Violent Femmes: Viva Wisconsin (Cooking Vinyl)

America's finest folk-punk troubadors take to the road in their home state of Wisconsin, and record a damn fine live album in the process. The Femmes played Dublin earlier this week and - if Viva Wisconsin is anything to go by - anyone who didn't catch them at Vicar Street (me included) was at the wrong gig. You can feel the electricity in the air from the first track, Prove My Love, and as the band's acoustic set progresses though such classics as Blister In The Sun, Hallowed Ground, American Music, Gone Daddy Gone and Kiss Off, you can practically see the steam seeping out of your CD tray. A climactic Add It Up should get red-blooded buskers pounding the pavement in ecstasy.

- Kevin Courtney

Various Artists: Music From The Motion Picture Man On The Moon (Warner Bros)

The soundtrack for the new Jim Carrey vehicle - a biopic of American comedian Andy Kaufman - has been scored by R.E.M., who have more than a passing interest in the late Mr Kaufman. The title track, originally featured on Automatic For The People, is the centrepiece here, but a superb new song, The Great Beyond, proves that R.E.M. can still deliver great pop music. On the other end of the scale is a duet between Michael Stipe and Jim Carrey, This Friendly World, and a silly version of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive by Kaufman's alter-ego, cabaret crooner Tony Clifton. Finally, for fans of Kaufman's role as Latka in Taxi, there's the all-too-familiar theme tune from the classic television series.

- Kevin Courtney

Various artists: Essential Millennium (ffrr, 3 CDs)

In which dance music's elder statesmen make some noise and, if the marketing campaign works, some cash too. Pete Tong's predictable set of high-quality dance anthems return from a summer in Ibiza to mature on a Christmas dance floor near you. Fatboy Slim ducks under the counter for his mix, chopping between hard-necked breaks and beats from the likes of Alan Braxe and Major Force, and more smirksome moments from your Underworlds and Groove Armadas. Paul Oakenfold sets the controls for the heart of Planet Trance and chugs out an average set of psychedelic-lite variations on the one theme. Let's hope the sound of 2999 is somewhat more exciting.

- Jim Carroll