CALIFONE, Heron King Blues (Thrill Jockey)
Tradition and experimentation don't often go hand in hand. Chicago band Califone, however, set out explicitly to marry their love and knowledge of American roots music - spare country, haunted blues, skeletal folk - with an avant-garde bent. The plot thickens further with the introduction of the album's central figure - the Heron King. A recurrent dream-image for Califone's Tim Rutili, the Heron King was also a druid god cunningly used by the Romans to scare the hell out of ancient Britons in battle. The resulting album (Califone's third) feels like a creepy drift at the edge of sleep. The rolling, often improvised sections recall at times the calmer passages of Captain Beefheart, but boast a spirit all their own.
LOSTPROPHETS, Start Something (Visible Noise)
Before The Darkness came along, most fans of noisy music in the UK had their hopes pinned on Welsh band Lostprophets. Their no-budget debut album, Thefakesoundofprogress, caused a ripple in 2001, coming out of nowhere (or Pontypridd, precisely) to sell 140,000 copies. On their second album, Lostprophets have evolved, coming to terms with the spaces between words. Just as tellingly, they've also acquired some glossy production. Start Something fuses the anthemic electronic churn of Linkin Park or Faith No More with the homegrown sensibility of Muse, but not in a particularly pleasant way. The single, 'Burn Burn', meanwhile, lifts the melody from Adamski's 'Killer' (sung by Seal all those years ago). It's an accident, you assume, but underlines Lostprophets's fundamental naffness.
SARAH McLACHLAN, Afterglow (Arista)
Despite the persistent assumption that most popular music is consumed by young men, global markets are often dominated by what could perhaps be described as nice lady-music. Dido's sales dwarf those of The White Stripes. And there's Canadian chanteuse McLachlan, not greatly noticed here in Britain. In North America, however, she is the multi-platinum queen of glossy introspection and the spearhead of Lilith Fair, an American travelling festival of female performers. Afterglow is McLachlan's fifth album proper, her first after a long break to rest, mourn her mother and reproduce. Like its predecessors, Afterglow 's piano and string-gilded guitar balladry is most concerned with first-person travails and post mortems on love affairs. Despite the births and deaths that punctuated its gestation, it is all rather staid and bloodless, peddling a sanitised femininity. If it could, you suspect Afterglow would shop at Monsoon.
STEREOLAB, Margerine Eclipse (Duophonic)
Most bands don't survive 13 years, let alone the sudden death of a member, the breakup of a long-standing love affair and the building of their own studio (usually a grand folly). And yet here Stereolab are again with another lovely record, despite the loss of Mary Hansen, the gain of French sonic real estate, and with the alliance between core members Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier sundered. Somehow, Stereolab wear these experiences lightly. Margerine Eclipse 's music feels as insouciant as hydrogen, and continues Stereolab's shimmy towards accessibility - 'Margerine Rock', for instance, is pure guitar pop. Sadier's lyrics tell a different story, though. There's a song for Mary ('Feel and Triple') and Sadier's oblique essays on human relations take on a darker hue. No new ground is broken here, but this is a landmark 'Lab album none the less.
VARIOUS The Rough Guide to African Rap (World Music Network) Hip hop that doesn't come from America is usually fascinating, combining as it does an urban American form with inflections unimaginible in the New York or LA 'hoods. French lends itself well to rap, as does the Neapolitan dialect. But Africa has been one of hip hop's most welcoming homes. There, rap's political bent has often taken centre stage. The music, meanwhile, has taken up influences ranging from Afrobeat to local musical forms. This primer gathers together 14 hip hop-influenced numbers from all over Africa; and the further these tracks travel from merely copying American styles, the more rewarding they get. Highlights here include Senegal's Positive Black Soul and Tanzania's X-Plastaz; less impressive is the well-meaning fusion featuring UK rapper Ty and Tony Allen, best known as Fela Kuti's percussionist.
VOODOO CHILD, Baby Monkey (Mute)
The artist more often known as Moby was prompted to record this album after a night out raving in Glasgow, where his love for 'hard, sexy, straightforward dance music' was rekindled. Baby Monkey is, indeed, full of straightforward dance music. Pumping techno, whooshing trance and acid squelches abound, topped off now and then by a looped soul vocal, just to remind you who's at the controls. The 'baby' of the title is a misnomer, however. This is incredibly dated dance music, and nowhere near as hard or sexy as the records Moby would have heard that fateful night (Glasgow's underground parties hard). None the less, Moby's no slouch at this game: he was a techno DJ well before Play made his fortune; even if his internal computer is stuck in 1993, this is nicely turned out. And if you've outgrown glowsticks, it doubles as effective driving music.
· To order Califone or Lostprophets for £14.99, Sarah McLachlan or Stereolab for £13.99, the Rough Guide to African Rap for £10.99 or Voodoo Child for £12.99, call the Observer Music Service on 0870 066 7813. Prices include p&p.
