God Lives Underwater - Life In The So-Called Space Age

Doing great things with high-tech gizmos, guitars, drums and in your face vocals is God Lives Underwater, who released their second album, Life In The So-Called Space Age, earlier this year.

Although well and truly on the cutting edge they still manage to make totally accessible music. Verses and choruses in all the right places but with the kind of added extras that'll make your ears hungry for more. The music tumbles, often falling magically into place just in time for some event which sends it somewhere else.

Can't Come Down, which hangs on a loosely strummed guitar and frazzled synth grooves showcases the excellent songwriting and arranging skills of the San Francisco based duo of Jeff Turzo and David Reilly. The chorus and refrain made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

Behaviour Modification, another instant classic, also makes great use of those synthesizers, using several drum loops to move the track in the right directions at the right times as Reilly does his vocals thing. And if you need a shot of something even trippier check out Dress Rehearsal For Reproduction, with one of the coolest opening riffs I've ever heard and even more amazing vocal work.

Rating: 987,043 (out of a possible 1,000,000)