Album: White Denim, Fits, (Full Time Hobby)

A white-hot cauldron of sonic intensity, Fits extends the opening blast of last year's extraordinary Workout Holiday, with a further storm of punk-infused power-trio workouts that leave one fizzing with nervous energy.

It's only 37 minutes long, but that's plenty. The opening "Radio Milk How Can You Stand It" encapsulates in four minutes the White Denim experience, with the opening psychedelic swirl of noise brutally sundered by an avalanche of drums and muscular bass, before a howling squall of wah-wah guitar joins in like a refugee from Electric Ladyland. By the end, the stop-start rhythms are teetering on Fripp and Zappa territory, while high vocal harmonies strive to escape the maelstrom. Oh, and there are some lyrics involved too, but I've no idea what they're about, so swaddled are they in the stops-out barrage of music. That establishes an approach that doesn't let up until the album's later stages, when "Regina Holding Hands" and "Syncn" ensnare one in ethereal harmonies and keening falsetto akin to Fleet Foxes. By then, the various byways hinted at in their constant changes of direction have brought to mind The Doors, Pixies, Spirit, Cream and Bacharach, along with any number of jazz influences: far more music than one band deserves to access in so short a time. Amazing.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'I Start To Run', 'Radio Milk How Can You Stand It', 'Sex Prayer', 'Paint Yourself', 'Syncn'