When Vampire Weekend first burst onto the scene in 2007 with their peppy and preppy A-Punk sound, many would’ve been forgiven for thinking their mix of afrobeat with angular pop hooks was destined for that most ignominious of destinations: the brief but forgotten zeitgeist.  Their debut album fulfilled on the promise of the early EPs and become one of the records of the year but it was never clear how their sound would evolve.  That became relatively clear on their follow-up album Contra, a solid record which did little to diminish nor grow the band’s scope or reputation.

On Modern Vampires Of The City, however, Ezra Koenig and team lift that burden spectacularly with a profound and rich album.  It’s an album full of great pop tunes but the variety and maturity of the songwriting on show here is deeper than the first two records led you to conclude.  It’s more honest and heartfelt, not ashamed to slow things down at times or crystallise the melodies without getting too cheesy.  A potent realisation of Vampire Weekend’s talents, this is a great album.

Deerhunter have always been a band that I’m just on the verge of loving.  Microcastle and Halcyon Digest never quite made it to constant repeat status, despite both being excellent albums.  And on Monomania they seem to have managed the same trick.  After a few lineup changes in the intervening years between albums, they’ve come back with a slight but welcome regression in their sound.  Monomania is a raw record full of sharp guitars and Cox’s rasping voice, something they call “nocturnal garage” - an ode to the darkness, also evident in the sleeve art.  Neon Junkyard, Leather Jacket II and The Missing for a great crackling start to proceedings and the night glow remains throughout.  And so whilst I remain teetering on the edge of adulation, it’ll either be that residual slowburn or the sheer volume of quality now residing in their discography that pushes me over the edge.  

If Muchacho only contained Song For Zula, the single that preceded the full-lengther, it would be majestic.  That song alone (surely a contender for one of 2013’s best) is soaring and quietly epic, managing to sound simultaneously striking and vulnerable.  That’s Matthew Houck’s talent and Muchacho is very much a continuation of his previous steps into the realm of sumptuous country rock, begun in earnest on 2010’s Here’s To Taking It Easy.  Alongside the earnest heartbreak, however, there’s also the stomp (on two-edged tracks such as Ride On / Right On and A Charm / A Blade) and the two sit warmly side-by-side on this richly produced record.

In the modern music era, when 9 out of 10 bands sound roughly the same and it’s hard to differentiate between them all as their records are pushed out fast enough to sate the desire of rabid blogs and fans, it’s refreshing to hear a band like Savages who’ve not only taken the time to create a sound, image and manifesto but fiercely stick to it.  It’s a manifesto of brutal ferocity, honesty and a rejection of anything that disconnects you from what really matters.  Their live shows push this manifesto onto the crowd too where audience members are told to get into the show or get out - no camera phones allowed.

All that on its own would be an incomplete part of the overall artistic performance, or just bluster, if it wasn’t backed up by the music.  But their music not only defends the manifesto but emboldens it and grabs you, forcing you to listen.  Whilst their influences are clear - Gang Of Four, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus amongst others whilst singer Jenny Beth is more than a facsímile of Ian Curtis - they are never derivative, moulding musical inspiration with cinematic and literary references into something powerfully captivating.  Something uniquely savage, one might say.

For a band that’s been together little over a year, they sound amazingly tight, even moreso in concert.  Individually, they’re superb musicians with Jenny Beth the perfect, engaging vessel for their message.  This is a thrilling debut album, one that dares to stoke the fire and add intelligence back into the rock world, a distillation of their power and their manifesto.  As such, it might be a pivotal album for the times, encouraging listeners to refocus away from the disposable or ephemeral and towards music as a powerful medium and serious art.

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Light Up Gold is a hard album to write a review for because it seems, although not widely known (yet), nearly all the things to say about them have already been written, either directly or vicariously. Cut and paste a cliche, a list of bands they sound like and there you have it. But the great thing about this record is you don’t need to read all that - it’s a very accessible first album - just turn it on and enjoy. It has all the ingredients of a defining cult classic (witty lyrics, laid back style, lo-fi production) and mines a rich vein of influences latching onto the sonic angst of youth throughout the ages. Whilst it might yet become that classic, in our cluttered era of music releases it has to fight amongst the crowd. But then again, in another era it might never have made it out (the original cutting was self-released) so we should be thankful for that. Even if they burn out after this, Parquet Courts will have contributed a very good debut album to the canon of indie rock.

Of all the troubled genii in the world, Graham Coxon would be up there with Brian Wilson for me (less troubled perhaps, but no less inspiring) as his guitar skills soundtracked a large part of my adolescence.  Shortly after refreshing his acquaintance with Damon and co in the Blur reunion (blistering live shows and brilliant EP included) he appears refreshed with a great new solo album.  A+E marks one of the high points of his career with a newfound purposefulness to his songwriting - gone are the low fidelity sketches of songs from his more folkier tendencies replaced by tightly packed and well-constructed songs that manage to bundle up all that bittersweet misery and occasional outrage into several perfect pieces of pop.

On HotSpotMusic, every day in December is a Sunday.  That’s not just because the log fires are beginning to burn and turkeys loom ominously from Thanksgiving to Xmas.  No, it’s because it’s the time of year again where we pick up on some of the records missed during the year and nostalgically give praise…. whilst slyly contemplating where, or if, they’ll end up in the end of year list.

So, on the first day of Missed Mass, HotSpotMusic gives to you the jolly, present-giving man of the south: Mr Jack White.  His eclectic solo album, ostensibly his first as a solo artist but full of guests, is the record he claims to have always wanted to have made.  Some of them, such as Sixteen Salteens or I’m Shakin’, are classic White - rock and roll played straight up and played to strengths.  But he stretches out on other tracks and explores a wide variety of sounds, concepts and themes.  And hidden in this melange of musical might is the essence of the man himself; so many ideas postulating themselves around a wild and beguiling listen.