The Wrong Boyfriends – Wrong Fucking Century Darling

With a packing-crate full of irreverent, if oddly relevant, lyrics and a sound that doesn’t know whether it’s worshipping Nick Cave or The Clash, The Wrong Boyfriends’ debut album is a breath of confounding air. In a sense it’s an odds-and-sods collection of distinctly Scottish gutter-punk anthems, but there’s a heady degree of wit and sinister charm to the compositions, from Bearpit’s murderous bassline to Dark Speed’s entrancing psychedelia.

Despite the initially surreal appeal of lyrics dealing with train stations and Kojak, there is always a treacherous undercurrent of violence to their delivery; never before has Kojak's 'Who loves ya, baby?' catchphrase sounded quite so unwholesome. With this unsettling lyrical tone, though, comes guitars that are often so lazily unhurried that thoughts of bodily harm seem lost in some remote plain, and it’s this multiple-personality approach that drags you in and takes you on a tour of the sordid side of life. [David Bowes]