(Synthpop) Group Rhoda - 12th House - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

Group Rhoda follows up her delectable debut on Night School with a much sharper and equally seductive album for Not Not Fun - easily one of their best releases in 2013. Her songs are now rendered with a higher fidelity and clarity adopting the purposeful innovations of post punk and the hypnotism of modern electronic music to give her deft arrangements a sturdy poise and transcendent appeal. It's still DIY at heart and we doubt you're gonna hear them on Radio 1 any time soon, but the sense of theatrical detail and detached yet emotional investment is palpably more potent in the exquisite steppers' dub-pop of 'King' and low-slung opener, 'Day Ruiner', whilst 'Coral Castle' is marked out as a darker indie disco anthem-in-waiting and psychedelic intent of 'Space Race' makes for one of the finest cosmic pop constructions you hear all year. 'Dust' is another exquisitely realised slice of pop brilliance, halfway between Grace Jones and Space Lady, and 'Blk Mtl' a supremely canny appropriation of bewitched house music. It's simply one of the strongest pop records you'll hear this year...