Todd Terry: Resolutions (Virgin)

Todd Terry is the dance floor Don, the Yankee DJ and producer with a Midas touch which can turn previously unhip acts into icons of cool - just look at what his remix of Missing did for Everything But The Girl. Unlike many of his overpaid house peers, he's something of a maverick - which makes Resolutions, his exploration of jungle's parade of breakbeats, all the more mesmerising. Terry appears to be someone who is not prepared to stand still, and while many may see this outing as somewhat tokenistic, the energy and thrills on show cannot be denied. Blackout is fierce and funky, the sound of the underground merging with superfly house arrangements, while Let It Ride is a peculiar blueprint for a whole new way of dancing.

Jim Carroll

Witness: Before The Calm (Island)

They're from Wigan, they're friends of Nick McCabe, but Witness insist that they're not the new Verve. Led by the plaintive tones of vocalist Gerard Starkie, who sounds like Marianne Faithfull's melancholy younger brother, Witness specialise in slow, emotive tunes such as Second Life, Scars and Heirloom, wrapping them in shrouds of slide guitar, death-march drum loops and desolate piano refrains. Even uptempo songs such as Audition don't pass without such regret-filled lines as "I've got rags where my riches should be". There a richness to all this reflection, however, and a sense of loving craftsmanship in songs such as Hijacker, So Far Gone and My Friend Will See Me Through. Take some shards of Tindersticks, add some shades of the blues, and you've got a Witness for your pain.

Kevin Courtney

The Shanks: (Murgatroid)

The Cork band The Shanks share a label with Limerick band The Hitchers, not surprising since both bands also seem to share a slightly twisted, offbeat rock'n'roll vision. The Skanks would be a more appropriate name for them, judging by the ska-centric beats of 2 Dogs, Babbling and Magnolia €1, but it would fall short of describing the quirky indie sounds of Trickle, Crystal Clear and Thunder Hall. While songs such as Trouble, Hole In The Ground and Wakey Wakey are exuberant and energetic, and flavoured with pinches of Sixties pop and Seventies punk, the singer's Bob Geldof growl and the band's anything-goes attitude makes The Shanks sound like little more than a bunch of twangy, disposable happy campers.

Kevin Courtney