Foals - Cassius

Call me a bandwagon-jumper all you like: no band have excited me as much as Foals so far this year. And it's not because they're the current darlings of the London-centric schmooze machine; it's just that their songs are inherently thrilling. Cassius is another bristling groove to ramp up anticipation around debut album Antidotes. The jittery guitars hang like icicles over a braying bass/drum rhythm, while a brass section adds a deeper rumble of resonance. Admittedly, after Balloons and Hummer this sound is already close to becoming a self-fulfilling paradigm. But right now it's hotter than climate change. [Nick Mitchell]