“Hologram” by These New Puritans

Album: Hidden

Just two years ago, the band from Southend— a UK borough set where the Thames meets the North Sea— took a stab at Gang of Four rhythms and Mark E. Smith vitriol. Their debut album, Beat Pyramid, made interesting uses of negative space and some of the record’s spartan tracks turned up as killer remixes. But if anything, TNP were late to the post-punk revival party and about as likely to author a grandiose and triumphant concept album as Glasvegas. And yet Hidden is a strikingly inventive and original rock record. Granted, nothing is ever completely new in pop music, but the album freshly synthesizes older ideas (post-rock textures, no-wave skronk, Steve Reich-influenced phasing) and current trends (dubstep’s delay, chart pop’s stentorian synth lines, global beats). You have to listen really hard to hear any guitars -pitchfork

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Who Knows / Who Knows REMIX by Sexy Mathematics

“She’s Spoken For” by You Say Party! We Say Die!

Album: XXXX

That message, though overwhelmingly positive, is married to melodies that are antithetically moody, melancholic, and minor-key. So while singer Becky Ninkovic sounds besotted, she layers lines about the redemptive and uplifting power of love against sinister synths and the hard edges of needling, repetitive guitar riffs. YSP!WSD! have long been compared to Yeah Yeah Yeahs— after all, both are bands fronted by strong-voiced frontwomen who possess banshee caterwauls, and both are enamored of confrontational yet danceable rhythms and arty, aggressive riffs. And much like how Karen O and her crew reinvented themselves as louche, grooving synth-poppers on It’s A Blitz, YSP!WSD! have similarly overhauled themselves for XXXX. Comfortable now on gentle, prettily sung slow-burners like “Heart of Gold” as well as on throttling, thickly percussive barnburners like “Cosmic Wanship Avengers”, YSP!WSD! have made something unexpectedly tender out of darkly colored and often heavily propulsive material. - pitchfork

“This Momentary” by Delphic

Album: Acolyte

On “Doubt”, a recent single, multitracked men’s voices play off against bittersweet synths, harking back to Klaxons’s “Gravity’s Rainbow”. Dreamy and clubby in equal measure, “This Momentary” repeats the trick. Delphic might be soberly attired Mancunians rather than daft neon progressives, but the bloodline from Myths… to Acolyte is bright and clear… - guardian

“Thank You” by The Brunettes

Album: Paper Dolls

Blippy electronica is experimented with in ‘The Crime Machine’, with almost-disco syncopation and keyboard stabs. Less plush orchestra and more machine-manufactured fun, the organic quality is retained in the crunchy guitar and bass sounds, and this new dynamic continues to push The Brunettes’ boundaries. ‘Bedroom Disco’ is an out-of-kilter electronic masterpiece incorporating Kraftwerk precision - artrocker