Lupe Fiasco
Food & Liquor (Atlantic) £12.99
Kanye West altered hip hop’s blueprint, setting thoughtful rhymes to club-pleasing beats. While fellow Chicagoan Lupe Fiasco (Wasalu Muhammad Jaco to his mother) isn’t one of the legion of Kanye copyists, his conscious, funny, bold debut album flows very much in West’s vein. (Understandably, West is one of the producers on board.) ‘Just Might Be OK’ combines big horn blares with eloquence and soul. Further in, ‘Hurt Me Soul’ and ‘American Terrorist’ pack audacious lyrical punches in catchy commercial wrappings, recalling a golden age when Public Enemy were angry, eloquent and popular. Kitty Empire
Jet
Shine on (Atlantic) £12.99
When their debut came out in 2003, Jet were criticised for aping everyone from the Beatles to AC/DC. So are the Melbourne macro-rockers breaking loose on their second album? The answer, as Angus Young would tell you if he heard ‘Stand up’, is no. Oasis, Perry Farrell and Iggy Pop might also hear familiar echoes. The real problem, however, is the lyrics. Although the foursome can churn out anthems, including the excellent’ Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’, they are let down by such lines as: ‘I got this notion from another man, who put this dead fish in my hand.’ An apt summary. Killian Fox
Beck
The Information (Polydor) £12.99
Beck plays fortune teller on this, his ninth album proper, but peering in the Hansen crystal ball is not a pretty sight. From the ‘toxic fumes and burning plastic’ on ‘Cell Phone’s Dead ‘ to the ‘telemarketing people with cellular headsets’ in ‘1000 BPM ‘, Beck documents a changing world ‘moving too fast’. Gloomy prophesies aside, The Information is a musical delight. Typical Beck rap is bundled up in deep funk and hip hop grooves for ‘Elevator Music’ and ‘Nausea’; electronic soundscapes, choral harmonies and organ music abound on ‘New Round ‘ and ‘Dark Star ‘ while bluesy, acoustic simplicity rules on ‘Think I’m in Love’. Katie Toms
Lindsey Buckingham
Under the Skin (Reprise) £12.99
If Fleetwood Mac are a guilty pleasure, enjoying a solo album by their former guitarist should be a heinous crime. But there’s little MOR bombast on Lindsey Buckingham’s fourth solo record; these are dusty redemption songs which draw on the sparest of elements. ‘Show You How’ summons and sustains a groove with little more than a guitar and cleverly layered vocals. And ‘Under the Skin’ builds on a simple, strummed motif with Buckingham’s voice shimmering beautifully like a heat-haze. When he does at last display his knack for the heroic chorus, he unleashes another aspect of a singular musical talent. Ally Carnwath
Chris Garrick & John Etheridge
At the Dimming of the Day (Flying Blue Whale) £13.99
Thirteen violin-and-guitar duets may not sound like an exciting proposition, but this is a most remarkable album. The range of expression, originality of ideas and boldness of execution puts it in a class of its own. Etheridge has been called ‘one of the best guitarists in the world ‘ by no less a figure than Pat Metheny, and on this showing that’s the plain truth. Garrick, a former prodigy, can swing with the best of them, but there’s also warmth, lyricism and a lot of wit. The programme is inspired, too, with themes by everyone from Duke Ellington to William Walton, by way of Ennio Morricone.
Dave Gelly
Estrella Morente
Mujeres (Mute) £12.99
When Penélope Cruz opens her mouth to sing in Pedro Almodóvar’s film Volver, the impassioned voice that issues forth is that of Estrella Morente. At 26, Granada-born Morente – daughter of a famous dancer and the singer Enrique Morente, and now the wife of one of Andalucia’s top matadors – is flamenco royalty with bells on. This well-timed follow-up to her imperious 2001 debut finds her fully inhabiting every dark, Moorish, extravagantly wrought line in an astute mix of tangos and tarantas she dedicates to inspirational women: flamenco greats, Cruz herself (a friend); and, in homage to Nina Simone, an anguished Ne me quitte pas. Carol McDaid
