Daft Punk emerged from France’s famous class slowly but surely.  Stardust set the standard declaring “Music Sounds Better  With You.”  Air caught fire by slowing down and retrofitting the sound on Moon Safari.  A handful of others scattered across the electronic sky like digital fireworks catching the attention of everyone before disappearing back into zeroes.  Daft Punk was first on the scene and will likely be the last.

Prepare yourself for the hype surrounding this London all-female quartet.  The Savages‘ debut Silence Yourself is most thrilling post-punk album since Interpol returned us to the icy age with their initial transmission Turn On The Bright Lights.  Like that album, Silence Yourself takes the familiar components of inspiration and deconstructs them.  For example, “City’s Full” features that Joy Division-ian gallop drenched in U2-ish effects but manages to use its choppy lyrics to construct a work of minimal modern architecture.  Singer Camille Berthomier (under the headline-ready pseudonym Jehnny Beth) combines the striated vocal affectations of Paul Banks with the wavering wail of Patti Smith.  Swerving between a wall of noise and chilling silence, Savages reductively could be pigeonholed as Sleater-Kinney fronting Joy Division.

     Colin Stetson is a star in the making.  Not in that way that commercials ignite an the career of a budding artist.  Nor in the manner that general accessibility moves toward you after years in the wilderness (see Daft Punk, more on that soon).  Stetson is a star because of sheer artistry.

 New History Warfare Vol.2:Judges was a bravura performance where Stetson’s multiple melodic capabilities demanded your attention.  Unlike the magician, Stetson willfully explains his method – perhaps because no one else has the intestinal fortitude to try it.  The rumble of “Judges” is still ever present on New History Warfare Vol.3: To See More Light.  He comes out of the gate with a harmonic tour de force on “And In Truth/Hunted” where he hits some thrilling lows that will rattle your windows while his vocals sound out a melody that is tender and memorable.