The Easy Gramophone - June

1. Beirut - Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
http://www.beirutband.com/music.htm
The most splendid debut of the year so far, Beirut's 'Gulag Orkestar' is all the things that most indie rock isn't: it staggers, it rattles, it sews its heart onto its sleeve. And it has no guitars. Instead 19 year-old Zach Condon blends soaring trumpets and wheezing accordion with his own Wainwright of a voice, Balkan melodies thumping hard against the pulse of his cabaret instincts. It's like the Magnetic Fields locked in a room with Neutral Milk Hotel, goats braying at the windows.

2. Rappers Delight Club - Hum
http://www.myspace.com/rappersdelightclub
"In terms of making money / I'm a gorilla / I rap so well / they call me Rapzilla." The Rappers Delight Club is a team of 10 year old kids, boys and girls, all of them gathered round a microphone and rapping like it's in their blood. Okay it probably IS in their blood. So let's imagine the white and red cells, reeling and whirling, a rap that's with them as they dance and swing, as they hopskotch and party, as they tie their shoes and learn their maths. Somewhere between Sesame Street and Ghostface Killah, Hum showcases the best hip-hop crew since a certain NY posse started wu-tanging.

3. Shelby Sifers - Things Are Beautiful
http://www.ohmaprecords.com/mp3.html
Shelby Sifers is a California songwriter with a voice stuck into the tufted, muddy ground between Joanna Newsom and Mirah. Here she tum-tee-tums with a hollow synthesiser, two children murmuring an accompaniment, and if you don't die from cute overload then I suspect you'll fall in love. "If I were infected with rabies / while trying to save the raccoons, / would you give me one last kiss / with a piece of Saran Wrap pressed up to your lips?" June's a good month to meet a sweetheart.

4. Tom Waits - Buzz Fledderjon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000059PGZ
A rare b-side from Waits' Mule Variations sessions, Buzz Fledderjon is a peculiar back-porch blues; there's lazy upright bass and boozy harmonica, fake rottweiler howls and a "sky full of crows." It's the perfect soundtrack for a Sunday that's melting in the heat, for a neighbour you keep seeing through the hedge, bushy-eyebrowed and mysterious. Pull up a chair and drink your grey soup.

5. Wyrd Visions - Bog Lord
http://myspace.com/wyrdvisions
It's weirdo folk with all the bits you would expect. A man sings high-low over acoustic guitar and a harmonium's purr, whistles coming in from the wings, an electric guitar that weaves through the poplars. Strange that a song so good-natured could also feel sinister... But I won't question Mr Visions as he sings about skies and truths, as he recalls equal parts Beta Band and Iron & Wine, as he puts me to bed and into dream. I'll just wonder if he's on my side.