This week's rock and pop releases reviewed
THE LAUNDRY SHOP
Grandstanding Medicine Ball Records ****
One-time "hotly tipped" Irish band Angel of Mons split up, we are informed, from the pressure of being hotly tipped. Their main songwriter, Steve Robinson, better be careful with The Laundry Shop – their debut album is so bloody good he could have another new band this time next year. Yet we think The Laundry Shop are in it for the long(ish) haul. For a start, pretty much everything here is stamped with the kind of authority that comes with knowing your stuff and applying it with all the skills of a master craftsman. Sleek but not too smooth, insidious but not too sly, songs such as Stranger in the Headlghts, Terrified, The Daily Specialand Brighten the Wayspull few punches while simultaneously adding weight to the conviction that good things come to those who wait. In short, a cracking debut. www.the laundryshop.net TONY CLAYTON-LEA
Download tracks: Stranger in the Headlghts, Terrified
KASABIAN
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum Sony*
It's always been obvious that Kasabian revel in the prospect of one day commandeering Oasis's ladrock throne. The downside of such a goal is that the Leicester band create music that occasionally touches on the anthemic but ultimately one-dimensional. Mentioning The Clash, Pink Floyd and Daft Punk as influences in interviews is all well and good, but the songs on their third album aren't even sturdy enough to be deemed cheap imitations. Scrappy, half- formed ideas are draped across unimaginative beats, while Tom Meighan's limp, leery drawl is especially exposed as a feeble instrument on the awful Take Aim. Only a brief instrumental, Swarfiga, and the retro garage squall of Fast Fusehold any flicker of interest on this dreadful, posturing mess of an album. www.kasabian.co.uk LAUREN MURPHY
Download tracks: Fast Fuse
ASLAN
Uncase'd EMI***
National treasure status can bring unwelcome pressures. How do you push the boundaries when your identity is so intertwined with anthemic songs that demand audience participation? Aslan's sixth album, a double CD, is a crazy mixed-up kid in search of home, featuring a string of capable but pedestrian covers from the likes of Bowie, U2, Billy Joel, John Lennon and, eh, Gilbert O'Sullivan, alongside a live recording of their Oxegen performance last year. Fact is, the covers cleave so tightly to the middle of the road that they fail to add colour to Aslan's palette. The live set, on the other hand, highlights the strength and longevity of their own material. Their own stories sound as compelling as they ever did, but the covers risk morphing Aslan into a wedding band. www.aslan.ie SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks: This Is, Crazy World
DONNACHA TOOMEY
Carnival of Colours Toomstone Music***
Searing shafts of light shoot through Been a Long Time Now, one of the songs on Donnacha Toomey's debut collection. A languid mix of cool pop with dappled jazz inflections, Carnival of Coloursis aptly-named, at least for the first six of its 11 tracks. Vocally, Toomey's relaxed, loose-limbed delivery and razor-sharp melody sense are akin to the wide open spaces beloved of It's Immaterial's Driving Away from Home. Equally unforced yet often delightfully intricate guitar and trumpet set this Sunday afternoon collection apart from its attention- seeking peers. Toomey doesn't quite manage to sustain the pace, and the latter half of the CD loses some direction, melding imperceptibly with earlier tracks and sacrificing individual identity to the collective mood of the piece. Still, an impressive debut. www.donnacha toomey.com SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks: Emilia, Does It Matter That Much
CROCODILES
Summer of Hate Fat Possum***
There's no escaping the fact that San Diego duo Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez are in thrall to The Jesus Mary Chain. Most of the tracks on Summer of Hateare built on ground long ago annexed by the Reids. But with such bubblegum- noise bravado as I Wanna Kill, Crocodiles unleash enough tricks to show they're not simply gurning for the tribute band circuit. The title track, for instance, has a creepingmenace that renders it a cut above the usual buzz-pop fare, while the well-pitched jerky hooks and distortion of Soft Skull (In My Room)hint at a band with ambitions. We'll be seeing these snappy fellows again. www.my space.com/crocodilescrocodiles crocodiles JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Summer of Hate, Soft Skull (In My Room)
