Cut Copy: Zonoscope
Label: Modular
Why so serious? Melbourne synth-pop act Cut Copy are back with their first album in more than two years, and Zonoscope is bound to be the first indie dance-floor hit of 2011 -- a good thing, since we don't know when Hot Chip will make another record. Like that UK group, Cut Copy's formula is fairly simple but deadly reliable: pop hooks plus inventive beats plus kind of stunningly smooth vocals equals hands-in-the-air bliss. It's lightweight and summery and hits the spot in the dead of (Northern Hemisphere) winter, strangely enough. The squelchy synths of "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" will get you swaying, "Take Me Over" will turn up the heat and "Corner of the Sky" picks things up toward the end of Zonoscope with a heavier 4/4 impetus.
