May Release Round-Up

By Rich Morris

So May arrived and it actually felt like summer, with heat and sun and everything. Could the music world match nature for hotness and brightness? Well, get ready to shout 'synergy!', because yes, it could. Once again, it felt like the month was pretty much owned by a resurgent Sub Pop. The venerable label restated its importance to any doubters with album releases from Niki & the Dove,Husky, King Tuff and current indie royalty Beach House who returned with the much-praised Bloom.

Elsewhere, we could get out literate indie-rock jollies from The Wind-Up Birds and Citizens!, or get our stoner weirdness on listening to Alice, the Latitudes Session release from Grumbling Fur. If that wasn't enough, the month also saw the return of big hitters such as Damon Albarn (again), Regina Spektor and The Subways. However, just as the onset of summer heralds the annoyance of wasps flying about the place, we suffered the musical equivalent with the return of another short-arse, noisy pest. Yes, Jack Black was back with another album from Tenacious Bloody D, the hilariously (?) misspelled Rize of the Fenix. And they comedy and music don't mix.