Fronted by a black-clad fire-breather who goes by the deceptively unthreatening moniker Jehnny Beth, Savages traject a world hurtling towards oblivion. High-speed, tension-plagued stormers like “Shut Up” and “Husbands” sound like they may shatter into obliteration at any moment. Not content to simply cop post-punk aesthetics, these East London dread merchants are steeped in the sort dystopianism and apocalyptic anxiety that drove the likes of Killing Joke and The Banshees to such dizzying heights of foreboding. Guitars squeal and howl as if they were burning machinery, drums gallop and thunder, making each track its own pummeling, metallic symphony. The bedlam only recedes on “Dead...

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Still just a horsehair away from being an absolute solo project, singer Victoria Hesketh moves from making dance music that sounds like Kylie Minogue to the hard stuff of nighttime fantasies. On her first Little Boots record, 2009’s Hands, writing and production credits came by way of Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard and Lady Gaga’s RedOne. This time, though, it’s DFA co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford and Hercules and Love Affair’s Andy Butler who align with Hesketh for stuttering tributes to ’90s house and good old-fashioned four-on-the-floor disco cuts like “Crescendo” and “Beat Beat.” There are still big dollops of pop on Little Boots’ second electro-enhanced work, and...

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Australian alternative six-piece Alpine—fronted by the ethereal dual vocals of Phoebe Baker and Lou James—decided to throw everything but the musical kitchen sink into their debut album and, surprisingly, it works. Light harmonies? Check. Disco beats? Check. Quiet reflective songs? Of course. Killer dance songs begging to be remixed? They’ve got them! Within the 12 tracks that make up A Is For Alpine, the sextet (which also includes Christian O’Brien, Ryan Lamb, Tim Royall and Phil Tucker) oscillates their sound smoothly between delicate guitar-driven dream pop and synth-laden electronic soundscapes featuring an undeniable dance beat—seen immediately from the get-go with the first pairing...

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