Incubus
If Not Now, When?
Sony
The next songs traverse pop, punk and hardcore before the very odd In The Company of Wolves, which begins as a ballad, but halfway through turns into… an embarrassing cover of Porishead’s Sour Times? After this, the simple and up-tempo Switchblade is a welcome respite, before Tomorrow’s Food brings things down a notch with its ill-advised foray into philosophy (“we are all tomorrow’s food… today”)...

Trembling Bells
The Constant Pageant
Border Music
The cover art, which features a castle, a greyhound’s head, a bull-dragon and a rooster-swan does little to hint at the lunacy within. Sounding as though they’ve been influenced in equal parts by The Pogues, very early Marianne Faithful, The Last Night Of The Proms, Jefferson Airplane and Morris Dancing...

Imaginary Cities
Temporary Resident
Shock
Temporary Resident is an astounding and diverse debut of considerable depth. Keep your eyes and ears on Imaginary Cities...

Reviews for The 13th Floor. Click the link to read the full review.

The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War
Round Trip Mars / Universal
Auckland-based five piece The Vietnam War is an incongruous little band. From their name (are they referencing war or peace? Internal conflict? Drug culture? 60s music? Or did they just think it sounded cool?) to the blinking, flower-festooned owl on the cover of their self-titled debut album...

Nicky Minaj
Pink Friday
Universal
Even on Right Thru Me (which appears to be some kind of love song) the phrase “how do you do that shit” is repeated unromantically throughout. Other lyrics make you suspect that Minaj has made several poor relationship choices. Elsewhere she rhymes “terminator” with “terminate her”, at once displaying poor rhyming skills and a very bad attitude...

Tom Vek
Leisure Seizure
Universal
Sounding like the punk, British younger cousin of Luscious Jackson and the more sophisticated older brother of Pikachunes, Vek waited six years to unleash Leisure Seizure after the release of debut album We Have Sound...

Battles
Gloss Drop
Border Music
the album occasionally tries too hard, but is mostly as fascinating and shiny as the complimentary poster of pink paint entrails.

Reviews for The 13th Floor. Click the link to read the full review.

Skying
The Horrors
(XL)
Faris sounds like a sexy boyfriend who’s going to break your heart. “When you wake up you will find me”, he croons, as though he’s still lying in your dirty and disheveled sheets. Somehow you don’t believe him...

City and Colour
Little Hell
(Border Music)
On final track Hope For Now you are treated to Green singing over a gentle piano riff, sounding like Stevie Wonder on downers until the screaming guitar and heavy metal cello take the song off on a journey down Led Zeppelin lane...

In Dread Response
Embers in the Spiritless Void
(Deadboy)
A quick glance at the song titles reveals the obsessions of this band – Apophis is the name of an asteroid that was predicted to strike the Earth in 2029, Kerith Ravine references the canyon that God told Elijah to rest in to find peace, and La Fin Absolute Du Monde translates to ‘the absolute end of the world’. In fact this track is one of the absolute highlights of the album – an evocative instrumental, it’s reminiscent of Eric Clapton’s score for the Edge of Darkness miniseries...