Halfset and Lee Jones get the thumbs-up.

HALFSET

Another Way of Being There

Casino Gravity

Halfset have heard the big music, but it's a completely different kind of big music to everyone else. The Dublin group's latest is a run, leap and jump on in every sense from Dramanalog(2005).

While you can attribute this sharp rise in quality down to confidence, experience and expertise, it's also due to the band's collective curiosity about what can be found in the spaces between the musical peaks.

This is Halfset country. Such off-kilter explorations strike gold again and again (the soft, expansive lulls of A Place to Stay, the demure poise of At This Moment). An album full to the brim with graceful, beautifully realised notes and airs.

www.myspace.com/halfset

JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: A Place to Stay, Another Way of Being There

LEE JONES

Electronic Frank

Aus

****

When Lee Jones isn't reconstructing contemporary minimalism as part of the MyMy techno super-group, he conducts his own compelling experiments. His debut album is neither a hasty collection of club tracks nor an ill-conceived attempt at concept album.

Beginnand Theme for Frankare based on understated slap basslines, but there are traces of accordion riffs, jazzy keys and a woman singing in French amid their off-beat rhythms. Similarly, Every Click Mattersblends the sound of reduced electronic beats with eastern European folk instruments, breathy vocals and jazz keys.

That's not to suggest that Jones's intelligent designs ignore the dance floor, and the album progresses gradually in that direction: a wave of atmospheric melodies guarantees a slow release of euphoria whenever Kinder Countryis played, while the sweeping chords of Mdmazingprovide an epic yet elegant climax.

www.ausmusic.co.uk

RICHARD BROPHY

Download tracks: Theme for Frank, Every Click Matters, Kinder Country, Shoe Shine