The time is right for music that hits hard, and Freedom Is Free is one such. Call it a reaction to the strange and menacing times we live in, or perhaps just the inevitable result of a third album itch, but this new record from the Los Angeles band provides meat galore on the bone to gnaw on.

Some of this is down to the handiwork of producer Leon Michels (previous form includes Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, The Black Keys and The Menahan Street Band), whose funky radar zooms in on and amplifies Chicano Batman's spirited soul and r'n'b genes. But the band themselves can take the credit for the charged atmosphere in which Freedom Is Free bucks and rolls, bringing a toughness to Friendship (Is a Small Boat In a Storm), The Take Story and, especially, the title track.

This is a band flexing their musical muscles and realising they have something to say. facebook.com/ChicanoBatman