Steve Harris

Steve Harris, 
Download who as any fan would surely attest, IS Iron Maiden. The hardened ‘eavy metal war hero turned an ambitious East London pub band into one of the most recognisable, influential and most powerful institutions in modern music, not to mention one of the most successful British musical exports of all time.
Not only that, but as well as being the band’s principal songwriter from day one, Harris’s own relentless, virtuosic bass playing – the pulsating, galloping backbone to Maiden’s many flamboyant, multi-layered epics – helped shape the very landscape of hard rock and metal in the Eighties, influencing hundreds, if not thousands of demonic offspring and continues to be one of the most recognisable facets of the band throughout its 30-plus year tenure.
Right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can talk about the matter at hand - Harris’s first ‘solo’ venture, British Lion.
The first thing to note is that to call this a ‘solo’ album would be very misleading. Sure, it says STEVE HARRIS big and bold on the sleeve, but no prizes for guessing why his name takes precedence: this is very much a full band effort with otherwise unknown collaborators.
Far from a solo acoustic affair with Harris spilling his east London drawl over road-weary ballads or tales of fallen soldiers – which would’ve been fucking awesome – British Lion is essentially a hard-rock side-project created in collaboration with old friends, with the only consistent Harrisian hallmark being the aforementioned mighty four-string rumble of the man, high up in the mix so you know who you’re fucking with.
Sadly, the quality of song writing and accompanying musicianship – i.e., everyone except ‘arry - is mediocre at best, and that is, to this fan, very painful indeed. Harris was recently quoted in regards to this new venture as saying 'I could’ve never done this with Maiden', and as you plod through these ten thoroughly average throwbacks, it becomes pretty obvious why.

Lucy Rose

Lucy Rose
Download where her fragile songs and home-made jam (she sells it at gigs) would have made her a worthy supporting player in the pastoral-folk scene. "Supporting" being the operative word: the Warwickshire-bred vocalist and her acoustic guitar (plus unobtrusive band) create a hazy sound that leaves you feeling as if you've bathed in lavender oil – lovely, but lacking the acerbic touch that would elevate her to a leading role. In its unassertive way, though, her debut album is a trove of small pleasures. Lines is a sunny uplands of a song, startlingly intersected by a volley of cannon-fire bass; Night Bus is a deceptively sweet thing that sympathetically depicts a coven of depressed night people. The beautiful, blurred ballad Place takes Rose into Feist territory, before erupting into an Ed Sheeranish mid-tempo canter. Best known, until now, as a backing vocalist for Bombay Bicycle Club, Rose is worth hearing in her own right, as much for her emollient effect as anything else

Paloma Faith,

Paloma Faith,
Download who has recorded her own take on the INXS 1987 classic for the department store's latest campaign and slapped it on an updated disc of her recent album Fall To Grace.

It's a brave task to reinterpret a much-loved hit, but Faith's soulful tones immediately thwart any doubts that she can't do the song justice. "I was standing/ You were there/ Two worlds collided/ And they could never tear us apart," she declares over bluesy strings and hollered beats more heart-warming than a festive onesie. It was always going to be a tough feat topping the original, but Faith proves her worth as a British talent by coming admirably close.

PSY

PSY
Number 1 inthe single chart has had more than 253m views in two months and became the most "liked" video on YouTube.
Psy, an established star in South Korea with six albums, taught Britney Spears his dance moves on the US TV show Ellen month.
Last week's No 1, Hall of Fame, by Irish band The Script, featuring rapper Will.i.am, dropped to No 2; US rapper Flo Rida is at No 3 with I Cry.
Meanwhile, the folk four-piece Mumford & Sons shot straight to the top of the album chart with Babel. It follows their 2009 award-winning debut, Sigh No More, which has re-charted at No 10. US rockers Green Day are at two with Uno; Pink holds the third spot with The Truth About Love.

Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera

 official music video for "Your Body," a warning that "No men were harmed in the making of this video" appears. It's necessary information, since the Melina Matsoukas-directed clip for the new single, which premiered on Friday (Sept. 28), features the pop star seducing and slaughtering a handful of men who only want to love her body.
Download
Seemingly inspired by the cartoonish violence on her TV screen, the curvaceous Aguilera steps outside of her trailer in the video to find her first victim -- a dude with a car that she blows up when she tires of his good looks. Next is a billiards player who makes the mistake of following Xtina into a public restroom; soon, he's unconscious on the toilet, covered in a light blue goo that the pop star is naughtily wiping off her cheek.Billboard

Another standout of the video is, of course, Aguilera's wardrobe selection, highlighted by a curve-hugging black dress, low-cut merican flag shirt, jean vest covered in her blonde dreadlocks and long-sleeved white tee that reads "F*ck the Paparazzi." By the end of the video, when Aguilera whacks her final victim with a bat, the glitter that the guy's body turns into sprinkles seamlessly into her hot-pink wig.

Produced by Max Martin and Shellback, "Your Body" debuted at No. 34 on this week's Hot 100 after hitting the Web last week. The single previews Aguilera's fifth studio album, "Lotus," an album that the singer has called a "rebirth" and is due out Nov. 13 on RCA Records.    

No Doubt

No Doubt's
Download last studio LP Rock Steady. Aside from the obvious shift from physicals to downloads, the band now also have to tackle the flurry of super producer-led records as well as sales being at an all time low. Hardly the most encouraging news for a group who are traditionally seen as a self-making albums act.

That they've largely stuck to their guns on Push and Shove was a risk, but the results pay off in spades. Aside from the bonkers title track 'Push and Shove' which shares a credit with trendy knob-twiddling outfit Major Lazer, the band have re-hired Rock Steady's exec producer Mark 'Spike' Stent; creating a picking-up-where-they-left-off atmosphere that fortunately feels timeless rather than old-fashioned. 

Kreayshawn

Kreayshawn,
Download rose to popularity in exceedingly modern fashion, but we've known how to describe her career since before she was born. She's a quintessential one-hit wonder for the digital age-- a girl who accidentally recorded a near-perfect pop-rap hit and followed it with a hollow thud of a record. If her breakout YouTube single, "Gucci Gucci", tore a hole in the conventions of pop and hip-hop, Somethin' Bout Kreay is the awkward seam that sticks out once someone has tried to sew it back up with some expensive twine.
Somethin' Bout Kreay would elicit the embarrassment of, say, walking in on a younger sibling dancing awkwardly in front of her bedroom mirror, were its shrill clatter not so forcefully distracting. These are dance songs so strident that no one could ever hope to move to them, pop songs so thin that no one could choose lines worth singing along to, rap verses so fumbly that practically anyone could rewrite them and make them better. Excepting "Gucci Gucci"-- which shoots out of the mess like a geyser of glitter-- each track can be appreciated primarily for the relief it offers from the previous clunker. To put things into perspective, Lil Debbie, Kreayshawn's mannequin twin of a sidekick, is currently making music miles catchier than Somethin' Bout Kreay, while Gucci Mane and Kreayshawn associate V-Nasty's BAYTL, lyrically speaking, might as well be Watch the Throne in comparison. Imagine watching the "Gucci Gucci" video for the first time and knowing that in the near future-- just about a year later-- you'd be nostalgic for how traditional, how authentic, it felt. Time can move in strange, unsettling ways.

Low Cut Connie

Low Cut Connie

Download their albums – this is their second – too. Elements of 60s pop spar with rollicking Faces-styled piano/organ and rugged hooks thick enough to hang meat from as this quartet grinds out whip smart material that never seems retro. There is snap and crackle in Low Cut Connie’s pop and a gutsy edge that’ll have you turning up the volume regardless of where you’re at. When the handclaps push the beat on the rollicking garage of “Pity Party” you’ll want to invite friends over for your own bash. The 15 tracks breeze by in 43 hyperventilating minutes even when the mood turns bluesy on “Stay Alive If You Can” and the walking bass, back alley creep kicks off the title track. It’s all frothy fun with snappy, sassy lyrics (including some inoffensive “f” bombs) and a rootsy energy that shoots out of the speakers.

Lady Ga Ga

Lady GaGa
Download has reportedly snubbed Madonna'sDownload invite to go on tour with her as she is "too busy".

Despite the two performers clashing over the similarities between GaGa's Born This Way and Madonna's hit tune Express Yourself, the Queen of Pop allegedly offered an olive branch to Lady G by asking her to appear on her current MDNA world tour.However, The Mirror has reported that the Bad Romance star has been forced to turn down Madge's invite due to her hectic work schedule, quoting her manager Vincent Herbert as saying: "Madonna just called to ask GaGa to perform with her at Yankee Stadium.MTV
"Her manager reached out to us and said Madonna would like GaGa to perform with her."
He added: "She really wished she could do it. She said 'if we do it, let's donate the money to charity'. But GaGa's committed to her own tour."

Andy Bell

Beady Eye 

Download guitarist Andy Bell Speaking to Drowned In Sound, the band's former bass player said that he'd 'love' to see an Oasis reunion happen, commenting:I'd love it to happen. I think that life's too short for it not to happen. But, in reality, do I see it happening? At this point, no I don't. The matter rests entirely with the two brothers. It probably should happen at some point but if they can't make it happen, no one should force them to.

Bell also spoke about playing Oasis material with the Liam Gallagher fronted Beady Eye, and explained that it is something they’ll definitely be doing again in the future. NME"The reason we didn't play Oasis material from the outset was because we wanted Beady Eye to create its own identity," Bell explained.

He continued: "So when we started touring around the world we wanted to get everyone that came to our shows used to the idea that we are a new band, and not just a continuation of the old one, even though when you come and see Beady Eye we look pretty much like Oasis on stage. Except Noel's not there."

In the interview, Bell discussed the possibility of a Ride reunion. The shoegaze band, who formed in 1988, disintegrated in the mid-1990s but briefly reformed in 2001. Of a future reunion, Bell said:

"Well, never say never. We're good friends now. We get together once a year and just have a few pints and whatever. We're all pretty busy with what we're doing, but personally, it would be a shame if we never got to play those songs one more time."

JLS

JLS

PRE-ODER
Evolution on November 5th. The album deftly documents a growth for the boys as we see them mature both personally and sonically with Evolution. The album will be preceded by the single Hottest Girl In The World, released on 21st October.

Evolution sees JLS move in a more urban direction and sees the Brit boys working with a stellar list of American urban producers including hip hop producers The Runners [Rihanna, Chris Brown, Rick Ross] and Midi Mafia [Brandy, Frank Ocean] to legendary R&B hit-maker Rodney Jerkins [TLC, Kanye West, Beyonce]

The lead single Hottest Girl In The World is a sleek, modern club song and shows a maturity and progression, which takes the group out of pop territory. A seamless transition into grown-up R&B, JB, Marvin, Oritsé and Aston go in on the high notes, showcasing their audacious vocals alongside the tight production

One Direction

One Direction
 Download chant with pride on the chorus of their latest single. Given their exponential rise which most recently saw them top the charts in America, those who were expecting them to undergo a dramatic transformation into broody and introspective for their second outing will have already sussed that they're some time away from that yet.DS

Instead, the fivesome have turned from innocent, pre-teen boppers into a lads on tour gang for 'Live While We're Young'. "Come on and let me sneak you out," Liam teases over a playful guitars 'n' synths riff, before Zayn warns: "If we get together, don't let the pictures leave your phone." Save the Nicki Minaj-inspired middle eight and an even cheekier attitude, it's little different from what we've heard before - but when you're the world's biggest boyband, it's no bad thing

Lady Ga Ga

 Lady Gaga 'a slut'.

Download James Molinaro, Borough President of Staten Island in New York City, used the term in reference to the singer openly smoking marijuana on stage at a concert last week in Amsterdam. According to Staten Island Advance - via 
Billboard - he also said the Gaga should be 'hit'. Molinaro said:

"There's Gaga. Here's this, this, I would call her a slut. This slut is influencing many, many children. My niece has two daughters, 12 and 14, they love this woman. Why? Why? So we have a job to do with these actresses, these actors, these ball players."NME

He continued: "They use drugs as it's nothing. We shouldn't praise them. We shouldn't honor them. We should really hit them... To me, she's not an actress, she's a slut, in the pure word, in the pure meaning of the word."

Upon receiving critisicm for his use of the slur, Molinaro defened his comments and stated: "A slut is someone that's immoral or uses improper conduct. That's the interpretation in the Random dictionary. So she's using improper conduct. So she's a slut. What's the big deal about it? Are you excited because she's female? There's males that are sluts too…"

Madeon

Madeon 

Well The City proves he's not quite immortal.  It's more of a straightforwad pop-house track than his previous material, lacking the complexity of Icarus or his Pop Culture mash-up and instead more akin to his remix of Martin Solveig's The Night Out.  The vocals, from Zak Waters and Cass Lowe, feel very commercial.  And it sounds more influenced by Daft Punk than ever.

That said, this is unmistakably Madeon's work.  It may not be his strongest track, but he's still well ahead of the game.Madeon 

Rihanna

Rihanna

Download would be releasing a new album -- her seventh full-length -- in November, the pop superstar has confirmed that the upcoming disc's lead single, "Diamonds," will be unveiled on Wednesday (Sept. 26).

Although Island Def Jam has not given Rih's new album a release date, a press release confirms that the LP will hit stores "before the end of this year." Rihanna has released an album every November for the past three years, starting with "Rated R" in 2009 and continuing with "Loud" and "Talk That Talk" in 2010 and 2011, respectively.Billboard
Diamonds" was produced by Benny Blanco -- who also contributed to Ke$ha's new single "Die Young," out on Tuesday -- and Stargate, the team behind past Rihanna hits like "Only Girl (In The World)," "What's My Name" and "Don't Stop The Music." The release of "Diamonds" concludes a stellar month for Rihanna, whose clip for "We Found Love" won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards and who headlined the first night of the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Friday.    

Palma Violets

Palma Violets 

Four London chancers who got snapped up by Rough Trade, 'Best Of Friends' has been described as sounding like The Liber-Clash, or Echo & The Bunnymen shooting the shit with Black Lips, or the Modern Lovers fighting Julian Casablancas in some 1978-meets-2001 timewarp. Personally I think it's simply one of the catchiest guitar songs in years, and for the good of all indie I hope radio devours it (as it rightly should).NME

BASTILLE

 BASTILLE

Download soaring vocal harmonies and unpretentious personas back when Lyric Lounge Review met them three weeks ago during a secret gig. And we really weren’t convinced when frontman Dan confessed he was “a bit of a loser”.

Yet just days after the storm of success regarding their ‘Bad Blood’ EP release and with memoirs of performances at thirty other festivals this summer ’12 behind them, BASTILLE are making rapid tracks with their announcement of more material. ‘Flaws’ will be re-released as a single, afresh with their favourite East Coast sandscapes and the guidance of director Austin Peters (Think Haim, ‘Forever’). A step-up from the track’s original video footage, with which true hipster Dan ‘D.I.Y’d it’ with his piecing together of Terence Malick’s 1973 classic ‘Badlands’ in his City suburban hut using a budget laptop, BASTILLE can now afford to dream bigger. If the original got half a million YouTube views, we can only anticipate more this time around.

Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding 
Download "Anything Could Happen" is the first new original music from Goulding since her debut album Lights, which was the best-selling debut album of 2012 in the UK.  The track drops just as the single "Lights" from that album continues its improbable domination of the US Top 40 radio chart at #1 for the second consecutive week -- Proving once again that the UK is way ahead in terms of their top 40 sensibilities.
Birdy Nam Nam takes the track, which is already pretty danceable, and adds some Dutch house wines, funky synth stabs and stuttering percussion.
The track is a nice evolution of the original feeling of the song rather than a total reinterpretation.  As dance music and top 40 begins to merge more and more I wonder what the future of remixes will be... easy listening re-works? 

P!nk

P!nk’s 

Download latest album, she calls her husband “an a—hole,” tells him she “hates every single stupid word you say” and describes love itself as “nasty, salty and smelling of armpits.”
Oh, and let’s remember, she did title the disc’s kickoff single, “Blow Me [One Last Kiss].”
Angry much?
If nothing else, these outbursts should cheer the millions of P!nk fans who rely on the star for just this sort of smack-talk. They had cause for concern on that score considering “The Truth About Love” arrives just over a year after the singer gave birth to her first child, and six months after she celebrated her sixth anniversary with husband and motocross star Carey Hart.

Jessica Wright

The accompanying music video sees the reality star dancing on the beach, performing in a nightclub and strutting along the poolside in Marbella, Spain.

"Almost a year ago I went to Liverpool to do some writing; as soon as I heard the music taking shape I immediately came up with the 'Dance All Night' idea and then the song just flowed," Wright explained.
"It's all about when you first meet someone and you get those butterflies and then you go for it on the dancefloor.
"What's weird is as we were writing it I said I could imagine myself on Ocean Beach Club in Marbella dancing to it so to actually do that for my first video was just fantastic.DS

"I have been singing since I was 6 years old and my one ambition in life has been to be a pop singer so words just can't explain how excited I'm feeling right now!"
In the first series of TOWIE, Wright was part of the girl group Lola, but after failing to secure a hit in the charts, the group split.

Dappy

Dappy
Download can be a bit of an unpredictable nutter at times. While that hasn't stopped him from achieving a couple of solo hits during his hiatus from N-Dubz, we're sure many a fellow popstar remains fearful of what wild accusation he'll throw out next - even if the tongue is firmly in cheek. Luckily for them, the target on his latest track centres around his own insecurities.DS

"Am I wrong to think the world's got it in for me?/ And am I right to say I'm longing for some sympathy?" he questions on the TMS-helmed R&B ballad, which hears him vent his inner frustrations over soaring strings and delicate piano tinkles - turning a bravely honest confessional into a finely orchestrated earworm hit. We've said it before, but we'll say it again; despite all his faults and questionable decisions, there's no denying Dappy's talent for a massive pop melody.

Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro
Download Stingin’ Belle is the first taste of it and it doesn’t look a million miles from Only Revolutions, only a little bit weirder according to the band themselves. Speaking about the song and the new record, Simon said:
“It was one of the first songs that really clicked when we were recording. It represents the record and shows how over-the-top  the record is. It might be our last really over the top record. We’re still keeping things musical, still being as weird as we’ve always been.”
The crashing riffs and steady drum beat as seen in That Golden Rule are still present although Simon’s vocals are much more melodic à la Mountains. A nod to their Scottish roots is made in the bagpipe solo around the 2:40 mark. This certainly gives it a bit of a different spin to the band’s previous hits. It’s a great mixture of the things Biffy Clyro are good at -chest belting melodies and furious instrumentals. A catchy chorus guarantees it to be a live hit too.
Let’s hope the rest of the new Biffy album is a remix of some of the biggest successes from the last one. Using what you know works is a great idea but something a little bit different from the next release might be an even better one!

LMFAO

LMFAO
Download have announced that they are parting company in order to focus on solo projects.
The US uncle and nephew duo - Redfoo and Sky Blu - have reportedly gone in "different directions" musically.
Speaking to news.com.au, singer and producer Redfoo said: "I feel like we've been doing this for so long, five or six years. And we're kind of like saying, well, let's just do what's natural and just kind of explore that, instead of like forcing it all the time."MTV
And it's unlikely the pair will be teaming up in the future either.
Redfoo went on: "I think that we naturally just started hanging with two different sets of people, two different crowds, but we're always family.
"He'll always be my nephew, I'll always be his uncle."
The Party Rock Anthem star now plans to launch a fashion line, as well as making more "party music".
He added: "I was really passionate about bringing party music to the world, so I will always be making some kind of party music."

Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons
Download have spoken about their new album 'Babel' and have said that anyone who is cynical about it "can fuck off".

The folk band will release their long-awaited second album on Monday (September 24) and have told The Sun that they believe it will "broaden people's view of them".

Asked if he was worried by criticism, multi-instrumentalist Ben Lovett replied: "The cynics can just all fuck off. We think this new record will attract a different audience, which is really exciting. And broaden people's view of us."

Singer Marcus Mumford also said that he believed 'Babel' was "a mixture" compared to their hugely successful debut 'Sigh No More' and he saw it more as "an advert for their live shows".NME

He said of this: "We wanted our second album to be an advert for our live shows. That's why it's more of a mixture than the first record. I’ll tour until I’m dead as that’s where we are most at home. And I hope that's come across on 'Babel'."

String bassist and guitarist Ted Dwayne also admitted that they'd found the recording "hard" and that to have the record finally coming out was a "relief". He added: I'd be lying if I said we didn't find it hard. That's why it’s a relief to know it’s finished, ready to go and we can concentrate on playing live again."

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber
Download has confessed he wants a long career and doesn't want to be "just another teen heartthrob."
During an interview on USA Today, the 18-year old superstar explained how he wants to silence his haters, by taking his work to "the next level" on his Believe world tour.
The Biebster stated: "I don't want to be just another teen heartthrob. I know some people are waiting for me to fail, thinking, 'Oh, his time's up'.MTV
"Well, I like being the underdog, and this tour is my chance to take things to the next level. I've never put in more hours preparing, because I want [the tour] to be perfect. I want it to be an event."
He added: "I'm with a personal trainer every day. I'm rehearsing every day. I want people to see this tour and go, 'Wow, that was something I didn't expect'."
The Boyfriend singer went on to reveal that he's been watching clips of his idol Michael Jackson's gigs in preparation for his tour, claiming: "I've been watching videos of his concert tours over and over, he's my inspiration."

Dog Is Dead‘

Dog Is Dead‘s
 Download debut album , which is set for release on 8th October 2012. And if this is what we can expect to hear from the indie-pop fivesome, I couldn’t be more excited!
Although this is not the most ingenious musical endeavor I have ever bestowed upon my ears, the up-beat, yet quaint, tune pays homage to friendship and frivolity, playing at the heartstrings of any folk-pop enthusiast. The video features a thoroughly entertaining jaunt in a vintage Chevrolet, through a variety of comedy backdrops, seeing the band mates dressed in StarTrek costume, fighting off zombies and travelling through Mushroom Kingdom. The music reflects the video flawlessly, embodying the perfect windows-down, stereo blasting, road trip melody. With delightfully constructed guitar phrases and a fair bit of cymbal bashing this is festival music at its best. Close your eyes and you can just imagine crowds of people in straw hats, with hands to the sky, chanting along, the sun shining down on their intrinsically happy faces.

Angel Haze

Angel Haze
The World’s Greatest Young Female Rapper, there are many contenders. There’s the reigning champ, Nicki Minaj. Coming up behind are Azealia Banks, Kreayshawn and Iggy Azalea. But New York’s Angel Haze is adamant she stands above the rest, and to celebrate this month’s outrageously excellent ‘Reservation’ EP, she’s curating a bash in the basement of Chinatown staple Santos Party House.

Hitting the stage half an hour late to perform a handful of tracks, the 20-year-old Michigan-born rapper immediately pulls a few girls on stage to join her, yells at five others to get on up there and then hollers for two more. Shyness is not one of her traits. Indeed, Haze has made much in her short career of being sexually provocative (she’s openly bisexual), and tonight she’s wearing neon pink tape covering her breasts, a mesh-black tank top and little else. At one point she declares: “If you don’t like it, get the fuck out of my party!”

Feisty ain’t the half of it. In introducing her recent single ‘New York’, she says: “I moved to New York four months ago,” then I dropped a single saying “I run New York!” But just like Azealia, she knows there’s nothing endearing about modesty. Throughout, her flow is impossibly rapid and venomous as she hurtles through tracks like ‘Werkin’ Girls’ and ‘Hot Like Fire’, stopping only to say: “I don’t even know the words to my own shit, who knows the words?” It’s hard to keep up, and the only people trying are the girls twerking before her. NME

On stage Haze is as powerful, young and dangerous as on record. Every pristine sample is met with the petite songstress at her most aggressive, and on more than one occasion she yelps “MOTHERFUCK YOUR FEELINGS!” to the crowd and demands they sing it back to her. Tonight doubles as Haze’s 21st birthday party, complete with a cake in the corner with the words “congrats on the record!” written in icing. After singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a room full of strangers, yo

Kodaline

Kodaline
Download Irish version of Coldplay, some people have been brave and said they’re the next U2. All we know is they’re bloody brilliant! ‘All I Want’ is the third video to drop from their eagerly anticipated EP that is due for release on the 9th September. With two cracking tracks under their belt, the boys can do no wrong at the moment with ‘All I Want’ another great example of how talented Kodaline are.

Carly Rae Jepsen

Download

Let’s get the big question out of the way first. No, there’s nothing on this album that will rival Call Me Maybe in the startling ubiquity stakes. None of these songs will appear in YouTube parodies about Doctor Who or the Cookie Monster, and none of them have the power to barge into people’s lives – people who don’t like pop songs, people who don’t even have ears – and force them to be aware of its existence.

Not that this means Carly Rae Jepsen’s second album is a failure; very few pop stars have a song as demanding of the attention as Call Me Maybe. In fact, that one hit looms so large that when Tiny Little Bows, the first song, launches into a little “we just met” refrain, the familiarity of the idea reverberates far louder than the sampling and chipmunk-ification of Sam Cooke’s Cupid. Never mind the wilful desecration of the past; surely she has songs that aren’t about a first encounter?

Well yes, yes she does – she has loads. There are innocent songs about crushes, songs about finishing with a boy, songs about a first kiss; songs for would-be lovers who are a bit nervous about how everything works. Guitar String / Wedding Ring describes a love so humble that Carly would fetishise his rusty castoffs as if they were precious metal. It’s a young girl’s song of idealised passion, negating the self and ignoring all unsavoury physical reactions.

Or there’s Beautiful, a skippy acoustic redraft of that One Directionsong with Justin Bieber playing the adoring boyfriend, or possiblyBruno Mars. Even when she plays the Ke$ha dirty stop-out role, in the witless Good Time – featuring Owl City – there’s precious little whisky on hand to clean her teeth. Everything has been wiped so clean even grammar can’t find a foothold.

There are no excursions into dubstep, no guest rappers and no raunchiness, just good clean wholesome party (as in jelly and ice-cream) fun. Kiss is chaste and tailor-made for anyone who findsRihanna too ripe, Lady Gaga too weird and Katy Perry too all-over-the-place. ..BBC

Wi

Grizzly Bear

th opening track Sleeping Ute's initially perplexing time signature and the subsequent psychedelic noises that tear from the speaker to speaker, it's clear success hasn’t mellowed Grizzly Bear.

Not that they've lost any of their sensitivity: the track concludes with a pastoral coda that's as lovely as the music preceding it was lively. But the quartet has refused to sacrifice any of the complexity that provided such rich rewards for repeated listens of their previous outings. Though Shields consequently makes for a frustrating listen at first, it slowly reveals a band confounding expectations with a rare imagination.

Yet Again – its melody nonchalantly addictive, its bridge a loving nod to the sparkle of 80s synth pop, its climax noisily retro-futuristic – and the galloping A Simple Answer – a winning combination of Beach Boysharmonies and Glitter Band stomp – provide the collection’s immediate thrills. But on What’s Wrong, Mellotron and restrained string arrangements drift amidst choral vocals and cymbal splashes before reaching a jazzy, serene finale.

Gun-Shy, meanwhile, is distinguished by intricate arrangements – twinkling guitar lines, keyboards that hint at Supertramp, vocals that sigh like a gentle breeze. Elsewhere, Half Gate builds from dreamy, nostalgic verses into a stormy racket of a chorus.

Shields’ highlight, however, is Sun in Your Eyes, a poised masterpiece in which every note seems carefully calculated to play a role in its repeated, explosive transformation from sparse piano ballad to jubilant anthem. Challenging but accessible, like Jim O’Rourke bonding withBurt Bacharach, it confirms that Grizzly Bear’s measured approach – it’s taken them over three years to follow up Veckatimest – has again paid off.

In fact, Shields pushes and prods at musical boundaries in a similar way to Talk Talk’s 1986BBC masterpiece, The Colour of Spring. It’s an aesthetic rather than musical comparison, but – with songs shifting with casual precision, arrangements that are fluid and brave, and an honest, organic production – there’s a sense throughout that Grizzly Bear are on the cusp of a genuine breakthrough. Where they go next may prove even more intriguing.