Hot Chip return with a deliciously giddy new album and sleep inducing stuff from Jack Johnson in this week's top CDs.

DANCE
Hot Chip
Made In The Dark (EMI)
****
Five-piece indie bands always seem a smidge extravagant. But when indie sidesteps rock, zips up its anorak, tapes its spectacles and dives into the dance lab - surplus shmurplus, it's time to take out an ad in Mixmag's classifieds. For, my disco friends, in the world of dance-punk the more layers of barmy bleepy bloops and fizzly, knob-twiddling electro, the better.

The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, SMD and Justice do delectably as duos and James Murphy proves magic can be made by one man alone - but with five fellas a proper party is always in order. Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard were the original masterminds behind Hot Chip, but these days Al Doyle, Owen Clarke and Felix Martin prove it's never less than a five-man show.

Hot Chip made a splashette among music circles with their 2004 debut Coming On Strong (Sir LCD lapped it up), but 2006's Mercury-nominated indiedisco mirrorball, The Warning, marched them towards global dance floors, led by a cheeky monkey banging a miniature cymbal on Over And Over.

Two years of live shows and reams of DJ stints proved Hot Chip were a thrilling live prospect, too. I was all but mauled to death by excitable frolickers at their Astoria gig when the floor melted into a giant Space Hopper.

Indeed, several Made In The Dark tracks will be familiar to fans, particularly Shake A Fist, a frantic five-minute DJ Shadow-meets-Chemical Brothers mash-up; a two-parter crammed with strobe-like bleeps and quasar guns, Todd Rundgren's spoken vocals, and tinkling Over And Over cowbells that roar like an asteroid hurtling towards Earth. But it's the anomaly on a deliciously, giddily, deliriously romantic album.

Yep, romantic. Alexis Taylor has crocheted his twinkling falsetto vocals into the fabric of some effervescent-electro dance floor destroyers (the end of the superlative Out At The Pictures sounds like it is being enjoyed by a flock of ducks and Ford Fiesta's barking dogbot) but for every unpredictable, melodic five-man riot there is a woozily lovey-dovey number.

We're Looking For A Lot Of Love eases down the tempo with a soft clapbeat, an organ backdrop and the catchiest whistling sample since Peter, Bjorn & John's Young Folks. Whistle For Will sounds like Hot Chip's take on Chilton Price's oh-so-covered 1952 lovesong You Belong To Me. Even current single Ready For The Floor, one of the greatest dance tunes to emerge this year, gleams with steady, sorrowful minor key swoops, a sort of geek-chic romanticism.

"There are holes in what we do," the boys chant on Bendable, Poseable, an electro-pop monster that sounds moments away from bursting into Gorillaz's 19-2000. There may be holes, but it's damn hard to spot them. MARTHA DE LACEY

POP
Jack Johnson
Sleep Through The Static (Brushfire)
***
That Jack Johnson is headlining Hyde Park in the summer confirms that his brand of light, earnest, cheery acoustic pop has turned the Hawaiian former surfer into an unlikely worldwide phenomenon. This fifth album is much like its predecessors: unassuming, lovelorn, gentle and vaguely worried about the planet. At its sweetest - as on the quietly protesting title track, or Enemy, Johnson is a summer breeze. Yet the monotony kicks in over 15 almost identical tracks; what was initially restful becomes sleep inducing. Not to be played while operating heavy machinery. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Shelby Lynne
Just a Little Lovin' (Lost Highway)
***
The second notable covers album of the year - after Cat Power's Jukebox - Just a Little Lovin' features country singer Shelby Lynne taking on the songbook of Dusty Springfield. She plays things straight with stripped-down arrangements controlled by veteran producer Phil Ramone. Everything is slowed to a crawl, even pop favourite I Only Want to Be With You. Songs such as Anyone Who Had a Heart, The Look of Love and Breakfast in Bed are strong enough to withstand almost any treatment, so this classy simplification works fine, though the odd change of pace would have helped. DAVID SMYTH

Lenny Kravitz
It Is Time For a Love Revolution (Virgin)
***
You can set your compass by Lenny, adjust your watch by his timing. Gratifyingly, his eighth studio album shows no disconcerting departures from the first: thumping drums, humping bass and Lenny's drawling way with a simple melody that you have almost heard before. At some point in each song there will be a pause before Lenny makes his guitar scream and moan as if it were a groupie. The title track comes up first and exemplifies all his timeless qualities, somehow making exciting what should, in theory, be mundane. The rest follows suit. If you like big rock, invest. PETE CLARK

R&B
Mary J Blige
Growing Pains (Polydor)
***
Mary J Blige has never set much store on keeping things to herself. After all, who needs a therapist when you have millions of fans prepared to listen to your emotional traumas set to music? Growing Pains is another very hefty dollop of confessional R&B.

At 19 tracks and 75 minutes it's probably six tracks and half an hour too long, but there are real pleasures here. The tight, glossy funk of Roses is a highlight musically and lyrically, with Blige drifting from needy to angry to dominant in five pithy minutes. And Nowhere Fast is also notable for its hooky insistence and blend of seduction and vitriol, although we never actually find out what her man has done. Still, plenty of drama. PAUL CONNOLLY

JAZZ
Pat Metheny
Day Trip (Nonesuch)
****
There comes a time, as all jazz stars know, when you have to jettison the fancy studio orchestras, concept-album themes, guest stars and reaffirm your mettle as improvising heavyweights. Guitarist Pat Metheny does so here. With only bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez, he dazzles on 10 new originals. Let's Move is fast and boppish, At Last You're Here is a fine ballad, bound to become a classic - as might his bluesy Calvin's Keys and a bittersweet acoustic lament for flood-battered New Orleans, Is This America? For technique, taste and originality, Pat's still the man. JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
Tcheka
Lonji (Lusafrica)
****
There's a new wave of young musicians from Cape Verde following in the footsteps of veteran diva Cesaria Evora, and Tcheka is the young man to watch. He comes from Santiago, the most African of the islands, and local rhythms and styles are evident in the fizzing guitar technique that accompanies his soft, light voice. This, Tcheka's second album, shows him to have real composing talent. Instrumental colour comes from sax, accordion, trumpet plus some novel percussion, including a telephone book with brushes. The tone is soft and delicate, and all the more beautiful for being so unassuming. SIMON BROUGHTON