Eoin Butler'sguide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams

GUNS N' ROSES

Chinese Democracy

Geffen

"All I got is precious time" screeches Axl Rose - and, boy, has he taken it. When Guns N' Roses last put out an album of original material, the Falun Gong spiritual philosophy referenced in these lyrics had not yet even been formulated.

Avoiding anticlimax after that long a gestation period would appear a nigh on impossible task. And so it proves. The verdict: a resounding meh.

M.I.A.

Paper Planes

XL

It's odd that Paper Planes should be promoted as a new release, yonks after it first appeared on M.I.A's Kalaalbum. Back then, we wondered where the hell we'd heard that sample before. (It's actually The Clash with Straight to Hell.) The track recently appeared on the soundtrack to Pineapple Express, which may explains the belated single release. It remains, of course, a work of swaggering genius.

KANYE WEST

Love Lockdown

Roc-a-Fella

Debate is raging online as to whether Auto-Tune is destroying music forever (as some argue), or is just a passing fad (as seems more likely). Here is Kanye West's contribution to the genre. I like it.

RAZORLIGHT

Wire to Wire

Universal

One thing you'd have to give Razorback's Johnny Borrell some credit for is that he's not afraid to appear ridiculous. Here he stands bare-chested, mouthing with painful sincerity some of the most preposterous lyrics you'll hear this side of a Brett Anderson solo record. ("She lives on Disillusion Road/We go where our wild blood flows") It's a valiant effort from a very, very silly man.

KARDINAL OFFISHALL FEATURING AKON

Dangerous

Geffen

If the measure of a song is whether I can envision late-night revellers on dance floors from Limavaddy to Lisdoonvarna drunkenly warbling the chorus into each other's faces then, yes, this certainly is a hit.

PONY CLUB

I Still Feel the Same

hum recordings

Formed in 1929, Mark Cullen's Pony Club is an international youth organisation devoted to horses and horseback riding . . . hmmm . . . cogging this review from Wikipedia may not have been the wisest idea I've ever had.

More relationship woes from the Finglas lo-fi king.