Much as I love the TV On The Radio album, I wonder sometimes if all the hype surrounding David Sitek might be a bit out of hand. For a start, reading some of the stories about “Dear Science”, you’d be forgiven for imagining that he made the entire record single-handed, when in fact virtually all the songwriting was handled by the band’s vocalists and, perhaps, creative heart, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone. Then there’s the perception that, as a producer, Sitek has an unfallible magic touch; that everything he touches turns to hipster gold. Actually, his CV isn’t entirely unblemished, as some of us who were left nonplussed by, say, the Celebration records can testify. Sometimes, Sitek’s aesthetic can be as smothering as it is opulent. A case in point, I guess, was that Scarlett Johansson album from earlier this year, where Sitek’s massed synth architecture was presumably designed as a counterpoint to Johansson’s offhand vocals, at once chilly and oddly conversational. For me at least, it didn’t really work, but it’s clearly a juxtaposition that Sitek likes. For here’s the debut album by Telepathe, from Brooklyn somewhat inevitably, and while once again it would be dumb to ascribe unbounded Machiavellian qualities to Sitek, they’re a duo whose vision seems pretty well-suited to the hook-up. Melissa Livaudais and Busy Gagnes have diffident, airy voices, and to his credit, Sitek often gives them plenty of space to breathe in the nine songs on this excellent record. The comparative spaciousness of “Dear Science” is followed up here, so that the layers of gushing vintage synths are built up gradually. “Devil’s Trident” is quite brilliant, overlapping streams-of-consciousness unravelling while the instrumentation gracefully increases; by the end, it seems as if the Antibalas horn section, so prominent on the TV On The Radio album of course, may even have crept in to thicken out the mix. There’s something trancey, even a little witchy, about “Devil’s Trident” and other tracks here like “Lights Go Down”. Although the gear may in some cases date from the ‘80s (and judging by a few pics, some of the outfits may, too), it’s hard to find obvious antecedents: imagine “Hounds Of Love” if Kate Bush were replaced by The Raincoats or The Slits springs to mind this morning, though it seems quite a way off the mark to be honest. Perhaps more accurately, much of “Dance Mother” feels like an upgrading of the ‘80s 4AD sound; the translucent grandeur of “Can’t Stand It”, particularly, is heavily redolent of the Cocteau Twins. The twitching beats that orbit round so many of the tracks, on the other hand, are clearly informed by various derivatives of R&B and hip hop. But the resulting music is a kind of obscurely catchy art-pop, where the street beats have been transformed into something mystical and otherworldly. There are plenty of groups working in this area at the moment, all hazy chanting, imprecise exoticism, a hint of rituals being enacted beneath Williamsburg warehouse spaces: High Places, Rings, Effi Briest and even Chairlift are all making good music not a million miles from this. But “Dance Mother” is the best and most powerful manifestation of the scene thus far, I reckon. Here’s their Myspace. Have a listen and, as ever, let me know what you think.

We now have the entire judges' deliberations over who should win the Uncut Music Award posted here on this blog, so I thought it might be useful to provide links to all the separate posts in one place. I was prompted, in part, by this message from Terry, who did all the recording and transcribing for us. "As the fellow Uncut entrusted to listen in on the judges' deliberations and transcribe their words of wisdom," he writes, "I think it might be useful for readers to know that the discussions are being posted on site chronologically. Taken in isolation, the verdicts on some albums may not come across as clear as they might if one takes the time to read the whole lot in order. Just a small point, perhaps, but I feel we get a better vibe of what went down by looking at the complete picture." 1 Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago" 2 Elbow - "The Seldom Seen Kid" 3 Drive-By Truckers - "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" 4 Felice Brothers - "Felice Brothers" 5 Fleet Foxes - "Fleet Foxes" The Raconteurs - "Consolers Of The Lonely" 7 Radiohead - "In Rainbows" 8 Vampire Weekend - "Vampire Weekend"

I know I wrote something a bit snide about the whole “Tips For 2009” business the other day. But then, when dutifully and only slightly hypocritically compiling my submission to the BBC poll, I found myself – hugely hypocritically, I suppose – tipping one of the doubtless most-tipped tips of 2009, Florence And The Machine. Because, I guess, in spite of my high-handed disdain for music hacks obediently following the new bands prescribed to them by publicists, I’m not quite pompous enough to be put off by the hype when one I like comes along. So it is with Florence Welch, who seems to have harvested most of her publicity for some performance art-like stunts at live shows rather than the impressive vigour of her music. I have a new single by her called “Dog Days Are Over”, which I think is out about now, and while I rarely dip my toes into the British indie scene here, please trust me that this one’s pretty impressive. The easy reference point is PJ Harvey – Welch has a similar boom and heft to her voice, that impressive stentorian depth that Harvey can summon up (or at least did prior to the lovely “White Chalk”; it remains to be seen whether to her shift to a higher and more vulnerable register is permanent. I doubt it). Welch is soulful, too, and there seems to be a harp subtly tracking her through the big James Ford production. That soulfulness comes even more into focus on the flipside, a cover of Candi Staton & The Source’s “You’ve Got The Love”, which treats the song with the respect, passion and muscle it deserves. I was whingeing on about indie types covering pop hits the other week, but this is one of those rare exceptions to the rule. Good stuff, as is some more traditional Wild Mercury Sound fare on vinyl I got hold of last week. First up is a seven-inch on Sick Thirst which is such a perfect fit for us here it’s almost embarrassingly corny – a cover of Neil Young’s “Vampire Blues” by West Coast psych-drone groovers Wooden Shjips. If you’ve ever heard the Shjips, you’ll be able to guess what happens here: a bobbling rhythm, a shrill organ, profuse distortion and reverberance, the heady stench of the Spacemen 3, and a heartening rock’n’roll classicism which still manages to shine out beneath all the fuzz and drone. Next, a 12-inch by Sun Araw called “Boat Trip”. Not a generous amount of info on this one, though I do know it’s the work of one of Magic Lantern, who I mentioned briefly a while back. Magic Lantern seem like a high-grade freak-out band from their Myspace (I must get the album actually), but while Sun Araw is still heavily psych, the guitar jams are sunk down in the mix on these two long tracks, deep behind tribal dirge vibes. Ostensibly, “Boat Trip” plods, but in an utterly intoxicating, potentially menacing sort of way. I’ve seen this 12 (and an album, which again I must get) compared to a wilder Panda Bear, and I can see there’s some hypnotic, exotic affinities. But there’s something distinctly muggier, hippier about Sun Araw; a wasted, oppressive atmosphere and smothered vocals which remind me, abstractedly, of New Kingdom circa “Unicorns Were Horses”. Which is cool. Amazing record. Want more.

More talk from the judges today, as they get to grips with the debut from Vampire Weekend. Allison Howe: I absolutely love it, it’s my favourite record of the year. It is a really crap cover, I admit. I love Graceland, and we can’t deny where a lot of this has come from. I think it’s a pop record for a generation that obviously loves them. I’ve seen them at a lot of festivals, kids love them and yet what they do is so steeped in a different era that it shouldn’t work. They’re a bit dull live sometimes, but we’re here to judge a record and for me this is the record of the year. Mark Radcliffe: I like Vampire Weekend a lot, but it’s not my record of the year. They’ve got that strange combination of being quite preppy, the way they look and the way they sound reminded me a bit of early Talking Heads, but there are these strange kind of African guitar influences in it. I like it very much, it’s a very pretty and well-made record, but the only thing I would say about it is that among the new breed of American bands that are on this shortlist I think you get Vampire Weekend quicker but I think it lacks a dimension. Whereas the Fleet Foxes was one of those records that with repeated listening you start to hear more things in it, which to me the great records have. I think this is a really good record, I don’t think it’s a great record. Danny: I think this is the one record on the shortlist that’s possible for people to really dislike. I don’t, I really like it. The Graceland thing is possibly a bit of a red herring. They are a new wave band with an African-sounding guitar, filtered through Paul Simon, but when you listen to it you realise what a strange thing it is to do. Mark mentioned Talking Heads, but from the same era and same clubs I can hear Jonathan Richman in it as well. When I first listened to it I wrote down that I liked the riffs, but they’re almost too small to be riffs, I had to change it to riffette. There’s lots of lovely riffettes in it. I like this record a great deal, I don’t think it’s up to the standards of the Fleet Foxes, but it’s a brilliant and strange little record. I like the fact that it’s coming from nowhere else, I don’t know anybody remotely like them – what scene did they come out of? I can’t imagine. Which of them heard these little CBGBs-type songs and said “we should put some African guitar on these, it’d be great”. Where is that bar? I wanna go there. It’s my second favourite record on this list, although I hate ranking things. Allan Jones: It was played a lot in the office when it came out, and I enjoyed listening to it, and the Talking Heads thing is interesting. Some of it is as fresh as “Love Goes To Buildings On Fire”. Tony Wadsworth: There’s a bit of Televison in there as well. Allan: Yeah, it just shot out of there. But I must say that out of all the records on the shortlist, I kind of graduated to that one as something that I didn’t play as much before but have in time got more and more out of it. It’s a really great record. Alison: It’s beautifully short, as well. Danny: Well said, that woman. They whacked the four-minute one on the end so you can go and make the tea. Allan: That’s one of the things that appealed to me about the Radiohead album. Alison: It doesn’t overstay its welcome. Allan: Absolutely not. I thought “Oh God, I’m gonna be here for an eternity”, people shining torches in my face. Linda Thompson: I was prepared not to like this, I’ve heard them live and they’re four posh boys like The Strokes – very posh and very spoilt – and I thought it had finally happened: these people are too young for me. But I started to listen to it, and now I’m madly in love with it. It amused me that they’re so influence by Paul Simon, who else is these days? It’s so arch, it’s so out there. I’d be very happy for it to win, I think it’s fresh and everything rock ‘n’ roll should be; young, full of energy and “Blake’s Got A New Face” is my favourite song, I just love it. I love the atonal quality of it, it’s like Schoenberg. Tony: I think it’s great, it’s intelligent pop music which is something we forgot existed. It’s reminiscent of the CBGBs era of 1977. It’s interesting that Linda mentioned posh boys, because posh boys make a lot of the best albums. Some of the biggest bands in the world are inhabited by posh boys. I tended to look for posh boys when I was signing artists. Alison: Hanging outside Harrow or something...? Linda: They’re better than the posh boys like Guy Ritchie who pretend not to be posh! Tony: I think it’s nice, it’s edgy, it’s got great lyrics, it’s clean and shiny. I don’t know whether I’ll listen to it in ten years’ time like I’ll certainly be listening to Elbow in ten years’ time, but it’s a great intelligent pop album and I really enjoyed it. Danny: Shit cover. Mark: It’s unforgiveable. Tony: Yeah, but I bet they thought it was bloody brilliant. Linda: I’m someone who’s done the shittest covers in the history of music. Danny: Which would you say was the worst, Linda? Linda: All of them. They’re the worst I’ve ever seen. Tony: Sunnyvista was possibly one of the worst. Danny: Oh, it was terrible. Tony: I think the reason behind this was that they didn’t want to put the name of the band on the cover. Danny: But they’ve got two lovely words in their name! Vampire and weekend!