Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry

A woozy bass riff drifting in from a back room bar, old-western piano fills and lyrics about the weekly laundry run as an analogy for a love gone sour. Sound familiar? Hang Me Up To Dry deservedly gets a second, proper release ahead of the 'Kids frankly criminal decision to play every single major UK festival this summer. Still, with surging, blues-rock of this calibre, backed by kinetic live performances, perhaps the festival homogenisation debate should take a back seat in favour of getting down and dirty, in a field of your choice, to these Californian Reagan babies. [Darren Carle]