Flash reviews – all wrapped up in a delightful review bundle

Vaccines (What did you Expect from the Vaccines)? – Lot’s of angular guitars and boing boing choruses…sounds like the Strokes. Good…if you like the Strokes!

Beastie Boys (Hot Sauce Committee – Part 2) – Back-to-basics for the middle aged ‘boys’. Think of their low-fi classic ‘Paul’s Boutique’ and this comes very close. Maximum fun and hugely entertaining.

Ed Sheeran (+) – Personally speaking, over hyped singer songwriter with a couple of decent, well written standout tracks. Unfortunately too many of them fail to connect and don’t really go anywhere. Some even border on mainstream sugar-coated mush. Sorry, but when you have people out there like Patrick Watson, Bon Iver, James Vincent McMorrow and William Fitzsimmons, you really must try harder.

Phoenix Foundation (Buffalo) – Delightful, lazy pop-rock all the way from New Zealand. A sprinkling of prog, a dash of 90s indie and a smidgen of Beach Boy harmonies and you have a sublime album for a summers evening.