Small Craft on a Milk Sea Warp****

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Brian Eno is now on the Warp label – he's basically been a Warp artist in exile for most of his career. One listen to his new album and you realise why U2 and Coldplay have the ex-Roxy Music man on speed dial. Eno has a remarkable ability to break and bend sounds, and an instinctive sense as to what goes where and how much or how little should be used. The more classically ambient tracks here – in particular, the undulating beauty of Emerald and Lime(really, you won't hear a better three minutes of music all year) snuggle up against washes of industrial noise and post- Krautrock experimentation. At times you're sonically thrown back to the magnificence of Tricky's Maxinquaye, and there is the odd influence of Aphex Twin (who himself was influenced by Eno). It all gets like a musical mobius strip at times, and that really is the man's rare gift. See brian-eno.net

Download: Emerald and Lime, Flint March