Latest releases reviewed

THE VIEW
Hats Off to The Buskers
1965 Records
****

All eyes are on the Dryburgh area of Dundee, where the latest band of young scallywags are waiting to wrest the indie crown off whoever happens to be wearing it this week. The View may not have a silly name to match the Arctic Monkeys, but they're being touted as worthy successors to the Sheffield conquerors, and this debut album, produced by Owen Morris (who produced the second fastest-selling British debut of all time, Definitely Maybe) carries a weight of expectation on its dandruff-flecked shoulders. Need a band with The Libertines' wasted brilliance, The Kooks' easy charm, the Arctic Monkeys' kitchen sink-estate narrative and The Fratellis' ragamuffin rock? It's all here on songs such as Superstar Tradesman, Same Jeans, The Don, Face for the Radio and Wasted Little DJs. Like The Feeling, The View started off as a covers band, but they've used that training to create a raucous, ramshackle strain of alt.pop, with just enough nods to rock's past to make it all feel timeless. www.theviewareonfire.co.uk - Kevin Courtney

HUSKY RESCUE
Ghost Is Not Real
Catskills
****

The Finnish group's debut album, Country Falls, was all gilded ambient bubbles and winsome folksy refrains that took a wildly different direction in the live arena. For round two, the band introduce a wedge of new ideas to the equation, obviously taking cues from how their songs developed and were reshaped when they toured Country Falls. Sure, the same electronic influences as before make an appearance, but those Brian Eno and Philip Glass tendencies are now submerged beneath a glorious array of pop melodies courtesy of songwriter-cum-bassist Marko Nyberg. Such shiny textures give Reeta-Leena Korhola's vocals new directions to take, with her sassy, soothing, melancholic tones marking out Diamonds in the Sky and especially Nightless Night as songs with endless possibilities. With Silent Woods and Hurricane, it's the manner in which the band convert simple ideas into grandstanding sweeps of sound that will impress you over and over again. www.husky-rescue.com - Jim Carroll

THE RUBY SUNS
The Ruby Suns
Lil Chief Records/Memphis Industries
***

Make way for the New Zealand invasion, except this time it isn't anything as guttural or punk rock nasty as The Chills or Leather Nun; rather, it's the post-Lord of the Rings pastoralism of The Ruby Suns, whose take on the Beach Boys/Velvet Underground template of pure/impure pop for here and now people is endearing and guileless. Fronted and directed by Ryan McPhun (that may not be his real name), the band represents a serious attempt to bring together the spirits of Brian Wilson and John Cale; songs such as Sleep in the Garden, It's Hard to Let You Know and My Ten Years On Auto-Pilot are sun-kissed yet glide by with an undertow of unease. It's a debut record that we should hold close to our hearts for a while - a collection of smart, poignant songs. www.lilchiefrecords.com- Tony Clayton-Lea

NELLIE MCKAY
Pretty Little Head
Hungry Mouse
****

More reasons why musicians and major record labels are sometimes akin to square pegs attempting to fit into round holes. When Nellie McKay announced she was going to follow her well received, audacious double-album debut Get Away from Me with another double-album, her Sony paymasters baulked and turfed her from the label. They wanted the new Norah Jones and got, well, McKay. The artist shrugged, said it was probably best for all concerned and set about releasing Pretty Little Head on her own terms. It's as bright and breezy a collection of 23 songs as you'll hear this year, a bobbydazzler of witty, sharp-as-a pin, playful lyrics and sassy pop tricks. She surfs from sound to sound, digging a little jazz here (I Will Be There) and tickling some vintage pop frills there (the lovely Cupcake). Sure, there's some excess packaging here, but it's McKay's determination to follow her own star come what may that makes this such a beguiling affair. www.nelliemckay.org  - Jim Carroll

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Parlophone
***

Not another Damon Albarn side-project, I hear you groan. But we are all the richer for Albarn's restless muse, which has lately brought him into the orbit of ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon. This punk-Britpop collaboration has given Albarn an excuse to ruminate on the changing face of London, from the good old days of music hall, through the Swinging Sixties, London Calling and Cool Britannia, right up to the present-day stage-managed state of fear and high alert. Dressed like characters from Oliver!, the GBQ play a grim, ghostly kind of vaudeville, driven by Damon's broken-down joanna and Simonon's relentlessly stalking basslines. Ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong, who joined Blur after Graham Coxon's departure, is on board, as is Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen, so you could say that Albarn has pulled together his various musical strands here. History Song, Kingdom of Doom, Herculean, Behind the Sun and the barrelhouse title track are downbeat anthems for a down-in-the-mouth age, and no less compelling for that.  - Kevin Courtney