Six Pack - January 2009

While the natural commercial slowdown of January has enabled a clutch of new acts to conquer the charts – we’re looking at you, Lady GaGa and White Lies – the month’s been more productive than expected on a quality new album front.

So it’s not been as easy as anticipated cutting the month’s best down to a half-dozen for our monthly Six-Pack refresher piece – your regular reminder of the albums you should be getting into your ears at your next convenience.

But cut we have, resulting in some tasty sonic treats all ready for plucking from the fruit tree known on the high street as HMV. It’s the only one left open, is that right?

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Animal Collective (pictured)
‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’
(Domino)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “This is Animal Collective’s most satisfying release yet. It teases and tickles, but delivers too. It’s a float out to sea, an endless horizon, postcard tropicalia on a compact disc. Will it take them properly overground, and onto the radars of those whose idea of an alternative band is The Killers? Probably not, but here’s hoping its inevitable multiple rave reviews earn Animal Collective a bevy of fans anew, coming together to celebrate a career of boundless creativity.”
(Read the full review HERE)

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Mr Oizo
‘Lambs Anger’
(Because)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “For want of more apt vocabulary, this album is absolutely shit hot. ‘Lambs Anger’ is without a doubt Mr Oizo's most complete work to date, and perfectly defines the unpredictable flair of the understated Frenchman. Forever more will the sight of an infuriated small sheep make me think... time to dance.”
(Read the full review HERE)

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Antony And The Johnsons
‘The Crying Light’
(Rough Trade)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “‘The Crying Light’ won’t be the commercial success ‘I Am A Bird Now’ was, but you sense its maker cares not for financial gain beyond that necessary to continue his path. Antony Hergarty pursues his art at his pace only, and if the end products of the future are as wonderful as this collection, long may his schedule sit out of step with the music world’s instant-hit fixation.”
(Read the full review HERE)
(Read our exclusive interview with Antony Hegarty HERE)

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Telepathe
‘Dance Mother’
(V2)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “…Without warning, an emotional warmth is felt through the neon blue superstructure. The lyrics take on a greater meaning, what seemed like inconsequential wordplay transforming into poetic musings on everything from escapism to (fictional) murder. The girls’ flights of fantasy come into clear view, and suddenly you’re there with them. One soon wishes to be swept away to this otherworldly land they inhabit with such angelic elegance and devilish imagination.”
(Read the full review HERE)
(Read our exclusive interview with Telepathe HERE)

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The Phantom Band
‘Checkmate Savage’
(Chemikal Underground)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “This is an album to really sink into, but to not think too hard about if you’re after the envelopment it can offer. It feels comforting, reassuring in a way – a reminder than the best new music need not be new music, without identifiable precedent. It can be everything you already love, and no more.”
(Read the full review HERE)

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Franz Ferdinand
‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’
(Domino)
Reads the ClashMusic.com review: “Sitting idle since 2005, ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’ is an album long-delayed. Sessions with the slick pop machine Xenomania ended badly, forcing the group to spend longer on the album than they anticipated. But it proves to be the band’s most complete work to date – worth the wait, and in all honesty better than we could ever have hoped for.”
(Read the full review HERE)
(Read our exclusive interview with Franz Ferdinand HERE)

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February’s shaping up to be a cracking month, too, with releases from Lily Allen (reviewed HERE), Harmonic 313, Morrissey (reviewed HERE), Empire Of The Sun, Mike Bones, Howling Bells, Sky Larkin and more sure to be contesting these six spots four weeks from now.

‘Til then, happy listening.