Okay Bells

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THEY may not be as festive as their name would imply, but dance act Sleigh Bells sound like they’re trying very hard to get some form of festivities going.
The problem is on Treats they’re trying too hard - with speaker-busting levels of samples and sound effects taking their toll, even the sturdiest of speakers will struggle not to fart out these tracks.
On the occasions everything gels - like the Funkadelic-sampling Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells really are a treat.
The rest of the time they need to treat their work with a less is more attitude.

Incog-not bad-o

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TRANSATLANTIC RPM, the new album from Incognito, packs in more energy than a jet engine.
Having invited along a guest list including Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender, icon Chaka Khan, spoken word goddess Ursula Rucker, Motown legend Leon Ware and more, the tracks here are all slick as they come.
Sure, a lot of it is very cheesy, but you can't help get caught up in the sheer exuberance of it all.

Simpler Simon

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LIKE compatriots Turzi (see yesterday) French act Emilie Simon knows her way around a computer - and sometimes even inside of one.
Live Emilie has an experimental side - playing with a gadget known as "the arm" which locks onto her limb allowing her to tinker with her sounds.
However the established singer-songwriter’s fourth album The Big Machine - inspired by her time living in New York - sees her aiming at the mainstream, embracing the poppier elements of her electronic sound and singing in English.
And the results of her latest studio jaunt sees the talents which have seen obvious comparisons made with the vocal gymnastics of Kate Bush and the musical ambition of Tori Amos tempered by the limitations of Little Boots-style cheery electropop backing.
As a result long-time listeners may be a little turned off, but nevertheless there’s enough to like on The Big Machine in tracks such as The Way I See You and Rainbow to see her gather enough new fans to replace them.

Yard fails to measure up

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I'M A massive fan of Reef - the band are even a proud owner of a Classic Collection LP in the form of Replenish - so it's hard for me not to compare Yard to their body of work.
StringerBessant, a duo of distinctive Reef vocalist Gary Stringer and Reef bassist Jack Bessant, is undoubtedly a different beast - but also undoubtedly a lesser beast at present.
Because the almost entirely acoustic act come across as a bit wet and wussy for nearly all of the album.
Things only pick up around track 10 onwards, songs like Lord Please Come, Make It and Song Worth Singing, tracks tellingly are the ones which finally hark back to their more exuberant predecessor.

Randy tweaked

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THE excellently-named Canadian synth-punk Randy Twigg is Redone from Monday with a series of remixes of her Undone LP.
The knob-twiddling here does have a pretty full-on, low-rent feel - but after listening to the loud and lairy originals you wouldn't be expecting anything subtle.
Luckily the likes of Mt Sims, Syntronics, Kid 606 et al offer plenty of variety - with the likes of house, jungle, dubstep, techno and more piled onto the shouty Twigg sound.
In fact, Redone does it more than the original LP for me.

Windmill sails on same old course

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WINDMILL'S EP sees the problems with the woozy sound of the one-man band's album Epcot Starfield both improved on and compounded.
Matthew Dillon's infuriating vocals, which sound like a drunken Arcade Fire doing an impression of Owl City, remain on the title track, one of the livelier cuts from the aforementioned LP.
Then it's onto the remixes - with the Pocket Remix and Gentleman's Losers Remix of Big Boom improving on Windmill's at-times plodding sound, while the Saroos Remix of Imax Raceway provides an even more nebulous take on the sound, making it almost impossible to get a grip on.

Second city band second rate

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SECOND city act Sick City Club aren't exactly nauseatingly repulsive, but debut LP Talking With Lies is no mouth-watering prospect either.
An indie act with an epic tinge, the Birmingham-based group sound a bit like an optimistic version of The Editors or a happy-go-lucky counterpart to The Enemy.
If you're into your indie, then you're in for a treat - otherwise Talking With Lies has nothing out of the ordinary to appeal, and that's the truth.

Carlou D worth a C grade

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SENEGALESE singer and guitarist Carlou D's music on Muzikr may catch many listeners by surprise.
As D is best known as a member of African rap outfit, you would expect a hint of hip hop here.
But while the social commentary you would expect of an MC coming out of a developing nation is here - with songs about slavery and poverty as standard - there's not a head nodding beat or a fast-paced patter throughout.
Instead we're treated to some fairly run-of-the-mill roots music, with pleasing faster tracks like Ila Touba juxtaposed with slower, more Westernised tracks like the jazzy Yaay Fall.

Lissie uninspiring

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LISSIE, whose now-redundant surname is Maurus for the record, is a hotter tip than a rubbish dump that's on fire.
The singer has been touted as 2010's top female singing sensation, the American Midwest's answer to similarly-single-named Duffy, if you will.
And yes, her vocals are sublime, with a distinctive warble weighted with a hint of Sheryl Crow gravel.
But for me her country pop is all a bit, well, meh - catchy without hooks, cool without being edgy, twee without being corny.
She may be driving towards becoming a household name, but she's doing it down the middle of the road.

Good Example, bad Example

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IN SOME instances, it’s difficult to fault Example’s clup pop hip hop on Won't Go Quietly, and in others it’s hard to find any merit.
Case in point - the Hammersmith rapper opens the album with From Space then singles Won’t Go Quietly and the excellent Watch The Sun Come Up, before launching into the dire Time Machine, undoing all his own good work.
The best tracks here are paragons of pop circa 2010 - the aforementioned opening trio, Kickstarts, Sick Note - but over the course of a full album, Example is an illustration of inconsistency.

Light entertainment

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THOUGH not a dazzling album, nevertheless Light Pollution would brighten up any collection.
Opening with droning psychedelic pop track Good Feelings, the LP continues to tread a fine line between an Amusement Parks On Fire dirge and Embrace-style epic indie pop throughout.
It's like they don't know whether to gaze at their shoes or stare blinking in wonderment at the heavens and as a result the album is an up and down affair.

Carrack on regardless

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PAUL Carrack - no, me neither.
However the Sheffield singer songwriter, whose album I Know That Name is rereleased in an augmented version next Monday, has been a member of bands including Roxy Music, Ace, Squeeze, and Mike And The Mechanics, sessioned for bands including The Smiths and The Pretenders, and released a number of solo albums as well.
So chances are you've probably heard his polished, soulful voice at some point - and here it's clearly a gift.
I'm not crazy on the songs, which are mostly soul and rock by numbers, with some gospel, even a reggae number, but nevertheless there's no reason why Paul Carrack shouldn't be asking for a little more limelight to shine his way.

Blitzen Trap sprung

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DESTROYER Of The Void, the latest album from Blitzen Trapper, left a bit of a hole where previously I had a liking for the group.
After reviewing their previous effort Black River Killer, in comparison this new collection never goes for the jugular.
Instead the psychedelic folk Americana of the group which has garnered so much critical praise, feels like it's been wheeled out for an airing rather than dusted down and improved upon - not that it's bad, they are excellent at their sound, it's just this could have been so much more.
They'll need to find some new ideas next time round, and pack in a few more hooks, or you feel the group will be their own destroyer.

Get Washed Out in

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I RECOMMEND you let the music of Washed Out, one of the pseudonyms of Atlantan Weatherly Greene, lap over you like waves on a beach.
The act's EP, Life Of Leisure, is a woozy, laid back six-track collection which drifts out of the stereo like half-remembered dated memories arriving out of nowhere in the back your mind to haunt you, like Alf's face.
And Alf is looking relaxed.
The sun-bleached sound of Life Of Leisure isn't going to get teh heart racing - at times it's more like incidental music to a documentary about holidaymaking in the 1980s - but it is worth a trip.

Wurz up

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WORKING as a journalist, I know first hand that politics is a particularly unpredictable subject - but not many people could have foreseen the dying throes of a Labour Government throwing 1970s novelty act The Wurzels into the limelight.
As a protest at taxes being hiked on cider, earlier this year a Facebook campaign was set up to try and get their classic I'm A Cider Drinker into the charts, and tens of thousands of people signed up.
So cashing in, a new collection, A Load More Bullocks, has been put together - and, although I must declare an interest as I hail from Somerset and I regularly drink cider, I have to say it's worth a listen.
Sure, some covers don't really work and Spinal Tap cover Sex Farm, a parody of a spoof, is all a bit much.
But I defy anyone not to smile the first time they listen to their West Country reworking of Kaiser Chief's Ruby.

Cast effective

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LEGENDARY rocker Rory Erickson, once part of the group The 13th Floor Elevators who blazed a trail for psychedlic and garage rock in the '60s, returns alongside Okkervil River to release his first album in 14 years.
But instead of a straight retread of his past glories, Love Cast Out All Evil is instead a collection of confessional country and western akin to the Indian summer of Johnny Cash's career.
Of course, this collection can't compare on the low-key numbers - Cash could make a grown man weep with the likes of Hurt.
But Erickson laces the rest with echoes of his past work, hints of punk and metal and splashes of psych, and covers biographical subject matter such as mental illness and jail time, making a collection that's more than engaging enough.

Storyline album is telling

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THE tale of Storyline may yet to be told in earnest, but on the evidence they should yet get the chhe next chapter, their eponymous LP, is a collection of that plots a course between Paramore rock and Kelly Clarkson pop.
It's a broad brush approach from the as-yet unsigned American act - there's even a cover of cheesy pub rock staple Summer Of '69 - but it is done well enough, and without pretension.

Fun is okay

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CALLING your band Fun leads to heightened expectations before a note's been played - it's like me calling my son Handsome Ashe or Popular Ashe.
It's enough of a tall order to live up to me as a handsome and popular father figure for the poor mite - and similarly this band has to follow in the footsteps of its members' former acts The Format, Anathallo, and Steel Train.
Anyway, as you'd expect with these expectations, Fun's album Aim And Ignite just isn't, well, fun enough.
It is a collection of passable pop rock with a sweet, piano-led Ben Folds meets Mika feel - but it's not going to get any parties started.

Sartain raiser

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HAILING from Birmingham, Alabama, experienced rocker Dan Sartain's career is sure to survive into a second decade with latest LP Lives.
Rightly assured in his talent, Sartain has a matter-of-fact punk attitude to the icy deadpan delivery of his incisive lyrics.
There’s also a prevailing stomp to each track, whether the glam feel to Bohemian Grove, the rockier Voo-Doo, or the Vincent Vincent And The Villains-esque ‘50s vibe on Ruby Carol.

A brush with The Foxes

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THE title of indie rockers The Foxes' EP Depression, Joy And A Moment Of Fame is almost a review of the contents.
There's joy at the quality of opener Get Me, a bouncy strummer which deserves a fair slice of airplay - leading to the aforementioned moment of fame.
Then depression, that the other three tracks just aren't as good, and should really have been packaged as B-sides rather than on an equal footing.
Nevertheless, overall The Foxes are well worth a brush with.