This week we review the latest albums from First Aid Kit, Sneaky Sound System, Eric Hutchinson, The Hold Steady, and Elvis Costello.
4 stars (out of 5)
This eight-track EP from Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg, both under 20, is a tasteful mix of clear-voiced acoustic folk gems.
The pair gained worldwide attention with their YouTube clip of Fleet Foxes cover Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, included here, but have revealed themselves to be skilled songwriters in their own right with their simply constructed, alluringly offbeat original tracks.
Slow ballad Pervigilo is a melancholic highlight while the memorable Cross Oceans crosses cleverly into pop-rock zone. Expect great things from their upcoming full-length album.
Single download: Cross Oceans
For those who like: Bright Eyes, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Delgirl
- Jeff Harford
2 stars (out of 5)
The second full-length album from Australian dance collective Sneaky Sound System is as uninspired as its title suggests.
While hypnotic slices of feel-good house are in abundance, the anonymity of the enterprise disappoints.
Expansive opener Kansas City finds the Ocker three-piece locked into the same pulsing techno groove that made their debut so addictive - and tiresome.
Thunderous bass and Space Invader squelches are deployed with an almost mathematical precision, and are sure to shepherd the hordes to the floor, though the formula is too rigid, with a depressing lack of inventiveness.
Single download: Kansas City
For those who like: Those Dance Now! Compilations
- John Hayden
3 stars (out of 5)
New York-based Bostonian Eric Hutchinson bounces through this 10-song release with the ease of a singer-songwriter confident in his art.
A piano man schooled on the soulful pop of Stevie Wonder and Hall & Oates, he's not afraid to aim his upbeat ditties directly at the ears of radio programmers.
But while album opener OK, It's Alright With Me and first single Rock & Roll are easily digested toe-tappers, Hutchinson's vocals are at their best on more sassy funk-soul numbers such as You Don't Have To Believe Me and You've Got To.
Single download: OK, It's Alright With Me
For those who like: Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel
- Jeff Harford
4 stars (out of 5)
Though it was recorded during Halloween 2007, the only terrifying thing about this live album is how good a band The Hold Steady truly is.
Across four albums the Brooklyn quintet has established a reputation as the world's best bar band, and you'd always suspected its meat-and-potatoes brand of classic rock would be delivered with greater gusto in a live setting.
A Positive Rage is unequivocal in that regard; bristling versions of Massive Nights and Chips Ahoy! - all wall-of-sound guitars - hit the audience between the eyes, while the stream-of-consciousness ranting of lead vocalist Craig Finn goads you into punching the air.
Single download: Massive Nights
For those who like: The Boss, and holding lighters aloft
- John Hayden
4 stars (out of 5)
Troubadour Elvis Costello heads to the American South for his latest effort, reprising the rustic, rootsy approach he adopted way back in 1981 on Almost Blue.
He also teams up again with producer T Bone Burnett, with whom he worked on 1986's King of America and 1989's Spike.
Featuring a clutch of traditional string band players as well as a guest spot by Emmylou Harris on the excellent The Crooked Line, this is an album seeped in country spirit, close harmonies and weaving melodies, though an overused vocal vibrato sometimes distances Costello from the faster material.
Single download: Sulphur to Sugarcane
For those who like: Lyle Lovett, Loudon Wainwright III
- Shane Gilchrist
