The latest CD releases reviewed

VARIOUS
Disco Not Disco - Post Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics 1974-1986 Strut ****

Volume 3 in the Disco Not Disco series is a mouth-watering prospect, almost eclipsed by the fact that this bag of classics is released on Strut Records. The label, which closed in 2003 and has now risen from the ashes, had a canny ear for lost gems across a wide spectrum of past dance music. Struts compilations were a goldmine of rarities and sample- spotting, and its third outing spans a 12-year golden age of funk, Afrobeat, disco and breaks from New York clubs to the prog noodling of the UK's Isotope. Original riot girl Vivien Goldman opens with her two-fingered anthem Launderette, and Shriekback's classic My Spine Is the Baseline (you'll know it when you hear it) appears as a 1982 12-inch edit. As a reference point, this is an impeccable slice of music history, so ditch the modern counterfeiters for the original gold. Sinead Gleeson

Download tracks: Launderette, Seoul Music, My Spine Is the Baseline

JOHN DOE
A Year in the Wilderness Yep Roc ****

As the former co-frontman with seminal LA rockers X, John Doe can lay claim to being one of the pivotal figures in American pop. His solo career has seen him

move further from the centre, but he's still able to pull in such collaborators as Kathleen Edwards, Jill Sobule, Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys, and Tuesday's girl herself, Aimee Mann. He's also adept at moving between ballsy rockers (The Wilderness) to savvy roots duets (The Golden State, in which Doe plays Plant to Edwards's Krauss). Elsewhere, Doe finds time to reflect on the vagaries of the vagabond life in such tunes as Unforgiven, featuring Aimee Mann's wide-eyed harmony, the heartbroken Hotel Ghost and the bittersweet mini-epic closer, Grain of Salt. www.yeproc.com  Kevin Courtney

Download tracks: The Golden State, Unforgiven, Grain of Salt

DAWN LANDES
Fireproof Fargo ****

Hailing from Kentucky and based in New York, Dawn Landes has earned her corn as a recording engineer with the likes of Ryan Adams, Philip Glass and Joseph Arthur while waiting for her own songs to make a splash. If the beguiling homespun folkie pop to be found on Fireproof, her second album, is any guide, the days of pressing buttons and pushing faders for others is over. Here the folksy roots that have served Landes well begin to fade and an intriguing new set of structures begins to emerge. The recording set-up may have been minimal, but that doesn't distract in the least from such fully realised songs as Bodyguard, Picture Show or a fantastic reading of Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down. What's noteworthy throughout is Landes's ability to mix and match different styles with constant aplomb and consistency. www.dawnlandes.com  Jim Carroll

Download tracks: Bodyguard, Picture Show

BODIES OF WATER
Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink Thousand Tongues ****

Miniature epics of the progressive gospel-pop variety are what you get from this LA outfit. That description will undoubtedly  cause some to yelp with alarm.

But those who appreciate pop's more outlandish flourishes and the sounds minted by the likes of Danielson or Polyphonic Spree will find much to embrace in this band's euphoric joy. From the moment the first chant is fired skywards, it's obvious that David Metcalf and friends believe the path to nirvana is paved with eclectic intentions. This explains  in part why such songs as Our Friends Appear Like the Dawn and album highpoint It Moves are dramatic, emotive, idiosyncratic, intense and always entertaining. Grand, glorious and only occasionally goofy, these Californian dreamers produce further proof that the devil doesn't have all the best tunes. www.bodiesofwater.net  Jim Carroll

Download tracks: It Moves

ANIMAL LIBERATION ORCHESTRA
Roses and Clover Brushfire Records *

ALO sounds like some radical electro-indie collective, but the only animals this Californian quartet are likely to release are fluffy, soft-soul disco bunnies. The fact that they're signed to Jack Johnson's Brushfire label should be warning enough, and suspicions will be confirmed by the breezy, colloquial funk-lite of Maria, Try, Plastic Bubble and Empty Vessel (A Pledge of No Allegiance). Just when you think the songs can't get anymore middle-of- the-boulevard, the band comes up with something as wet and and insipid as Monday or the cringe- inducing All Alone, about the trials and tribulations of playing live music for a living. They're right - it takes some neck to deliver tunes this dull and boring on stage every night. www.alomusic.com Kevin Courtney

Downoad tracks: none

TOM BAXTER
Skybound EMI ***

A few years back, this personable singer-songwriter seemed to get lost in that tide of solo male acoustic performers. His under- rated 2004 debut, Feather and Stone, showed Baxter to be an act of substance and not just another folky troubadour with angst issues. His appeal, in evidence again on this new album, is a lack of pretension and guile in a sub-genre that can make those characteristics near prerequisites. Baxter gets off to a flying start here with Better, the first single that has already become a big radio hit. Its mid-tempo feel, neatly backed with orchestral arrangements, is emblematic of the whole album. There's little whizz or bang here, but songs such as Miracle certainly possess an affecting tone. Not an album to smack you in the face, then, but one that will insinuate its way onto playlists and into the charts. www.tombaxter.com  Brian Boyd

Download tracks: Better, Miracle