Hailing from New York, Drums are a 4 man band who came together from the short lived band disturbingly named Goat Explosion. Now well distanced from their bovine blasting past, this Brooklyn based band has released a self titled album which comes hot off the heels of their recent tour of the UK.

Their unique flavour of West Coast surf riffs and infectious lyrics has struck a chord with audiences and critics alike. Drums were shortlisted as one of the 15 music acts for the BBC Sound of 2010 and were named as one of Clash Magazine’s top tips for 2010. Drums are signed under the Moshi Moshi record label, joining such acts as Hot Chip, Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires, Kate Nash and Late of the Pier.

The future looks bright for this young quartet as 2010 will see them support the ever popular Kings of Leon in their upcoming Hyde Park concerts.

Until PRIMARY COLOURS’ “Who Can Say,” it’s unclear if the Horrors planned on reverting back to their Cramps-influenced garage-goth. Up until that point, it’s all Bauhaus goth-meets-second-wave shoegaze. But the British upstarts have every right to add a wrinkle or two, and taken on its own, PRIMARY COLOURS is a vicious little slab of agit-noise, even if indebted to influences like My Bloody Valentine and Love & Rockets. Singer Faris Badwan carries the group through dissonant rippers like “New Ice Age,” sounding like a human megaphone of misanthropy. COLOURS will surprise fans of their earlier EPs, but is ultimately a more mature and evocative release.

The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and whatever musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle’s work remains remarkably consistent. An impressive achievement, really, since THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME is his umpteenth album (his 16th, actually, and sixth for 4AD), and if an album where every track is named after a Bible verse looks like it’s going to be a radical departure for Darnielle, rest assured, it isn’t. This isn’t some praise & worship affair, but is instead a considered treatise on the use and meaning of faith in our lives, and it’s a theme Darnielle has visited frequently in his past work, and it isn’t the first time he’s used Bible verses to provide narrative structure to a song, either. He’s always done that here and there on his projects, but this is the first time a whole album from him has used Bible verses as an over-arching scheme. Other than that, THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME is business as usual, with Darnielle musing on the need to believe and keep faith in something as the pressures, horrors, and oddities of life in the 21st century flash by at the speed of a keypad. This isn’t a religious album in any normal sense of the word — Darnielle certainly isn’t preaching here or trying to point anyone to Heaven or any other place — but it is a deeply spiritual one.

Set List is the first Frames’ release under the Irish roustabouts’ domestic distribution deal with Anti, in preparation for a proper studio full-length. It makes sense, the live album release — the Frames have always made their name on-stage, and Set List will disappoint neither the ardent fan nor curious newcomer. Glen Hansard is a frontman of the beaded, bloody sweat variety, and his mates never get tired of amping the emotion with heart tingling wails of guitar and shrill fiddle. The crowd never tires of it, either — they shout along with the righteous rock release of “Revelate,” hesitate in hushed anticipation for the nearly nine-minute novella “Santa Maria,” and coo like contented schoolchildren during the subtle rushes of “Lay Me Down.” Hansard proves to be a storyteller of the classic Irish variety, all unassuming humor and prescient asides. His lengthy intro to “What Happens When the Heart Just Stops” (from 2001’s For the Birds) is roundabout hilarious, and he lets it fade perfectly into some scattered opening chords before building the song to an absolutely elegiac moment of release. The rambling, deadpan folk-pop of “Rent Day Blues” offers a bit of a reprieve from this sort of soul-baring, but that’s only to set up a pair of screeching hymns in “Pavement Tune” and “The Stars Are Underground.” As the Frames are criminally underappreciated in the States, Set List can’t quite avoid the patches of second-generation staleness that almost always taint live albums. In other words, you had to be there. But it still substantiates the Frames’ reputation for punctuating passion with peels of feedback, making it recommended listening for the initiated and novice alike. ~ Johnny Loftus

Cinematic and moody, celebratory and hedonistic, the Leicester-based band’s third full-length album touches many bases, from lurching, Vaudevillian dramatics (”Thick as Thieves”) to emotive, Stones-y ballads (”Happiness,” “Ladies and Gentlemen Roll the Dice”) to Madchester-derived disco-punk workouts (first single “Vlad the Impaler,” “Fire,” “Underdog”). But the stand-out may be the previously released garage-raver “Fast Fuse,” which takes a straight-ahead rocking approach and shows off guitarist Sergio Pizzorno’s terse but effective riffing.

Chan Marshall’s gorgeous, evocative albums as Cat Power have gained even more critical and popular attention than her idiosyncratic on-stage behavior (and that’s saying quite a bit). MOON PIX (1998) and YOU ARE FREE (2004), the two albums of all-original material preceding 2006’s THE GREATEST, were spellbinding affairs that pitted Marshall’s haunting voice against a stirring m‚lange of spare, low-key indie rock and atmospheric balladry. THE GREATEST, however, one of Marshall’s most focused and impressive efforts, surpasses those two superb albums.

The album is characterized by elaborate horn and string arrangements and a warm, polished feel, much of which stems from the old-school Memphis soul musicians Marshall has backing her (guitarist Teenie Hodges and bassist Leroy Hodges, both of Al Green fame, appear, as does MGs replacement drummer Steve Potts, among others). The sweet, earthy sheen may lack some of the raggedness that pleased Marshall’s indie fans, yet the artist has lost none of her incisive songwriting ability, whether on moving narratives (the title track), countrified lopes (”Could We”), or spare meditations on loneliness (”Where is My Love”). More immediately accessible that previous Cat Power releases, THE GREATEST is no less distinctive or engaging: it sounds less like selling out than buying in.

After gaining hordes of enthusiastic fans worldwide with their debut ALL WE KNOW IS FALLING, Paramore is poised to breakthrough to new heights with their newest offering RIOT! Their sophomore album, produced by David Bendeth, includes the first single “Misery Business”.

Vampire Weekend have been a band of interest ever since Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa came out. The band’s name originated from the lead singer’s short film, and from the looks of their trailer, we can all be happy with their choice to stick to audio. With that said, their personality comes across with strength, and with their tour with The Shins and their release of their second album Contra this year has made them a big name around towns of musical savvy.

If you listen carefully to this album, you’ll hear the energy of The Strokes, the indie sound of Belle and Sebastian, and you’ll realise they seem to have this newfound British rock that has taken the charts over. Hidden within their tracks is a sense of intelligence and wit that adds to the oomph that the percussion and the pleasant electric guitar effects, all held together with a sincere soul.

Along with being at the forefront of the indie-music scene, New-York band The National has extremely high profile fans. Their song Fake Empire was used by Obama during his 2008 Presidential campaign and the group played alongside legendary composer Phillip Glass in one of Glass’ enormous benefit concerts.

High Violet, The National’s 5th studio continues on from the unmitigated success of Boxer (2007) and is for all intents and purposes “a masterpiece.” Lead singer Matt Berninger‘s vocals are as deep and haunting as ever, while they are made all the richer by guest supporting vocalists Sufjan Stevens and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).

This is an album you can lose yourself listening to from beginning to end. High Violet reminds us that beautiful music is still being made and that The National is at the epicentre of it all.