Gulp
Game Love (ELK)
Anyone wondering what the various members of Super Furry Animals are up to has clearly got way too much time on their hands, and yet a quick trawl of the internet reveals a lot of love for bassist Guto Pryce's new psych-folk outfit Gulp. Seems he met Scots singer Lindsey Leven at a psychedelic disco in Cardiff and, next thing they knew, they'd recorded two cuts of lush, tipsy pop, Game Love and Diamonds In The Sky, whose spooked demeanour suggests The Wicker Man getting fresh with Nancy Sinatra. That's Gulp: easy to swallow, hard to forget.
Gotye
Eyes Wide Open (Island)
The first of many Gotye singles that aren't Somebody That I Used To Know barrels along meaningfully like Sting fronting Coldplay, a stirring eco-pocalypse yarn in which Wally De Backer worries that it might be too late for mankind to save the planet. Please note that this was a minor hit in Australia long before he released 2012's biggest-selling single, so presumably his main concern these days is not the size of his carbon footprint but rather what colour helicopter to get for his yacht.
Jessie Ware
110% (PMR)
110% should be a summer smash for Brixton diva Jessie Ware – essentially Katy B styled by Gypsies – who proves quite an alluring proposition when the song suits. Still basking in the success of his own Au Seve track, producer Julio Bashmore plunders Mr Fingers' Can You Feel It for this sultry house number, giving Ware plenty of room to sigh about dancing on her own. Very much Pimm's all round, until you realise the distorted sample repeated throughout is saying, "Carving my initials on your forehead".
Kuedo
Work, Live And Sleep In Collapsing Space (Planet Mu)
If last year's Severant album was Kuedo's sprawling love letter to Vangelis and his Blade Runner score, this elegant synth jam finds him breaking into John Carpenter's house and standing there, salivating. Jamie Teasdale's journey from po-faced dubstepper to romantic voyager has been one of the more heartwarming tales to emerge from UK bass. One can even imagine A$AP Rocky drizzling his flow over Work, Live And Sleep In Collapsing Space, though that wouldn't necessarily improve it.
Professor Green
Remedy (Virgin)
One of the few tolerable moments from Professor Green's dog's dinner of a second album now comes with a video in which the Made In Chelsea star heads to swinging Shoreditch for a night out accompanied by some of his favourite brands, sorry, friends, and ending up at one of those famous secret east London warehouse parties where 32-year-old creatives ride BMXs through the crowd and several attractive girls suddenly decide to take a shower at the same time. We've all been there. Must be a coincidence that the remedy in question tastes like a delicious energy drink.
