We’re into the heart of spring, with summer coming up fast. Now’s the time for record labels to start dropping some high-quality, primo stuff into the headspace of its eager clientele. I’m ready to get a buzz going. Are you? Let’s round ’em up.

Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

I must admit, I felt lukewarm towards Florence + The Machine’s first two albums. They didn’t pick me up and shake my soul. Had I been a vodka martini, James Bond would have sent me back. But I always like to give artists as many chances as possible, knowing it will occasionally pay off big. Like now. Here’s Florence, makin’ it rain.

Strange Names – Use Your Time Wisely

With their funky rhythm guitars and funkier basslines, Strange Names manages to evoke the 80s without specifically sounding like any artist from that time. But I’m going to go ahead and say if you’ve played any songs by Duran Duran or Pet Shop Boys in the last year then you may want to check this out.

The Darkness – Last Of Our Kind

If you’ve been waiting for the kind of album that opens with a song about the Viking invasion of England which led to the beheading of Edmund the Martyr, then you’re about to get very, very excited.

Prepare to be enlightened … by The Darkness.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love

If Prince and Stevie Wonder got high and decided to make a record in Todd Rundgren’s basement…

Off-kilter funk-pop to make your booty drop and send your brain over the top. If UMO can move a little closer to the mainstream, they will not be stopped.