Feel good hits of the 23rd September

1. 'Loops In The Secret Society' - Jane Weaver
Weaver's breakthrough album, 2014's The Silver Globe, garnered a lot of attention, but this year's Modern Kosmology is arguably better: English psych whooshed off on a magic carpet of retro-futurist synths. 'Loops In The Secret Society' is the standout track, the stupendous answer to the question of what a Sonic Youth and Stereolab collaboration might have sounded like. Definitely one for fans of Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation.

2. 'Silver' - Waxahatchee
Gawd bless good ol' indie rock. I wasn't hugely keen on Katie Crutchfield's breakthrough album, 2013's Cerulean Salt, and haven't heard the follow-up Ivy Tripp, but this track is one of the reasons why newie Out In The Storm has won me over. (It's also prompted me to listen to her sister Allison's band Swearin', who were very good at the Gathering festival in Oxford a few years back but who've since split up. Here's the rather good 'Dust In The Gold Sack'.)

3. 'Nothing Ever Happened' - Deerhunter
Every now and again I find myself listening to this as a reminder of how utterly, utterly magnificent it is. Not that I ever really forget, mind.

4. 'Everyday' - Sacred Paws
Sacred Paws were back in Cardiff last night, for what was (I think) their third appearance this year. With songs like 'Everyday', and on that kind of form, they can come back every week.

5. 'Pretend We're Dead' - L7
The news that "the LA-based feminist grunge punk pioneers of the 90s" are set to release two new singles this autumn naturally prompted me to watch their legendary performance of this song on The Word in 1992. They certainly don't make 'em like that any more.

6. 'Clear Blue Skies' - Sweet Baboo
The gorgeous centrepiece of Sweet Baboo's latest LP Wild Imagination is an invitation to get away from it all, complete with an ambient passage deliberately crafted to sound like something by Brian Eno.

7. 'I'd Kill For Her' - The Black Angels
While I'd generally stand by my original assessment of Death Song - "solid enough, but unlikely to bend minds or scramble senses" - repeated exposure has led me to conclude the album is probably better than that would suggest. I particularly like Alex Maas' impersonation of Jim Morrison in delivering the line "She took us to the killing fields" on this track.

8. 'Deny' - King Woman
King Woman will probably have to live with the tag "hipster doom" and thus face the same opprobrium as Deafheaven, but they're far more interesting than that. 'Deny' and the album from which it's taken, Created In The Image Of Suffering, are cathartic attempts on the part of vocalist Kristina Esfandiari to come to terms with her experience of being raised within the narrow confines of a Christian quasi-cult.

9. 'Pan' - Ty Segall
Does the guy ever sleep? This is from the Sentimental Goblin EP, released in March - two months after his previous release, a self-titled LP. 'Pan' isn't his best, in truth, but it'll tide me over until the next new material. C'mon Ty, pull your finger out - it's been several months now...

10. 'Jimmy Mack' - Animal Collective
Seven months since it was released, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this Martha & The Vandellas cover - but I'm erring towards dislike. It's certainly not as good as 'Kinda Bonkers' from the same EP (The Painters) or 'FloriDada' from previous LP Painting With (insane seizure-inducing video here).