J. Mascis & The Fog: More Light (City Slang)
The Ted Nugent of grungy, guitar-mauling loser rock is back with a new band, so presumably his previous outfit, Dinosaur Jr, is now extinct. Mascis is a bit of a fossil in the current fresh-faced climate of rock'n'roll, but he still has some dirty lo-fi riffs and loud, screeching licks to offer. Sameday, Where'd You Go and I'm Not Fine take Neil Young's arc-welding guitar approach and fuses it with Mascis's unique, scraping drawl. There are shades of Credence Clearwater Revival in Back Before You Go, and a flash of Hawkwind in the phaserdrenched swirl of the title track, but mostly it's the unmistakeable sound of Mascis in excelsis.
Kevin Courtney
Cinerama: Disco Volante (Scopitones)
The Wedding Present stopped being much cop a long time ago, but head Wed David Gedge's side project, Cinerama, showed that the old shoegazer still had it in him to create something worth savouring. The debut album, Va Va Voom, was a tasty slice of indie lounge, showcasing the technicolour talents of Sally Murrell. On this follow-up, however, Gedge seems to have taken the reins back, and he's firmly in charge on songs such as 146 Degrees, Your Charms and Unzip. This could be a Wedding Present album in all but name, except The Weddoes could never come up with such stylish tunes as Lollobrigida, Apres Ski and Superman. The core band of Gedge, Murrell, Simon Cleave, Terry De Castro and Simon Pearson is augmented by cello, violin, French horn, flute and accordion, making for a lush, seductive sound which amply props up the weaker tunes.
Kevin Courtney
M.J. Cole: (Talkin Loud)
It should have come as no surprise that Sincere made the list for this year's Mercury Music Award. Just like Roni Size and Reprazent's New Forms did for drum'n'bass, M.J. Cole's debut joins the dots and colours in the pictures for those who still think of UK garage as a place to park their car. Like his two-step contemporaries, Cole is smooth with leading-edge production values and some very smart ideas (both the title track and Strung Out purr with quality). But, also unfortunately like his peers, there's very little of interest beneath the polish. While the genre may have evolved somewhat from the rough and tumble of the early days, the fact that there's nothing to challenge or provoke here is very disappointing.
Jim Carroll
Kinobe: Soundphiles (Pepper)
For Kinobe, the right music is about setting the right mood - and it's a task to which they've admirably adhered on their debut album. Astute fans of horizontal music will already be aware of Slip Into Something Comfortable and its slinky Engelbert Humperdinck sample from repeated plays on the better radio shows, and they will raise their cocktail glasses to what Soundphiles has to offer. An album where languor is to be feted, and chilling out the desired state of the nation, tracks such as Hammock Island and Skyscaper even come named with pre-packed connotations of laze and haze. Organic in deployment, the Kinobe chaps stretch from samples to strings without ever losing their cool. You could say that it's just what the perfect summer requires.
Jim Carroll