Wilco’s self titled sixth album was something of a letdown for me personally, after the initial buzz of a Wilco release wore off, we were left with the realisation that it was something of a damp squib of an album. After all there is only so much quality a band can produce, so if five stellar albums was to be it for Wilco then so be it. So there was some trepidation before listening to the bands seventh LP The Whole Love, it’s too soon to say where it ranks alongside the rest of their albums but it proves that there is plenty of life in this old dog yet.

New York rockers Cymbals Eat Guitars return with their sophomore album Lenses Alien, the original line up has changed somewhat from their debut release, with Dan Baer(Keyboards) and Neil Berenholz(Bass) being replaced by Brian Hamilton and Matthew Whipple respectively. Fret not about the changes though as CEG’s music goes from strength to strength.

Vondelpark are Lewis Rainsbury, Alex Bailey and Matt Law, the trio come from Surrey and decided to form a band after a trip to LA in the Spring of 2010. Their first EP Sauna seemed to be born from a love of a certain type of British indie music from the 80s, the dark and more abstract music of the time.

Trevor Powers is a 22 year old multi instrumentalist from Boise, Idaho. He burst onto the scene under the name Youth Lagoon earlier this year with the track ‘July’ which had much of the music press drooling at his feet. He has since signed deals with Fat Possum in America and Lefse in Europe and both will release his debut LP The Year of Hibernation on the 27^th Sept.

P.S Eliot is the project of sisters Katie and Allison Crutchfield, hailing from Birmingham, Alabama they have two albums under their belt, their debut LP Introverted Romance In Our Troubled Minds was released in 2009 and their most recent album Sadie was released earlier in the year and both are available via Salinas Records.

Wooden Shjips(pronounced Shyips) are a four piece psychedelic outfit from San Francisco. This is their first studio recorded full length album for Thrill Jockey records. There last release 2009’s Dos was bogged down with many of the faults that psychedelic rock has, a record that all too often got too self indulgent, to the point you felt weary listening to it, the sonic fuzz somehow weighing heavily on your eyelids and the music having found a part of the brain that could no longer register highs or lows.

The War On Drugs have been around since 2005, they released their debut LP Wagonwheel in 2008 via Secretly Canadian, they’ve been through some line up changes since then, most notably the departure of guitar virtuoso Kurt Vile from the band. It is now the sole vehicle for Adam Granduciel, he has dedicated nearly four years to their follow up album and drafted in some of Philadelphia’s best musicians to record the sophomore effort, multi instrumentalists David Hartley and Robbie Bennett and drummer Mike Zanghi are those who make up the new look War on Drugs.

Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger are the brother/sister duo who you may know better as The Fiery Furnaces. They’re pretty prolific as well, formed in 2000 they already have nine albums under their belt together and now Eleanor has released her debut solo LP Last Summer via Merge Records.

There has been a pretty impressive array of talent coming from Oxford in the past few years, a lot of them can be found in a collective from there called Blessing Force, they’re not some sort of super group but rather a collection of musicians, writers and artists. It’s basically a group of like minded individuals who help each other out whether it is recording, gigs, promotion etc 

Zach Condon has been writing and recording material since the age of fourteen. Having released his debut LP Gulag Orkester at nineteen and his sophomore effort The Flying Club Cup at twenty two, it would be fair to say that he’s already reached a level of critical success way beyond his years. Now on his third LP The Rip Tide Condon has seemingly carved out a particular Beirut sound, on what is yet another stellar LP.