Caribou – Andorra

This album completely threw me. I was expecting something sort of minimalist and electronic, an assumption based purely on the name of the artist and the name of the album; a cold wintry sound that might accompany a late night skiing video. However I was surprised to be presented with something that sounded like a lost baroque pop artefact from the psychedelic 60s reinvented for the new millennium. It was like stumbling across an unknown album by The Zombies that had been remixed by The Beta Band. The opening track just cracks off at full pace without any warning, almost as if you’ve forgotten to rewind the tape but of course this is a CD so that can’t be the case. Flutes, organs and voices in pleasant harmony swirl and merge to create a stunningly accessible sound. As the album progresses the instrumentation and vocals slowly get stripped away until at the end you’re left with something sort of minimalist and electronic, which was nice. This is the kind of album that you’d hear as the soundtrack to the coolest barbeque ever. A barbeque where it’s always a warm sunny evening in August with a gentle breeze that smells of lavender and everyone eats tasty skewers with five types of meat that have been cooked by Japanese robots and the drinks have been made by monkeys wearing bow ties and your garden backs onto the Mediterranean and… 9/10

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Another darling of the music blogs of last year, this has recently gained a little bit of mainstream exposure due to the use of the song Two Weeks in a car ad. The album feels like a jazzy version of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Having heard Two Weeks I was a little thrown by the rest of the album; I was expecting something lightweight and full of sunshine but that’s not really the case. Now that’s not to say that the album isn’t good because it is, very good in fact but it’s a more subdued affair and something worth listening to carefully, probably on your headphones. This is warm homely music, simple and affecting. 8/10

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse

Dark Night Of the Soul

This set up is one I had never heard of before but since i got this album i hear the name being mentioned a lot more regularly. The album is a bit of Hulk impersonation. For a good part its a calm relaxed easy listener then every so ofton goes mad turns green and gets rather loud. Its actually a really good change of pace and then back again. It does remind me a lot of the Flaming Lips but i do think the front man does appear on some tracks. However the album never gets as annoying as some of the Flaming Lips stuff did. So to sum it up its by no means a party album but is really good to take in and enjoy on your own while doing something else 7 / 10