THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

DEAP LIPS DEAP LIPS HHHHH WHAT do you get if you take The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd, then mix them up with Deap Vally duo Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards? A hybrid of bluesy garage rock and psychedelic electro rock.

Deap Lips is a multi-layered audio experience, sweeping you along in a soporific haze.

After the opener, Home Thru Hell and the sublime soundscape that is One Thousand Sisters With Aluminium Foil Calculators, there is a startling awakening of rage in Motherf***ers Got To Go .

There are two tracks on there that have been out in the ether before, Ke ha’s Love Is Mind Control (written by Coyne) and Steppenwolf’s The Pusher.

The only issue with this album, is that it’s over far too soon. RICKY MUSIC PORCHES HHHHH RICKY Music is Aaron Maine’s fourth album as synth-pop outfit Porches. The strong live reputation isn’t reflected here in downbeat music for headphones, with 11 short tracks lasting only around 26 minutes.

Wrote Some Songs, he croons mournfully on the track of the same name – fragments of songs in the case of the 33-second PFB – but this is more Autotune than banging tunes.

There are hints in some lyrics that this is a break-up album, in the same vein as Kanye West’s minimalist 808s And Heartbreak. The production – mostly recorded at his New York flat – is pristine and the album rewards repeated listening, but too many of the one-paced tracks pass without leaving much impression. CITY OF LOVE DEACON BLUE HHHHH SINCE their formation in 1985, this Glasgow group has had a rollercoaster career, with various line-up changes and even a total split at one point, but now they are back with a fixed line-up.

The 11 songs here are radio-friendly, adult pop, with an occasional raw edge to keep things interesting. Ricky Ross’s lyrics, he’s still the main songwriter, tend toward mature reflections on life and relationships – and they’re none the worse for that.

This is a solid, well-produced album, with big choruses where they are needed and more subtle contemplation when not.

It will, no doubt, please the band’s fans and may, given enough exposure, gain them some more.