Donkey

They might have lost their bassist, but the Brazilian band haven’t lost their mojo on their second album. Consistently one of the best live bands around, their electro party music is still intact (think of it as a polish to the first album rather than a sideways step). While nothing has quite the bounce of ‘Alala’, ‘Off The Hook’, or ‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’, there’s still more than enough vim here to see them bring their catsuited joy to festivals for years to come.

Stop Drop & Roll!!!

Yes, it’s those pesky Green Day ’scamps’ operating under yet another pseudonym. In the wake of the massive global success of American Idiot, they’ve chosen to write a love letter to Sixties beat-pop rather than taking their cue from the post-Dickies US punk scene that has defined their day job. It’s in thrall to all those (mainly) UK acts who attempted to crack the States, all full of dumb chords and wheezing organ (and, on ‘Dark Side Of Night’, spooky-flute). The early gnaw-marked Kinks are the obvious reference point, but the foot soldiers of the pre-Nuggets Brit invasion such as Herman’s Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, and even The Monkees (they were 25% British after all) snake around this album which is big on stoopid choruses and, more importantly, big on fun.

You Can Do Anything

Third album from the Liverpudlians and their first since Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse made ‘Valerie’ a radio playlist standard. Producer George Drakoulias adds extra ‘beef’ to their sound while the arrival of new guitarist Paul Molloy gives their sound more bite and the band a renewed purpose. They haven’t strayed too far from their original template (swampy blues, R&B, tootling Roxy Music-style sax that veers into ska, pop, skiffle), but considering their sound is a melting pot of the best of the last half-century of popular music, they’re unlikely to coast for too long. Tales of longing and curtain-twitching snippets from the dark side of their hometown elevate them above many of their contemporaries. They can still do rousing glam-alike singalongs (’Always Right Behind You’, ‘What’s Your Problem’), but it has always been their introspective tracks that worked best (’Dirty Rat’ and ‘Don’t Get Caught’) and which stuck in the brain the most.

Wherever I Lay My Head

The signs were not good – ‘actress makes a record’ – but this album beautifully wrongfoots all expectations by being almost entirely made up of Tom Waits covers, which is not exactly going for the easy win. In tone and texture it sits somewhere between Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins and, while not a ‘belter’ of a singer, Johansen’s vocals are breathy enough to carry it all off. Purists will wail that it lacks the grit in Waits’s voice, but ‘Fannin’ Street’, ‘Town With No Cheer’ and ‘No One Knows I’m Gone’ are proof that new cloaks can be spun from old thread. The appearance of David Bowie and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were no doubt intended to give this a degree of credibility, but Johansen could easily have sailed this one alone.

Youth Novels

From Stockholm, this debut album by the worryingly-precocious 22-year-old is a minimalist treat. Unlike countrywoman Robyn, she shrugs off all pop leanings to create something that works more as a series of mood pieces than a radio-friendly run of singles. Her deadpan delivery (half-spoken, half-sung) is in the grand Scandinavian tradition and it tilts its head more to Iceland (and the glockenspiel-dappled side of Sigur Rós) than Sweden. The instrumentation is like the ‘Concretes go experimental folk-jazz’, but there are more than enough melodies (see ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’ and ‘I’m Good, I’m Gone’) to prevent it from melting into self-indulgence.

The Best Of

After last year’s lovely ‘evil bear face’ USB of all their Parlophone albums comes the inevitable post-In Rainbows (or should that be pre-In Rainbows?) compilation. Radiohead went through three periods – 1) The Rubbish Years (i.e. Pablo Honey), 2) The Imperial Years (i.e. The Bends and OK Computer), and 3) The We’ve Discovered Warp Records Years (i.e. Kid A onwards). Here is as good an overview of those three distinct eras as you’re likely to get. What is most immediately is (’Creep’ aside) how weak they were to start but, seemingly, they did a Robert Johnson-style pact at the crossroads as, by the time second album The Bends came out, they were both unrecognisable and unstoppable (Jeff Buckey had a massive indirect influence here). The music is, of course, beyond debate and ‘Just’, ‘Pyramid Song’, ‘The National Anthem’, ‘Talk Show Host’ ‘Lucky’, ‘2+2=5′, ‘Let Down’ (the greatest thing they will ever do), ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ etc. make a weird kind of sense running here in non-chronological order. If only the other bands that slipstreamed them into the mainstream (we’re looking at you Snow Patrol, Coldplay and Keane) had even 10% of their ambition, then British rock would actually fulfill its promise rather than just talking about it.

This Is Alphabeat

Unapologetically pop, this Danish six-piece’s debut is joyful on every level. The mood is definitely ‘up’ and, in an age of achingly-dull pale indie boys in vest in Trilbies, this is A Good Thing. The opening song (the self-mythologising ‘Fantastic Six’) sounds like it could be the backing track to learning An Important Life Lesson on Sesame Street (this is a compliment). Interestingly the singles (’Fascination’ and ‘10,000 Nights’) are far from the best things here. The fight for intelligent pop powers ahead.

Third

As Adam & Joe once said: What is it with Portishead only showing up when a recession is looming? Dummy emerged in 1994 and might have sprung from the same paranoid mindset as Massive Attack and Tricky, but it existed entirely in a world of its own imagining. Some 14 years later and little has changed, but when you have a sound and a vision this perfect and this beautiful, you really don’t need to go throwing in curveballs for effect. Glitchy, smoky, spooky backdrops against Beth Gibbons’ remarkable voice is a blueprint that has served them well. While Third doesn’t have a ‘Sour Times’ (although ‘We Carry On’ is astonishing), its power and its impact aren’t diminished a single jot.

Sweet About Me 

Of course if you really want a proper Amy Winehouse clone, then look no further than Xenomania’s latest offspring. This is Winehouse with heavy leanings towards pop rather than the paparazzi. This Italian/Australian singer recently sung the Martha & The Muffins classic ‘Echo Beach’ (for the ITV series of the same name) and is set to be the face of Boots No.17 cosmetics range. Teasingly soulful and laden in radio-friendly Xenomania production, this is one to watch.

Alas I Cannot Swim

Laura Marling is the antidote to 2008’s surge of Amy Winehouse clones (hello Duffy and Adele). If this year is a three horse race between them, Marling is in a paddock of her own. A Joni Mitchell in the making, there is a creeping and gentle darkness to her voice. Tracks such as ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Tap At My Window’ are heartfelt and wistful laments, carefully twinned with a knack for melody that belies her young age.