Like Arthur Russell, the late disco visionary whose work his music recalls, Andy Butler makes club jams that transcend the club. The second LP by his group, whose 2008 breakout "Blind" featured Antony Hegarty, is not about showcasing star vocalists, notwithstanding a cameo by Bloc Party's Kele Okereke on "Step Up," a nod to Eighties New York freestyle. Instead, it's about Butler's diverse songwriting: flanking idiosyncratic house jams (the single "My House," "I Can't Wait") is "Boy Blue," a soul-folk "It Gets Better" mash note, and "Blue Song," a cryptic ballad sung over electronics and a beautifully restless clarinet line. The bonus cover of XX's "Shelter" shows Butler is as good at re-imagining songs as imagining them.

Listen to Blue Songs:

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.