POP
CSS
Donkey (Sub Pop)
***
CSS lived up to their colourful Brazilian heritage on their 2006 album Cansei de Ser Sexy, a riot of disco-punk sauciness that was the soundtrack to a neverending party led by jumpsuited singer lovefoxxx. Behind the scenes, jollity was more scarce. A bassist and a manager left acrimoniously, and much of their spirit has gone. Tracks such as Rat Is dead (Rage) and Give Up are still fast paced but more polished and heavier. Guitars are turned up at the expense of synths. Their stronger grasp of English means the lyrics are less entertaining, and the most prominent attempt at something new - a reggae pop track called Move - doesn't work. Hopefully things will brighten up on album three.
DAVID SMYTH

Primal Scream
Beautiful Future (B-Unique)
***
This is a band that excites rage from its detractors. They point to the persona Bobby Gillespie has created: the last junkie in town spraying rock 'n' roll bullets (blanks discarded by the Stones) while the apocalypse lurks around the corner. That's fine, they say, but this skinny geezer has kids and is living out a crap fantasy. The truth is Gillespie writes songs of classic simplicity, often enhanced by pretty melodies. The guitars are noisy, the drums relentless, the words a delirium of gibberish. The title track, Suicide Bomb and Beautiful Summer are memorable. He even wrote the awful Zombie Man to make the rest look good.
PETE CLARK

Sharleen Spiteri
Melody (Mercury)
****
There's nothing like emotional trauma to spur creativity. for all its fiery tempo, Sharleen Spiteri's first album outside the Texas womb is a break-up album in the tradition of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. The titles alone - All the Times I Cried, Stop I Don't love You Any More - ought to give Spiteri's ex, Ashley Heath, pause for thought. The slow-burning, gorgeous You let Me down is pure venom but the pain is leavened by the Motownesque throb she utilised on Texas's Black Eyed Boy. A grown-up Duffy.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

JAZZ
Wille Neslon & Wunton Marsalis
Two Men with the Blues (Blue Note)
***
Country icon meets jazz star, live at New York's Lincoln Center? It's as toe-curling as purists might imagine. Marsalis's wah-wah solo on Georgia is a gem and Nelson has the road-weary, semi-singing voice for 'Taint Nobody's Business, and My Bucket's Got a Hole in It. He also takes gritty solos on a guitar with a jagged hole in it. It's a good sampler for jazz, blues and country newcomers.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
Balla ses Balladins
The Syliphone Years (Sterns)
***
In post-independence Africa, Guinea headed a movement for cultural regeneration they called "authenticité". President Sekou Touré was a despotic ruler but left a musical legacy, led by Balla et ses Balladins. With intricate guitar, soulful horns and percussive grooves, this double CD picks tracks from 1968-1980. Soumbouyaya and Ancien Combatant are just two memorable tracks.
SIMON BROUGHTON