Wussy - Buckeye (Damnably)

Don't you just love it when a new band comes into your life, out of the blue, and reminds you why you fell in love with pop music in the first place.

Meet Wussy, a 4-piece band from Cincinnatti. They've released several albums over the past decade and gained fulsome praise from esteemed sources across the Atlantic, such as Robert Christgau and others.

For their first release outside the US, Damnably Records have compiled some highlights from previous albums to produce a thrilling set of tunes. I like to think of the music as a ballsier, fuzzier, more blue-collar even, version of Luna (who I love, so you know...). That's to say, this record would sit comfortably between The Velvet Underground and Yo La Tengo on your shelf (alphabetically too, as it happens).

It's rare to find songs you've never heard before that you feel like singing along to out loud on the street. That's the effect of the twin vocal, twin guitar attack of Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker.

I particularly love Cleaver's "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" backing vocal on Pulverized. And Walker's beautifully tender singing on Vivian girls. But highlights are too many to mention. Above all, there's an endearing work ethic to the songwriting and arrangements, something self-deprecating.

It's just great, get some of it into your life.