A God-awful Small Affair

It seems strange that in hindsight I was worried about the comeback of Daft Punk being lost in amongst a blur of new acts - but then this is the same reviewer who bought Adele's 21 in the first week of its release, "hoping it wouldn't miss #1". The rather understated teasers of their new material - most notably the screening of a minute of Get Lucky at Coachella - seemed as though the Frenchmen were taking it slow eight years on from their last proper album. This, of course, was prior to the gimmicks: the Formula 1 sponsorship, the eight-part series of collaborators, the intentionally bizarre choice of launch venue in Wee Waa, Australia. 2 months on, and Random Access Memories is inescapable. Though that'll frustrate some, to me it's a blessing. Aside from their rather lacklustre soundtracking to 2011's Tron: Legacy, the absence was unbearable. But their comeback (is 8 years long enough to justify such an overused term?) is with a vengeance: the so

I must prefix this review with major aggrievance at the absence of 2012's marvellous disco single Headphones . Considering this record's so centred around the supposed strengths of house music I guess I can see its omission as necessary, as it's more of a discopop song, but, as I'm about to discover, it's far stronger than the majority available here. It seems absurd in hindsight that the BBC awarded Little Boots - real name Victoria Hesketh - the 'Sound of 2009' prize. In a year that saw such indie-crossover juggernauts as Florence + the Machine, the xx, Mumford and Sons, La Roux, Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun and... oh yeah... Lady GaGa (!) it was a little bit of an odd decision to give the title to the rather safe, homely-looking pop prot é g é . OK, that's a shallow assessment, but who could honestly say that 2009's debut Hands took them by storm? Aside from the wonderful single Remedy , it's long-forgotten. What can Nocturnes do to r

I suppose it would be slightly sexist of me to assume that because Savages are an all-female band I can take this opportunity to express disappointment in the face of universal praise for the similarly all-woman Warpaint. Not sure why I even needed to say that. Perhaps the fact that entirely female acts performing punk music remains such a novelty that such bands get hype and distinction by default. On closer inspection, though, Savages' hype stems from reverential praise of live performances, and a rather nostalgia-fueled response to their ideas of manifestoes and attitude. With faces that would befit a government's advice leaflet on post-traumatic stress disorder for their album cover, and an all-capital letter inclusion on the left that states "IF THE WORLD WOULD SHUT UP/ EVEN FOR A WHILE/ PERHAPS/ WE WOULD START HEARING/ THE DISTANT RHYTHM/ OF AN ANGRY YOUNG TUNE". So it's pretty safe to say this is an angry record. Savages get the ball rolling with

MS MR come at an unfortunate time: if there is one thing the world does not need, right now, it is boy-girl electronic synth-pop duos with a penchant for theatricality and glitter. It would appear that, given current music's unpredictable stream of trends and the difficulty in gauging what's current and hot, even their style, which is largely contemporary and very recently everywhere, has passed the buck onto post-the xx moodiness and minimalist dub-electronic music. That hasn't discouraged Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow, this particular New York duo. They've picked up all sorts of TV promos with songs used in adverts for Game of Thrones, Greys' Anatomy and Pretty Little Liars, and if there's anything recent times can teach us, it's that adverts will grab you #1s . It might not have happened yet for MS MR (and that name will only grow in annoying me - ooh there's a boy and a girl! clever! I think not.) but it's certainly put them on the map,