Lambchop
This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You)
(City Slang)
★★★★★

IN 2016 critics’ darlings Lambchop took a massive step away from the altcountry genre they had long been associated with, delving into electronica on their FLOTUS album, something lead singer and songwriter Kurt Wagner also explored with his side project HeCTA.

This (Is What I Wanted To Tell you), the Nashville band’s 13th record, continues in this vein with Wagner’s auto-tuned and almost watery vocals sitting on top of slowed down, late-night beats and synths.

It’s a mesmerising concoction, with waves of soulful electronica coursing through The December-ish You, while the title track’s instrumentation sits somewhere between skittish contemporary jazz and Kid A-era Radiohead.

There are nods to their hometown’s deep musical roots too, with musical legend Charlie McCoy contributing harmonica and Calexico’s Jacob Valenzuela on lonesome trumpet.

Inventive, slyly humorous and melancholic, Lambchop have struck gold once again.

Ex Hex
It’s Real
(Merge Records)
★★★★

COMPRISED of Mary Timony (Wild Flag and Helium) slaying it on guitar, Betsy Wright on bass and Laura Harris on drums, US band Ex Hex have gloriously expanded their sound from the garage punk-pop of their impressive debut on their second record.

A kind of “victory song,” according to Wright, Rainbow Shiner revolves around Def Leppard circa Hysteria, with monster-sized riffs, stadium rock-style drumming and hooks galore. The infectious energy and song quality is consistent throughout, as are the 1980s-sounding production values.

Taking the foot off the gas just a little, the addictive Want It To Be True seems to outline a summer romance, while Another Dimension verges on being a power ballad.

Terrifically exciting, fans of legendary US indie guitar bands like Belly and Throwing Muses will adore the album. It’s Real is very much The Real Deal.

Jess Ribeiro
Love Hate
(Barely Dressed Records)
★★★

FOR her third record, Australian singer-songwriter Jess Ribeiro explores the idea of love, having discovered it often has seven stages in Arabic literature — attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession and, er, death.

Produced by Ben Edwards at his New Zealand studio, musically it is indebted to New York bands like Velvet Underground and Blondie. The pulsing Chair Stare, for example, exemplifies this harder and almost clinical sound, while the Berlin-recorded Goodbye Heart pays homage to Suicide’s Alan Vega, who had died the day before the track was laid down.

Interestingly, three vignettes are spaced across the album — short snippets of songs that break up the more intense “real” numbers.

It’s an impressive set, with the swagger and confidence of Ribeiro’s powerful vocals and her guitar playing bringing to mind Rosali’s recent indie-rock work.