ALBUM: A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION Evacuate (Shepherd Shepherd)
Some high concept stuff here, as ACAS apparently chart the ascent of man from his arrival on Earth to witnessing it blowing up as he flees in the last departing spaceship to start again somewhere else. No doubt that’s thanks to our wasteful and reproachful lifestyle during the planet’s dying days. It’s intense, brooding stuff, musically along the same lines as your Muses and your early Radioheads, and whatever you read into the back-story of the songs it’s good to see the concept album alive and well in the 21st Century. (NC)

SINGLE: BAT FOR LASHES
Daniel (Remixes) (Parlophone)
Obvious you don’t need us to tell you that Daniel is not just one of the best songs this year by a Brighton artist, but one of best songs since Kate Bush joined Fleetwood Mac (we wish!). So, what of the remixes. Duke Dumont – who’s Mystery Jets remix was amazingly beautiful – goes all cut-up mellow techno, but Death Metal Disco’s driving indie house dub just wins out. There’s nothing that comes close to the original though. (JK)

SINGLE: CAGEDBABY
Forced (Southern Fried)
Tom Gandy is back, after disappearing to France and setting up a studio in the middle of nowhere. The lack of distractions seems to have helped, with this opening salvo from the new LP showing an interesting new direction. Forced is earnest 80s electro pop, bringing to mind Simple Minds, Depeche Mode and even U2 in places. It’s completely overwrought, but in a good way, packing a real punch even without some great remixes. (JK)

ALBUM: FINK
Sort Of Revolution (Ninja Tune)
Is Fink folk? The simple, pared down acoustic arrangements might suggest so, but for many it’s still a genre whose very mention can scare them off. Don’t let that be the case here, though. Fink, now on his third album for Ninja Tune, creates such beautiful soundscapes, a paucity of production distraction allowing the raw and naked emotion of his songs to mainline straight to your soul. If it is folk then it’s a gloriously leftfield take on it, but the definition doesn’t matter, it’s what your heart thinks that counts. (NC)

SINGLE: MISTA G’E & BIG L3W Together We Stand (DV8 Music Collective)
In a time-honoured beef akin to the US east/west coast rap rivalries, it seems Brighton’s Moulescoomb and Whitehawk estates don’t have a lot of respect or props for one another either. But rather than taking their disses and differences to the street, Mista G’e and Big L3W (each from opposing hoods) have collaborated on a dubstep pipe of peace that should hopefully see both clans of residents lacing daisies into each other’s hair rather than getting all stabby and shit. (NC)

SINGLE: MONKEY SONS Water Off A Monkey’s Back (Naked Ape)
Rock and hip hop are seasoned bedfellows these days and this 7-piece collective are obviously well versed in both. There’s a bouncy simplicity to the rap’n’riff of Water Off A Monkey’s Back, an addictive slice of polemic that’s a highlight of the band’s live set. Firechaser, the back-up track, also rocks along at a fair old pace, echoing with chimp samples and some frenetic scratching. All good stuff, but we wonder if the simian references throughout might get a bit old after a while. (NC)

EP: VARIOUS Mutations Volume 2.0 (Mutate)
Offering a window into the world of future electronic audio and then throwing a brick straight through it, Mutate Records’ artists Koian, Underpass, Shinra, Ki-Yota and Hector Hernandez fetch up with a selection of new school breaks and beats, underground house and experimental electronica, but the highlight for us is Cakeboy’s new track Skyrider – a genre-straddling piece of big beat house rock, if you please. (NC)

SINGLE: PEGGY SUE

Lover Gone (Thesaurus)

More emotional loveliness from everyone’s favourite anti-soul best friends. Lover Gone finds the pair fragile and melancholic – sad and angry about the break up of a relationship. With Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons joining the girls for production duties, the fractured, simple sounds match the mood completely. We’re very excited to hear that the girls are in America working on their debut album. At last! (JK)

ALBUM: THE PERILS

Good People Do Bad Things (Militant)

Picking up a serious live reputation and a fan in The Clash’s Mick Jones, there’s some expectation around this debut. At it’s best – If I Was King – it sounds like The Libertines gave up the drugs, with similar loose dynamics and Doherty-esque vocals from Danny. It’s an album that needs to be played loud though, preferably with a drink. Too quiet and the straight down the line indie punk merges into one song. With that in mind, why would you turn it down? (JK)

EP: BEN WESTWOOD Summer’s Coming Back Again (summerscomingback.com)
Ben Westwood has had enough. Enough of doom! Enough of gloom already! What the world needs is cheering the hell up, so he’s come up with a feelgood anthem to encourage us to turn those frowns upside down. Summer’s Coming Back Again is a celebration of the seasons’ turning, and arrives with news of Ben’sofficial petition to bring back the good times after two terrible summers’ worth of weather. Which mythical deity he’ll be presenting the signatures to remains unconfirmed at time of going to press. (NC)

ALBUM: LOS ALBERTOS Dish It Up (Chief Recordings)
Brighton certainly has its fair share of skanky individuals, but the skank we’re concerned with here is altogether more wholesome. Los Albertos are back with their third studio album, a big bowlful of grinning seaside ska, served up at a time when the rest of the world is catching up with the Punker Bunker – you can’t move for trilby hats and Harringtons, and The Specials and Madness are all over the place again. Big helpings of bouncy brass and some Chas & Dave vocal to and fro-ing make this an ideal sunshine soundtrack (NC)

SINGLE: NICK McKENNA Cat’s Out The Bag (Overhead Wires)
If one were to take the vocal genes of Luke Kook and Peter Doherty, somehow remove all traces of punchability out of the resulting DNA broth and add in some genuine warmth and wit, you might well end up with the basis of Nick McKenna. His debit release, for a new Brighton label, chugs along with banjo and guitars in a gloriously ramshackle fashion, a perfect antidote to quantized studio polishing that charms the very pants off the listener. (NC)