Rock

The Hanging Stars
Just A Day
Vinyl Junkie Ltd VJCD296; LP: VJLP296

For their fifth album, London's Hanging Stars returned to Edwyn Collins' Clashnarrow studio in Scotland and recorded using vintage gear. The result is full of chiming, rippling guitars and sumptuous vocal harmonies on vacation from the West Coast of America. Reference points include The Byrds, Big Star and Teenage Fan Club, whose bassist Gerard Love co-produced. The keyboards, including twinkling celeste, on 'Sister Of The Sun' evoke late-period Velvet Underground with added sun tan, and the punchy drumming and distorted guitars on 'Show Me The Way' demonstrate the group's more powerful side – as warm and muscular as a beach bum. Songs are top notch and it's an excellent summer album. Bask in its glow. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

BCMC
Stash
Drag City DC976CD; LP: DC976LP

The American duo of guitarist Bill MacKay and keyboard player Cooper Crain conjure up a multi-stylistic, part composed, part improvised collaboration, with influences from '60s psychedelia, to jazz, folk and more avant forms. Sometimes Crain's keyboard lines evoke the hazy wafts of Rick Wright's Farfisa organ in early Pink Floyd or Terry Riley-esque flourishes, and MacKay's fluid lines incorporate sweet picking and a little grit. 'Stella Soliteria' finds an Iberian melody punctuated by sections of grandiose organ chords and fuzz guitar, and on 'Kaleidosmoke', with effects pedals at the ready, they intertwine to dazzling effect around a sequenced bassline. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Family Stereo
The Thread
Bella Union BELLA 1708CD; LP: BELLA1708LP

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say, and so it's no surprise that 25-year-old Blake Watt, son of Everything But The Girl's Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn, is possessed of a light but strong singing voice – not unlike his dad's at that age. But he's already created an individual musical identity of clear and direct songs with allusive lyrical narratives, pared down structures and deft arrangements. The title track has a pastoral chamber feel with lush vocals, harmonies and keyboards, and over brisk drums; 'Fault Lines' features delicious guitar picking and distant synths, which gives it a depth and otherness typical of this impressive debut. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Tricky
Different When It's Silent
False Idols FI2CD; LP: FI2LP

Tricky's last solo album, Fall To Pieces, was compelling but short and cryptic, and now feels like a preparatory sketchbook for this fully realised statement. Ever since 1995's Maxinquaye, the artist and producer's highly individual trip-hop style has mixed up rap and a lexicon of other influences – here it's lean funk and rock with melodic basslines, keyboards, electronics and some steely guitar chords. Tricky has perennially employed a lead singer and here Mitch Sanders' sweet soulful falsetto takes centre stage. Tricky shadows him with typically sinister, muted raps, which eventually emerge into the open on 'Radana', framed by sampled strings. MB

Sound Quality: 80%