LCD Soundsystem's new record 'American Dream' is the album of the week

LCD Soundsystem American Dream (DFA/Columbia) 

Sculpting his huge soundscapes, as ever, from the slinkiest, most hypnotic, dance rhythms Murphy takes the listener on a series of epic journeys here, from the opening Oh Baby with its heady, dream-like, atmosphere.

The Bowie legacy kicks in with a vengeance on Other Voices with its discordant mesh of voices, slick, strung-out electronics and eastern-sounding brass effects. It’s there, too, on the brilliant Change Yr Mind, in its bleak opening line (“I ain’t seen anyone for days”) and a sound straight out of Bowie’s Scary Monsters era.

The two central tracks here, though, bring Murphy’s own ability to clash together all sorts of unpredictable efforts right at the fore. How Do You Sleep? – built from a raw, rumbling, electronic drum beat – and Tonite, which tears into the warped values of modern life with a vengeance and exposes the emptiness underneath:

“You hate the idea that you’re wasting your youth that you stood in the background… until you got older.” One of the albums of the year so far.

Jake Bugg Hearts that Strain (Virgin EMI)

There’s a small, ripe intimacy to Bugg’s voice that somehow lends itself to melodrama. Parts of this superb new album, particularly the country-style cheese of This Time and The Man On Stage, with its dramatic piano intro and quirkily old-fashioned tension, recall the great and underrated Gene Pitney.

Elsewhere Bugg excels at a sort of James Taylor-style West Coast breeziness (How Soon The Dawn) and Beatlesy moroseness (In The Event Of My Demise). The sense of adventure is all Bugg’s own, though: if there were any justice he’d be selling as many albums as Ed Sheeran. 

VERDICT: 4/5

Hue & Cry Pocketful Of Stones (Blairhill Records)

A tendency towards po-faced over-wordiness has long hampered Pat and Gregory Kane’s pop ambitions. But they are a lot less uptight here. The Way She Flies is sad and compassionate, Beautiful Construction a wistful slice of band autobiography and When We’re Not Strong a superb arrangement over bossa nova rhythms. Pat Kane’s epic croon is magnificent throughout. 

VERDICT: 4/5/

OMD The Punishment Of Luxury (100% Records)

A huge improvement on their last album, 2013’s English Electric, OMD turn in their finest track in recent years here. Isotype, with its swooping synth lines, has the wide-eyed wonder that defined the band’s classic singles. Almost as impressive is As We Open, We Close, with a wonderfully yearning vocal from Andy McCluskey. 

VERDICT: 3/5