Chromosome/Krian Music Group

There were hints of an electronic DJ duo trying to break out of a dance-rock shell on VHS or Beta’s last album; four years later, they’ve made good on the promise. Co-produced by Mocean Worker (aka Adam Dorn) – whose deep cache of programmed music draws from drum-and-bass, breakbeat and soul-jazz with a Fatboy Slim-like sense of the epic – Diamonds and Death sounds big and boisterous, but still hews closely to the lo-fi hipster aesthetic that band members Craig Pfunder and Mark Palgy adopted when moving to Brooklyn in 2009. It doesn’t always click – “Eyes” pulses in a compelling Last Days of Disco style, while “Under the Sun” plods through retro-house clichés – but Pfunder gives it his all on the mic, and that goes a long way.