The 12-track ‘Electric Hustle’ sees electro-funk outfit Kraak & Smaak joined by new singer Lex Empress, British bluesman John Turrell, MC Sebastian, Romanthony and others to deliver a hefty one-two punch of house and nu-disco. The Dutch trio’s third studio album embraces a broad church of radio-friendly dance, from ‘Let’s Go Back’s’ funktastic optimism to ‘The Storm’s’ bluesy vibe to the more straight-up electronica of ‘My Synths Are The Bomb’; Kraak & Smaak even make a sally into Adele/Winehouse modern soul territory with ‘Call Up To Heaven’. And while you might not dig every tune – this reviewer finds rap-influenced ‘Dynamite’ fucking irritating, for example – the sheer diversity of ‘Electric Hustle’ will start even the most reluctant of toes tapping at some point. It may be a little too slick and calculating to be truly lovable, but this album is no dead-eyed fish; Kraak & Smaak endow their dozen tracks with enough warmth and invention to lift them well clear of the production-line dance pop morass.

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As soon ‘Meet Me At The Muster Station’s’ final track faded out, I played PS I Love You’s debut album from the beginning again. I didn’t mean to; it just seemed the natural thing to do. The Ontario duo’s punk-inspired indie rock just demands multiple listens – ten soaring, face-meltingly exuberant tunes fronted by Paul Saulnier’s frantic yelps and melodic howls. The album opens strongly with catchy title track ‘Meet Me At The Muster Station’, the frenetic ‘Breadends’ and the hook-laden ’2012′… and it continues just as strong until the end. With the whole album clocking in at under half an hour, none of the tunes outstay their welcome, nor do they blend into a fuzzy-guitared mush. Each song has something to delight, from ‘Facelove’s’ inspired metal solo to the oppressive crescendo of ‘Scattered’. Saulnier and drummer Benjamin Nelson waited a while before putting out their first album, but the time was clearly well spent; ‘Meet Me At The Muster Station’ is as exciting a debut as I’ve heard for quite some time; a taut, thundering, slightly crazy explosion of top notch noise pop.

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I’m not sure if ‘stadium folk’ is a genre as such, but the slowly waved cigarette lighter is a Pavlovian response to Rob Cowen & The Dissidents’ new EP, ”The Heartlands’. The Yorkshire quintet’s five track debut melds Springsteen brand blue-collar folk rock with home-grown references to council estates and dark satanic mills to create uncomplicated, anthemic songs complete with meaty guitar, pounding drums and sing-along lyrics. Songs such as title track ‘The Heartlands’, ‘Alice In Sunderland’ and ‘Joyriders’ may not quite do for northern towns what The Boss does for New Jersey – Cowen’s lyrics don’t pin down disillusioned Englishness with the sensitivity of a Jarvis Cocker or a Luke Haines, for example – but there’s no doubting that he knows how to write a stonking good tune. Judging by ‘The Heartlands’, Rob Cowen & The Dissidents’ sound is also spot on for radio play, so we can look forward to hearing a lot more from them in the future.

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Although Hackney trio To The Chase bill themselves as an indie/soul band, their debut single release is pretty much just straightforward, common or garden indie rock. Which is fine, of course, but there’s not much to set ‘When You Believed’ apart from the crowd. The tune’s up-tempo with chirpy guitar and a whiff of the Arctic Monkeys about it; front man Aaron Kravitz’s vocals are sound but unexceptional and the lyrics are functional but nothing more – in short, promising pub band indie, but nothing to get wildly excited about. B-side ‘The Return’, with its overly bombastic brass, is a little wearing. There’s definitely potential here – it’ll be interesting to see how To The Chase’s first album, ‘Listen Close’, turns out – but right now it’s all a little bit ‘meh’.

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Garnering comparisons with the likes of Animal Collective and fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene, Montreal-based quartet Braids are a band well worth keeping an eye on if debut album ‘Native Speaker’ is anything to go by. Dense, deep dream pop topped off with Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s idiosyncratic vocals, ‘Native Speaker’ gets off to a cracking start in the shape of ‘Lemonade‘, ‘Plath Heart’ and ‘Glass Deers‘. In fact, these three songs are probably the highlights of the album – all superior to slightly grating title track ‘Native Speaker’ – although instrumental ‘Little Hand‘ is a lovely album closer. Braids’ shimmering post-rock sound is more than capable of standing on its own two feet; combined with Standell-Preston’s captivating vocals –ethereal and incisive at the same time – ‘Native Speaker’ could mark the dawn of something very good indeed.

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A side-project of Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor, About Group’s first single from upcoming album ‘Start And Complete’ is a cover of Terry Riley’s 1967 track ‘You’re No Good’. I’ve got mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, ‘You’re No Good’ is a laid-back, looping jazz funk jam that’s undeniably easy on the ears. On the other, it also clocks in at 11 minutes long. Now, I know this is the sort of thing that improvised music traditionally gets away with. I also happen to adore Godspeed You Black Emperor’s ‘Dead Flag Blues’, which comfortably passes the quarter of an hour mark. It’s just that ‘You’re No Good’s’ 11 minutes seems like a very long 11 minutes; interesting and catchy though it might be, the tune doesn’t do enough to hold the attention for the entire journey. Any five minute section of ‘You’re No Good’ is quality stuff and the whole song’s well worth a listen, but this single smacks of self-indulgence.

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Okay, looks like pop may have found a new princess. Hesta Prynn – aka Julie Potash, formerly a third of NYC hip hop group Northern State – has ditched the hop, but kept the hip with new single ‘Turn It Gold‘. The follow-up to last year’s positively-received ‘Can We Go Wrong’ EP, ‘Turn It Gold’ is a hook-laden party track with enough of an indie twist to stand out from the electro-pop hordes. A summery tune at odds with the cold snap hitting her native New York at the moment, Prynn’s first official UK single release is an uncomplicatedly upbeat song about partying with your friends in the Big Apple that pushes all the right buttons. Sleek, sexy and radio-friendly, ‘Turn It Gold’ is also worth checking out for the smokin’ hot video helmed by director-du-jour Randy Scott Slavin.

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Jonny’s eponymous debut album is the fruit of a musical collaboration between Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and Euros Childs, ex-frontman of the sadly defunct Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. It’s not the first time the pair have worked together – Blake appeared on the Gorky’s ‘How I Long to Feel That Summer In My Heart’ back in 2001 – and if Jonny’s laid-back psychedelic pop is anything to go by, the partnership must have been an easy one. With the exception of the overblown ‘Cave Dance’, which potters self-indulgently past the ten minute mark, Jonny’s 13 tracks are short and sweet; playful indie delights with more than a touch of the Swinging Sixties about them. Main single ‘Candyfloss’, ‘English Lady’, ‘I Want To Be Around You’ and hauntingly beautiful album closer ‘Never Alone’ show Jonny at their gently melodic best – other songs such as the determinedly quirky ‘Bread’ are more of an acquired taste. Jonny may not be the most heavyweight debut ever, but as an uplifting antidote to winter blues and a chance to hear Childs’ distinctive tones again, it’s very welcome.

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I won’t lie to you, reader; I’m not the ideal person to review Young Fathers’ latest single. When I picture the Edinburgh music scene, Ballboy not hip hop springs to mind. Like an embarrassing dad, I’ll describe ‘Fevers Worse’ as ‘banging’ in the fond belief that I’m down with the kids. Shameful. However, even I can tell that the looped vocals, pulsing beats, twitchy electro and early Outkast stylings of ‘Fevers Worse’ are a fairly delectable concoction in all three available flavours – Radio Edit, 1066 Remix and Lucky Me/Blessings Remix, with the last named arguably getting the job done best. Having co-written tracks with the likes of Simian Mobile Disco and Stanton Warriors, as well as headlining the BBC Introducing stage at this year’s T in the Park, Young Fathers certainly know how to fill a dance floor and I’m sure ‘Fevers Worse’ will prove no exception, even if it is less blatantly party friendly than their usual fare. Sweet baby Moses, I’m itching to sneak that missing apostrophe into the song title, though.

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Jenny Lewis being one of the best singer-songwriters around, my main concern going into the gig was how the ‘…and Johnny’ half of the sketch would pan out. Fortunately, Lewis’ boyfriend Johnathan Rice more than held his own as the pair flirtatiously harmonised their way through the aptly-named ‘I’m Having Fun Now’ album, with songs including the sunny pop of ‘Scissor Runner’; the melancholy ‘Switchblade’ and crowd-pleasing single ‘Big Wave’. In fact, the average quality of Jenny And Johnny’s tracks may be the highest of any of Jenny Lewis’ non-Rilo Kiley projects, although the album lacks a stand-out track of the calibre of ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’s Rise Up With Fists’.

Having performed the majority of their joint material, Jenny And Johnny closed out with a couple of numbers from their respective back catalogues. For me, the highlights of these were ‘Carpetbaggers’ – where Rice’s laid-back vocals combined more easily with Lewis’ country tones than Elvis Costello’s more strident delivery had done on the album – and ‘Acid Tongue’, which featured backing vocals by the girls from La Sera, the rather excellent unsigned Los Angeles three-piece that supported Jenny And Johnny and whom I’d like to hear more of. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening. A friend of mine holds to the theory that while movies that star real-life couples usually suck, having your lover sing alongside you usually benefits a band; Jenny And Johnny could be a case in point.

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