If the dirty-old-man noise rock in Grinderman, Nick Cave's other band, was an orgy, the relentlessly laconic Push the Sky Away is pure hangover, an exhausted guy at the end of the bar mumbling about love’s chill and telling creepy conquest stories ("She was a catch/We were a match/I was the match/That would fire up her snatch" – do tell!). The first Seeds LP without co-founder Mick Harvey, Sky is full of tiny sounds – plinking guitars, pulsing bass, lazy subtle drums. "Higgs Boson Blues" is a hilarious bad-Dylan peak, linking Lucifer, Robert Johnson, Hannah Montana and the Lorraine Motel. Can someone make sure Nick is still awake?

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”