Jamelia walks the walk and talks the talk to fabulous effect on her latest album, The Lemonheads make a brilliantly bold return, and Sparklehorse opts for a clearer, poppier sound...

Jamelia: Walk With Me
Parlophone
****

Jamelia's third album Walk With Me seals her status as one of British pop's most assertive performers. The music samples are fashionably far-reaching; here, Jamelia loops da loop with borrowed riffs from The Stranglers' Golden Brown (on her ballad No More), Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus (on the commanding Beware Of The Dog) and, bizarrely, the classic Britcom Are You Being Served? (on Window Shopping). Crucially, though, Jamelia's vocals sound more powerful and sultry than ever and rhythms flow fabulously, from the synth-rock meltdown of latest single Something About You to the raunchy bhangra grooves of Do Me Right, co-written with the legendary Afrika Bambaataa. Jamelia walks the walk and talks the talk - to fabulously storming effect. Arwa Haider

The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads
Polydor
****

Back in the early 1990s, Evan Dando coulda been a mainstream contender - then the drugs kicked in. He's still here, though, and has now reformed his big-hearted rockers The Lemonheads for a self-titled album. It's a brilliantly bold return, from Dando's observations on Pittsburgh to J Mascis's guest guitar on No Backbone and the mix of country licks and murderous intent on Baby's Home. Like Dando himself, the album is ravaged yet boyish, persuasive and defiantly unapologetic. Arwa Haider

Sparklehorse: Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
Parlophone
****

It's business as usual for Sparklehorse's retiring cult musician Mark Linkous on Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, which should suit fans of his dissonant dream pop just fine. That said, Linkous has opted for a clearer, poppier timbre for his fourth record, the old sonic chiaroscuro of broken guitar blasts and faux naive interludes softened into a newly coherent palette of reverie-soaked songs. Plus, of course, Danger Mouse, The Flaming Lips and Tom Waits have also contributed, adding some high definition to Linkous's beloved submerged melodies and a bit more turbo to his fractured, twinkling arrangements. A beautiful record. Claire Allfree

Larrikin Love: The Freedom Spark
Infectious
****

This year has seen a pleasing number of bands stretch the peculiarly messy English pop of The Libertines and take it in weird and wonderful new directions. The Freedom Spark, Larrikin Love's debut album, is a fantastic brew of indie jangle, ska and fiddle rock. The Libertines connection begins (and ends) with Edward Larrikin's yearning vocals and lyrical themes; in a sense he's searching for the well-documented Albion. Larrikin Love would have once been cast aside as music for crusties, but there's more to this album than that thanks to the infectious energy and intelligence that pulses through it. Ben East

Lupe Fiasco: Food And Liquor
Atlantic
****

Skate nerd Lupe Fiasco is the latest addition to the Kanye West caravan out of Chi Town and delayed debut Food And Liquor lives up to all the hype. Demonstrating a delight in wordplay and a prodigious imagination, Fiasco offers no end of variety in his verses: Instrumental is a lyrically complex portrait of a TV addict; Daydreamin' is an incisive swipe at gangsta rap. Soaring on slick orchestral swells, Lupe's fleet-footed rhymes unfurl slowly over multiple listens - and in this case hitting rewind repeatedly is no chore. Siobhan Murphy