Out This Week - 2nd April 2012

Lotus Plaza - Strangers

Bradford Cox isn't the only member of Deerhunter to extend his innovative style to other projects. Lockett Pundt's Lotus Plaza release their second album 'Spooky Action At A Distance' this week and taken from it is sparkly, stammering 'Strangers'. It's slightly more conventional than other associated acts but the blend of dreampop, shoegaze and traditional indie is still well worth a listen.



Lotus Plaza's website

Buy the album





AU - Get Alive

For his latest album as AU, multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland worked largely alone in his home town of Portland, Oregon. However, tracks like 'Get Alive' sound like the collective work of several people with layers of instruments and voices all dancing around each other in a manner akin to organised chaos. The attention to detail is remarkable and 'Both Lights' is his best album yet.



Free download: 'Get Alive'

AU's website

Buy the album





White Fence - Swagger Vets & Double Moon

Tim Presley is a member of psych-rock band Darker My Love but is also incredibly prolific as White Fence. New album 'Family Perfume, Vol. 1' is out this week, to be followed by '...Vol. 2' next month. White Fence usually have a lighter sound than his other band, and while 'Swagger Vets & Double Moon' may not be quite as intense as DML, its psychedelic 60s pop with layers of swirling distortion certainly packs a punch.



White Fence's website

Buy the album





Orbital - Never

Techno veterans Orbital release their first album in eight years this week. 'Wonky' takes in a few modern sounds along the way but the bulk of the record is made of the same, familiar out-of-step sounds that the brothers Hartnoll have been making for over twenty years. 'Never' begins as an atmospheric, ambient piece, before gently building to a splendid kaleidoscope of beats and bleeps.



Orbital's website

Buy the album





OBLIGATORY RECORD OF THE WEEK

Chains Of Love - In Between

OK, so they may have only a couple of singles and an EP out so far but we're still annoyed that glorious garage-soul band Chains Of Love have evaded our radar so far, especially since this single was released in December. The Vancouver band have a superb way with a tune, and not only that - they deliver these songs in the manner of Ronnie Spector fronting Camera Obscura produced by The Raveonettes. I've just done a check of 'the boxes', and they've ticked every single one of them. Hats off.



Chains Of Love's website

Buy the single





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