Albums of 2012 // 40-31

The next ten brings a lot of love for merry ole England and its audio-visual output, with Micachu's Lambeth walking vid for Easy, the warped urban dystopia of Alt-J's video for Fitzpleasure, taken from their Mercury winning 'An Awesome Wave', through to NZCA/LINES' awesome self titled debut.

40. Cloud Nothings - 'Attack On Memory'



39. TOY - 'TOY'



38. Micachu & The Shapes - 'Never'



37. Julia Holter - 'Ekstasis'



36. Willis Earl Beal - 'Acousmatic Sourcery'



35. Peaking Lights - 'Lucifer'



34. Metz - 'METZ'



33. alt-J - 'An Awesome Wave'



32. Weird Dreams - 'Choreography'



31. NZCA/LINES - 'NZCA/LINES'



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Local favourites // Novella

A Google of 'Novella' may confuse the lazy among you into thinking that London's Novella is also in fact Finland's Novella, or perhaps Christian rock band from the early 90s. They're not.

This Novella has been knocking around London support slots for a while, but their recent superb trio of Sonic Youth / Teenage Fanclub influenced tracks is the best the band has produced yet, each descending into grinding jams swamped in fuzzy feedback with dreamily laissez faire vocals.

Alongside Warm Brains, Not Cool, Male Bonding, Gross Magic, Yuck, Colours, Weird Dreams, Sauna Youth among others, London isn't exactly wanting for lo-fi talent, however the tracks below suggest Novella is more than able of joining the party. Catch them at 1234 in a few weeks.

The Things You Do by Novella.
Oh Brian by Novella.
Beach Fatigue by Novella.

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Weird Dreams // Hypnagogic Lullaby

We're big fans of Sleep All Day Records at No Action HQ, largely as the label consistently delivers record after record of the best London acts around. And they've struck audio gold again with Weird Dreams' enchanting Hypnagogic Lullaby EP.

It's probably no coincidence that sleep, dreams and hypnagogic lullabies tie in so nicely, with the EP fitting the label's canon like a glove, crafting lo-fi power pop riffs with a Pixies ear for distorted melody which, while perhaps not achieving the transcendent state the title suggests, certainly makes the pulse race.

Hypnagogic Lullaby by Weird Dreams

Sleep All Day Records

London label Sleep All Day Records featured, albeit briefly, on No Action as an aside to a featurette on the magnificent Colours. We felt it only right that the label backing some of the best and brightest first city talents should garner some plaudits of its own. So here's a brief dedication, highlighted through the works of its pedigree offspring, to Sleep All Day.

Weird Dreams meld 60s London pop with Johnny Marr riffs and the result is aural heaven. Their 'Weird Dreams EP' is below, but track down Hurt So Bad as well.
Weird Dreams ep by Weird Dreams

Perfect Hair Forever could well be No Action's favourite tack of the year, perfect gutter pop if ever there were such a thing.
03 Perfect Hair Forever by notcool

SAD have also gone fishing on the opposite side of the pond for their most recent output. Brooklyn's Byrds of Paradise are all discordant punk smash genius with an ear for crescendo. Barefoot Generation is out now. This is Rowena.
Rowena - Byrds of Paradise by kohar

Last up, some divine dream-surf from Colours, showing the West Coast how it's done.