24 Hours In A Disco by Kiki Gyan
Soundway
Kiki Gyan was born in Ghana and as a teenager in the early ‘70s found employment as a musician, he traveled to London as part of rock group Osibisa. Gyan was soon cutting his own records in the flourishing disco genre. This compilation features only seven tracks but they are all epic disco jams. Aside from the funky title track there’s Disco Dancer, Keep on Dancing, Disco Train – all forgotten gems. Gyan made a fortune, but lost it all to a drug habit and ended up as a vagrant back in Ghana. He died of an AIDS related illness in 2004. – Graeme Watson
The Late Blue by Gypsy and the Cat
Alsation Music
If I could describe Gypsy & The Cat’s latest offering The Late Blue, in one sentence I would say it’s the perfect soundtrack to a lazy summer Sunday session. Jam-packed with dreamy chill-wave delights such as Broken Kites, Soul Kiss and the very Cure-esque Bloom, band mates Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers have produced an album to get lost in here. Main single Sorry is easily on par with the Melbournian duo’s other major singles Time to Wander and The Piper’s Song from their 2010 epic Gilgamesh. The Late Blue is loaded with chilled-out indie gems, including the interestingly titled Zombie World. – Troy Treeby
Rebirth by Jimmy Cliff
Universal
Jimmy Cliff returns with his first album in 8 years, produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid, who is also behind some of P!nk’s most successful hits. Cliff presents 12 tunes of sun drenched reggae / ska goodness, the perfect soundtrack to a summer’s day. Included are covers of The Clash’s Guns of Brixton and a sweet version of Rancid’s Ruby Soho. The track One More, which is featured in two different versions, is an irresistible sing-a-long. This may not be Cliff’s greatest album ever, but it’s good from start to finish. – Graeme Watson
The Origin of Love by Mika
Casablanca
British pop singer Mika’s third album is a lot less flamboyant than his last two, with no falsetto squeals. He describes it as ‘classy pop’ and has collaborated with new writers and producers. As hinted by the title track, the album is all about love and is no doubt inspired by his current boyfriend. In the opening track, his over-the-top exuberance is like a prayer of thanks, as is Underwater. Most of the time Mika’s happiness is reflected in many bouncy melodies such as I Only Love You When I’m Drunk and the catchy reverberating Make You Happy. – Lezly Herbert
Nuggets: Antipodean Interpolations of the First Psychedelic Era by Various Artists
Warner Music
The first Nuggets compilation released in ‘72 focussed on psychedelic garage rock from the ‘60s. Recently there’s been an Australian version and this companion pieces sees new Australian psychedelic bands cover songs from the previous era. It’s a killer collection with 18 tracks of woozy, hazy, grizzly rock ‘n roll. Perth band Pond supply their take on Hey Joe. While Baptism of Uzi’s version of Baby Please Don’t Go is dark and foreboding with a splash of electronica. Velociraptor’s version of The Electric Prunes hit I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night is another highlight. Great music for a road trip. – Graeme Watson
Red by Taylor Swift
Big Machine
Taylor Swift’s latest album is a transition from the teen pop that made her famous. As she reminds us, she is 22 and has learnt a lot about life from her loves and loses over the last two years. The red relationships are the ones that go from zero to warp speed before hitting the wall and exploding – ‘like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street’. The songs are catchy; particularly We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Even when reflecting on miserable moments of her amorous pursuits, she still sounds upbeat. – Lezly Herbert
Lucifer in Dub by Peaking Lights
Domino
Peaking Light’s album Lucifer was one of 2012’s great underappreciated albums, now the band have brought out a second version, a dub reinterpretation that takes the bands trippy velvet songs into a moodier and reverb drenched world. It’s not a radical reworking, more a natural progression – this is a band that really suits being given a dub treatment. If you liked the original album this is a great companion piece. It’s not a total chillfest though – the beats keeps on – this could be a dance floor favourite as much as a wig out favourite. – Graeme Watson
Ministry of Sound: The Annual 2013
MOS
Electrified, digitised, sexualised, and definitely energised. Without a doubt this is full of electro-house club bangers. From the moment you press play you are delivered a remix of Avicci’s Silhouettes that is guaranteed to put a smile on your dial. From there, the uplifting, hair raising sounds of digital synths produced by some of the worlds best DJs continues to keep you in a mood that can only really be followed by a night on the town. This album receive 10 out of 10 from me (a first for a MOS Annual album) but it also includes a number of tracks that have not been beaten to death on the club scene, ensuring a fresh sound to your new summer. – TimBee
Drones by Nico Muhly
Bedroom Community
Nico Muhly is probably best known for his work in orchestrating music for Antony and the Johnsons, collaborating with Bjork, Grizzly Bear, Jonsi and even Usher. Aside this pop work Muhly is also an acclaimed classical composer who has work with Philip Glass and some of the world leading orchestras and opera companies. Drones is challenging, at times it luscious, but then it slips into heavy sounds, glitchy syths and sharp violins. If you like interesting music this has moments of great beauty and deserves repetitive listens. – Graeme Watson
Future Sound of Summer Nervo and the Stafford Brothers
EMI
An album jammed so full of well known DJs and remixes, one would think this album was simply a snap-shot of the ARIA top 50 club charts which has then been mixed by NERVO & Stafford Brothers. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, in fact the production and format of this album is somewhat flawless, and if you are the type who likes to go out and listen to tunes you can sing along to, then this might very well be your summer ‘must have’. Swedish House Mafia, Deadmaus, Steve Aoki, Will.I.Am and Georgi Kay are all on offer within the first 30 mins of the first CD, and not much is different on CD two. – TimBee
