Free the Universe.
Secretly Canadian
Famed for his border-busting beat-making, über producer Diplo (as Major Lazer) returns with enough bowel-shaking bass and rabid riddims to shake an island nation.
Fusing dub, dancehall, reggae and hip-hop, this frenetic genre-splicing is an unabashed tilt at the mainstream: Elephant Man, Santigold, Wyclef Jean, Peaches and Bruno Mars all compete with clattering percussion and rowdy electro bleeps , giving a real sense of bet-hedging.
It's not until Jessica, in which indie darling Ezra Koening channels Junior Murvin over a warped, Lee Perry-like haze, when the release finally begins to revel in its own preposterousness.
Single download: Jessica
For those who like: M.I.A., Buraka Som Sistema, Lee ''Scratch'' Perry
3 stars (out of 5)
By John Hayden
Fight From The Inside
Independent
It might be Into The East's debut album, but Fight From The Inside conveys a sense of slow distillation, as if Wanaka-based Liv McBride and Invercargill's Graeme Woller had spent far more time (and money) than they actually did on this cohesive 12-song collection.
Proving that song-craft will beat any budget, Into The East mixes gentle finger-picked folk (How Could I Have Known, Old Man In A Fog) with clanky, rustic Americana (the title track) and slightly more free-form strains of the ''auld country'' (Mullum), all the while focusing on their strengths: warm, sweet harmonies, lyrics lacking cliches and understated yet slick guitar-playing.
Single download: On The Run
For those who like: Civil Wars, Laura Marling
4 stars (out of 5)
By Shane Gilchrist
Self-titled
Shock
On its sophomore follow-up to 2010's understated (and slightly underwhelming) Fields, Swedish trio Junip embarks on a warm, almost psychedelic, journey through existential crises.
Fronted by finger-style guitarist par excellence Jose Gonzalez, the band manages to walk a fine line between hypnotic, mechanised rhythmic phrasing and cinemascopic washes of keyboards and strings. In other hands, this could have become a sonic soup; here, it's a glorious, unconventional celebration of texture-as-composition.
Listen carefully, however, and you'll still hear more than a few riffs amid the claves and cowbells.
Single download: Your Life, Your Call
For those who like: Brian Eno, Air
4 stars (out of 5)
By Shane Gilchrist
