Kablammo – Ash – Back in Britpop 1990s, these Irish punks with a taste for melody were the next big thing. They still are and “Cocoon” is a real winner – B
Southernality – A Thousand Horses – 38 Special Southern boogie – B-
Suffolk County – Cousin Stizz – “Ain’t nothing much to do around here” Boston rapper Cousin Stizz notes in a cool flow on the first track, “shout out to the money, love the drugs” he raps on the very next track (his breakthrough hit) and claims “I am the Fresh Prince” on the third track on this working hustlers stories of life and business. Then he gets down to business – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
FFS – FFS – Franz Ferdinand meets Sparks, and not bad as experiments go, like operatic vocals over usual Brit rock – B-
Pharmacy – Galantis – Swedish house duo Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklow pull a variant on Trance, slow builds to house beats built for the dancefloor and getting you there from time to time, perfect if what you wanna do is dance to a broken heart – B-
Latin A La G – Gilbert O’Sullivan – The Nothing Rhymed 70s star gets into salsa, and it works quite well for him. Better than you expect – B
Many Levels Of Laughter – J Fernandez – Bedsitland by a good guitarist who thinks magic mushrooms and marijuana are the same thing, goes on forever, man – C
Till The Story’s Told – Kevin Jenkins – With its winding slide guitar and slow depression variables “Why” is solemn and subdued. Surprised? Not if you heard his first album, but if all you know of Jenkins is a much in demand funky bassist, this finds the inner struggle of personal artistic temperament at odds with expectation. If its audience, indie kids with the blues and their mothers, finds it, it could crossover – B+
Another Piece Of Me – Laura Bell Bandy – Broadway singer with the chops for country rock – B-
Drones – Muse – Some wise guy called this an Orwellian view of a break up, but Orwell wrote political satire, and so did Stanley Kubrick and what Muse write is over weaned prog rock gussied up as agit prop. Fair enough but the hit and miss rate here is awful and with the field of new releases practically to itself, it still fails to hold your attention, and the Ennio Morricone tribute at the end seems to come from nowhere at all – B-
Beneath The Skin – Of Monsters And Men – This sophomore effort by the Icelandic indie pop band would be a bigger failure if anybody expected something, a boring trudge of mediocre sugar rush that doesn’t – C
Classic Quadrophenia – Pete Townshend – WIthout Roger, with the Royal Philharmonic – C+
Sticky Fingers Super Deluxe – The Rolling Stones – After the glories of their deluxe Exile On Main Street, with so many unreleased songs, this has four variables and a live concert, the only real find the “Brown Sugar” with Clapton on lead guitar. A great album not much helped here – B
Love Life – Tamia – I have a friend who has had Babyface and Toni Braxton’s Love And Divorce in heavy rotation for this. She would love this mainstream r&b singer as well – C+
Kiddo – Tove Stryke – Apparently they do things differently in Sweden, this electronic popster is a former winner of their “Pop Idol” -but for once Cowell has earned his money on this essential pop album like Robyn without the artistic aspirations – B+
Ones And Zeros – Young Guns – UK rockers knocking on that door for over a decade, and this is like emo meets scream via England – C+
