The Pineapple Chunks – A Dog Walked In

It’s hard to figure where an oddity like The Pineapple Chunks might fit in the grand scheme of things. Theirs is a sound slick with nostalgia, with heady doses of upbeat, summery guitars and drums that hit all the right spots, but like an inopportune acid flashback, always seems to send you hurtling in uncomfortable directions, seemingly on a perverse whim.

Art Storage starts off in relative earnest, like something The Jam might have cranked out in an insomniac daze, but then they throw bizarre screams and a psych-washed guitar solo into the mix to keep confusion high. In fact, that’s the story to this entire album. Replace The Jam with The Groundhogs at their most energetic for Dark Halo, add a touch of Pulp for Look Back In Horror, and you’re starting to get the feel for this ramshackle collection of distinctly British odds and ends that, for all its awkwardness, knows the path to a good tune pretty well. [David Bowes]