CD Reviews: Clap Clap Riot

Auckland alt-rock outfit Clap Clap Riot follows debut album Counting Spins with a sophomore effort that is more angular, darker, and ... much more interesting.

That's perhaps due to the large hand played by producer Kody Neilson (Opossom, The Mint Chicks), who tweaks what might have been punk-pop brattiness into a murkier many-flavoured sonic stew that includes more than a whiff of '60s psychedelia (Good Friends), grooves plucked from the swamps of the American South (Once Again) as well as moments of sing-along joy (Sweet Patricia). 

• Clap Clap Riot. Nobody/Everybody. Clap Clap Records/Universal. 
• 4 stars out of 5.

Single download: Everybody.
For those who like: The Strokes, The Raconteurs

- Shane Gilchrist