It is surely the most unexpected, but deserved, success story of the year. Rodrigo y Gabriela started out playing heavy metal at home in Mexico City, switched to acoustic guitars and moved to Dublin, where this new set has become the first instrumental album to ever go straight to the top of the Irish album charts.

Producer John Leckie, who has worked with Radiohead and Baaba Maal, wisely decided that no one should be involved in the recording except for the duo themselves, with just one brief contribution from gypsy violinist Roby Lakato. But no one else is needed.

The fluid, melodic, often rapid-fire guitar work constantly switches direction, with echoes of anything from flamenco and Latin styles to heavy metal (there are acoustic versions of Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven and Metallica's Orion) and even the percussion is produced by the duo, bashing the sides of their guitars. And they really are this good live too - as you can judge from their current tour.