tones from past releases but introduces a focus on synths (tape warble still in effect) in the second half of the album. Synths prove no less affable, DeMarco's shamelessly charming, daggy white-boy shtick coupled with Coney Island-esque tunes, is good for for ails you. (Nick Rodwell)

Marika Hackman: Deep Green (Single) (Dirty Hit / Sony)
- Despite her major label trajectory, UK songstress Marika Hackman continues to produce brittle but engaging, gothically and electronically tinged folk-rock that should be of interest critically as well as commercially. Everything about this song is subtle, but as soon as you think of it as non-threatening the lurking beat will reach out and grab you by the scruff of the neck, dragging you along as Marika moans in your ear like a revenant. (Chris Cobcroft)

Messenger: Illusory Blues (Svart)
- London rockers Messenger are like an ancient rural village with a dark secret. On the surface it’s all pleasant folk reels and acoustic strumming, but hidden behind the doors of the rustic cottages, under the trapdoors is... burning metal! In the same way as Espers or even Chelsea Wolfe, Messenger make restraint a key element in their sound, only ever unleashing the hideous hell-hounds for a gambol into fairly intense prog-rock, before everything returns to a fey and eerie chill. This is fascinating. (Chris Cobcroft)

Nightsatan: Nightsatan And The Loops Of Doom (Twisted Films / Solina / Svart)
- John Carpenter eat your heart out! Finland’s Nightsatan do a very self-conscious tribute to the synth soundtracks of JC’s movies and also Goblin. The album itself is styled as an OST and it appears there will be -sometime in the near future- a short film about a band of Mad Max style road warriors, using music to save the world, after the nuclear apocalypse (it’s in Italian, natch). I’ve only seen a trailer and that was hilariously NSFW. This is right up there with Com Truise, Kavinsky or Australia’s own Powerglove. Deeply entertaining. (Chris Cobcroft)

Opik-3: Opik-3 (Iluso Records)
- Spanish Contemporary-Jazz trio, Opik-3, are allegedly quite a hit within the avant-jazz scene in Madrid. Their album comprises of a mixture of contemporary jazz pieces and fusion tracks. The fusion tracks draw from the likes of Meshuggah, with their Mathcore breakdowns, and any (if not all) of Omar Rodriguez solo output. Some of the heavy compositions can be a little hapless but there is no doubting the level of musicianship.(Nick Rodwell)

Petrels: The Silver Chimney Club / Wat Tyler (Denovali)
- Two long form tracks from London based artist Petrels (Oliver Barrett). The first opens with industrial noise and drone before cutting back to ambience and low end minimalist cello. The second is a warm thick ambient drone piece. Both carefully crafted pieces change, sway and unfold at their own pace and, provided you are going at the same pace, are a very engaging listen. (Adrian Marsh)

Phonat: Never (OWSLA / One Love)
- Florentine producer Phonat is one of those lucky few who can garner both critical and dancefloor acclaim. You won’t hear too much else that sounds like this on OWSLA. His approach to edm is almost collage based, taking bright synths and bass stabs, snipping them up and putting them back together. It’s like idm but never overly cerebral or alienating. Good for your mind and your body.(Chris Cobcroft)

Prince feat. Zooey Deschanel: FALLINLOVE2NIGHT (Single) (Sony)
- When Prince inquires whether you wanna fall in love tonight, you go "Hell Yeah!", and then start dancing up a storm. It's an involuntary gesture on your behalf but what's not to love about a simple dance track. OMG! Zooey Deschanel as well! (Ian Powne)

RAJ: Let Me Love You (Single) (Bella Union / Pias / Mushroom)
- Modern minimalism at its finest. The second single for USA songwriter RAJ sees him explore a new level of lyrical depth. This simple and elegant track makes the most of Raj’s powerful vocal tone and draws the listener into his personal anguish. (Chloe Willats)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: The Soundmaker (Single) (ATO / Warner)
- A single off their forthcoming fourth studio album. The duo’s trademark mix of acoustic, flamenco guitar wizardry and alternative rock, always -as a concept- seems like it should be gimmicky, but nonetheless, never fails to impress with skillful flair and just good songwriting, when it arrives. Cue the music. (Chris Cobcroft)

Shit Robot: Do That Dance Ft. Nancy Whang (Single) (DFA / Pias / Mushroom)
- Touches of house, electro highlights and LCD’s Nancy Whang singing not particularly soulfully on a classic disco base. My endless appetite for slightly dorky nu-disco endorses this classic DFA style tune. (Chris Cobcroft)

Shannon And The Clams: Dreams In The Rat House (1­2­3­4­GO! Records / Hardly Art / Inertia)
- What is with the explosion of retro-pop this month! Shannon And The Clams do make it a welcome ‘splosion however, their very worthy record from 2013 getting an Australian release. Unlike so many of today’s generic garage-punks, the Oakland trio emphasise all the individual elements that compose their style: 60’s girl-group pop, a Buddy Holly flourish and punk that actually sounds like punk. The production is appropriately harsh. The Cramps can eat their hearts out, this sounds great. (Chris Cobcroft)

Slow Club: Complete Surrender (Moshi Moshi / Caroline / Universal)
- The Sheffield duo always did like to change things up, but I know I wasn’t expecting disco. You could sort of mistake it for really fast-paced rock every now and then, but the string section and the tom-toms are a bit of a dead giveaway. They throw in an instrumental version just to make damn sure you know. This is a lot like a second bite at the dance-punk cherry, which was always really just disco-rock, anyway. If it continued to sound like this...well, good. (Chris Cobcroft)

The Subs Ft. Colonel Abrams: Trapped (Single) (Lektroluv / One Love)
- Belgian dance-duo The Subs always manage to distinguish themselves from the writhing sea of house producers. This single brings together Colonel Abrams reprising the soulfully gospel vocal (complete with a choir) of his 1985 original and works it for all it’s worth on a banging electro-house update. The two remixes aren’t half bad either, especially the Ashworth rework, which really emphasises the electro beat till it verges on the industrial. (Chris Cobcroft)

Swans: A Little God In My Hands (Single) (Mute)
- Typically slowly crushing, murderous rock, but thoroughly anthemic and not a little groovy (especially by Swans’ plodding, pulverising standards). With some help from Little Annie this is a hugely exciting intro to the next record, To Be Kind, due in May. (Chris Cobcroft)

Tune-Yards: Water Fountain (4AD / Remote Control)
- Tune-Yards lead singer Merrill Garbus has got this experimental indie pop thing down! Water Fountain is a single off her upcoming album, ‘Nikki Nack’, and while it doesn’t particularly stand out from her catalogue is very fun to listen to nonetheless. (Louis Whelan)

Wye Oak: Glory (Single) (Merge / Inertia)
- Wow, synth-rock-pop ay? The last time I checked Wye Oak were a folk band. You know we’ll probably need someone to play rock when every band in the world has gone electro? Still, the thrumming, saw-wave synth of the chorus is...excellent. This sounds like Polica, only, I think I like it better. (Chris Cobcroft)