Mahogany

Hand-picked by Kele Okereke to support Bloc Party on their recent UK tour, Brooklyn-based Mahogany found themselves in the odd position of playing their debut UK shows to thousands of people at the not-small-in-any-way likes of the Brixton Carling Academy. But while most support acts are chosen simply to make the headline band look good by comparison, Mahogany are a brave exception: ‘Connectivity!’’s fuzzy pop hooks and discreet electronic burbling are exactly the kind of thing that people in the early-1960s imagined we’d all be listening to in 2007, in between eating meals in pill-form and taking the daily 7.58 space shuttle to work on Saturn.

Michael Lane

7 out of 10