The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine (Wall of Sound)

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London’s soft-psych popsters The Shortwave Set had almost finished recording this second album, then Danger Mouse called and asked them out to Los Angeles to do the whole thing again. The Velvet Underground’s John Cale and Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks got involved too, with extraordinary results.

Those three super-cheeses have naturally left their stamp, but hear also this lyric from the album’s lead single, ‘No Social’: “Everyone knows that a dog dressed in clothes is still a dog.” In the case of The Shortwave Set, that dog writes great songs that sit clinically and perfectly together.

There isn’t a wasted second on this album, let alone a duff track, and it’s tinged with dreamy Californian soul throughout. They may be a highly backward-looking band but this is a modern classic.

Definitely the pick of the billion projects Mr Mouse has been working on recently.