I suppose everyone has influences, but Jesus couldn’t today’s artists And songwriters progress beyond Mary (not to mention peter or paul) and Chain together some moments of originality? Um, well, let me revise that opinion since flattery this sincere deserves positive recognition.

Everything Will Be OK

The Big Pink – This year’s Ned’s Atomic Dustbin? Their face-slapper of a debut hit me so immediately that it has made me doubt my normally reputable instincts for quality. It’s a decidedly British mélange of late 80’s and early 90’s influences that promises to either fade its colours or hold up to repeat washings.

The Raveonettes – A string of excellent efforts is a harbinger of quality as well, and The Raveonettes follow up last year’s big step upward with a level plane effort that deals you a pair of aces and promises several more are on the board.

Girls – Can’t quite fathom to furor around this pale effort at garage level feedback, though I have a feeling punchless production lets them down more than actual songcraft. There are too many murky moments to make much more than a watery bowl of oatmeal.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Their new ep delivers on the promise of the album by simply repeating the formula of solid pop songs so obscured by Henry’s Dress level feedback that your sorrows are immediately drowned.

A Place to Bury Strangers – Nice to see these gentlemen move up to the higher profile assignment of Mute records and even nicer that they retain the momentum from their ear bleeding debut. A bit more catch as catch can on this new one as there are a few soft spots but certainly the price is justified.

Amusement Parks of Fire – Another much anticipated follow up on the horizon as their first keeps delivering who-was-that moments when stumbled upon during serendipitous shuffle moments. When I consistently guess their pedigree is ~20 years old than actual born-on date that’s impressive enough for me.

Atlas Sound – Deerhunter side project that takes a detour into Xiu Xiu land for some odd reason. Their first was a perfectly acceptable exploration of sound and style, but this new one seems to layer in a predictable air of uninspired freakiness that never coalesces into anything beyond torpor.

Vivian Girls – We’ll appropriately end this mix with The End, courtesy of an all-female outfit that seems unconcerned with style or fashion and instead stomps around the graveyard on a sunny day with the intensity of a grade school class trying to identify the oldest stone.