The Magic Numbers' second album continues from where last year's debut left off, Joanna Newsom is in a magical universe all her own and Damien Rice releases the brilliant gimmick-free 9...

POP

The Magic Numbers

Those the Brokes (Heavenly/EMI )
****
They are The Mamas and the Papas for the new century, The Magic Numbers bask in sweeping male-female melodies and strings arranged by legendary Sixties sound magician Robert Kirby. But being secretly avant-garde East Coast Americans, they also have an urgency akin to The Flaming Lips and The Strokes.

The second album continues from where last year's debut left off. Romeo Stodart writes almost everything and, at first glance, his world is one where Carl's Song, Take a Chance and Runnin' Out are slivers of musical sunshine. So far, so saccharine, but there's also darker fare, with Take a Chance, Undecided and All I See detailing relationship breakdowns and insecurity. There's something for everyone.

Joanna Newsom
Ys Drag City)
****
The extent to which this 24-year-old Californian will not be to everyone's taste cannot be overemphasised. With her harp, childlike squawk and florid lyrics about bears, meteorites and sandcastles, she sounds like no one in the past 400 years, never mind this decade. Kate Bush and Bjork are easy comparisons, but Newsom inhabits a magical universe all her own. Here are five string-laden tracks that are more movements than songs, the shortest more than seven minutes long, all of them ditching verses and choruses in favour of meandering musically and lyrically in a way that will take months of repeated listening to follow fully. The majority will hate it, but a few will conclude that here is a new artist genuinely worthy of worship.

Damien Rice
9 (14th Floor)
*****
The Irish singer/songwriter's gimmick-free follow-up to his 2002 debut, O, represents a seamless progression in the same brilliant direction. The Animals Were Gone boasts a mournful melody and ethereal lyrics to which Rice has applied the Nick Drake techniques of gentle acoustic guitar, a sprinkling of strings and crystal-clear vocals whispered in your ear. Elephant shows off Rice's ability to leap from lazy tenderness to fullthroated passion. Whether he's loving, hating or experiencing a bit of both, as exemplified by his anguished "F**k you, and all we've been through" on Rootless Tree, Rice is neck-tinglingly intense. This, combined with exquisite melodies and dramatic dynamics, establishes this as a five-star classic.

WORLD

Seckou Keita Quartet
Afro-Mandinka Soul (Arc, EUCD 2028)
****
Seckou Keita, the Senegalese-born musician, plays the kora, the gourdharp associated with the ancestral musical families of West Africa. Now resident in Britain, Keita inherited the tradition from his maternal Cissokho background, but has looked beyond it to put together a quartet with Egyptian violinist Samy Bishai, Italian bassist Davide Mantovani and Gambian percussionist Surahata Susso. It's a sensitive ensemble which allows each to respond directly to each other's playing and keep a traditional base even when the material is new. The deserty scratch of Juldeh Camara's riti fiddle is a distinctive addition on many tracks. A fine example of how traditional music can evolve outside its original context.

JAZZ

Ray Charles & the Count Basie Orchestra
Ray Sings, Basie Swings (Concord/HearMusic, CCD-30026)
****
Some technological marvels, such as Natalie Cole "duetting" with her late father Nat, leave a strange taste. This one is more organic. A recently discovered tape found Ray Charles in top form but his band almost inaudible, so the backing tracks were re-scored for the modern Basie band. "These tapes were just waiting for technology to catch up," as Charles's former producer John Burk put it. Long and Winding Road and Cryin' Time are overly saccharine, but Let the Good Times Roll and I'm Busted remind us that nobody gave a lyric more blues, funk and all-round hipness than Ray.