Neon Neon - Stainless Style

For this album, Los Angeles hip-hop producer Boom Bip has teamed up with Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys to record a concept album about a playboy engineer from the future called John DeLorean. It’s every bit as strange, odd and unusual as it sounds. It’s also fantastic. A strange mixture of pop, hip-hop, disco and electro, it’s completely impossible to define in one single genre, but instead takes the best elements of each to produce an album that’s innovative and vibrant. As an indie star’s electronic music project, the obvious comparison is to Gorillaz and Damon Albarn, but they’ve yet to produce anything as gleeful as Dream Cars or original as Raquel. The various styles lead to the album’s major flaw - a lack of cohesion - but overall it’s a strong listen and definitely one of the most creative releases this year. [Scott Ramage]