Yeasayer: Odd Blood

Not so much a step-up, but a masterclass in modern, multicultural, weirdo pop music, Yeasayer's second album is both odd and bloody marvellous. Taking in references from Middle Eastern pop (Madder Red), to Animal Collective-type balladry (I Remember) to Balearic house (the intro to the wonderful Love Me Girl), it's genuinely eclectic. The record thrives, too, on the combination of straightforward lyrics – "stick up for yourself, son," the narrator tells the boxer Joe Louis in Ambling Alp – and the petridish of musical influences within. Only the opening number The Children lacks the verve of the rest of the album, but it still works as an entree­. Like MIA and the other global pop magpies of the last few years, Odd Blood comparts styles and sounds of the world into an easy duty-free package, and, in doing so, absolutely throbs with vigour.