Mars Volta alter

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DON'T be fooled when Mars Volta say that Octahedron is an "acoustic" album.

After the migraine-inducing blowout that was 2007's Bedlam In Goliath, it's only fair that the band might want to tone it down a little this time around.

But Octahedron, although quieter by their own standards, is still very much a prog metal affair - with barbed wire guitars, experimental electronic flecks and distinctive Mars Volta vocal shrieking.

For every reflective moment like Copernicus, there's a rocker such as Cotopaxi to match - although the experimental, self-indulgent 15-minute tracks are absent here.

So while there's no strong theme running through the LP - which for me made previous efforts such as De-Loused In The Comatorium must-haves - Octahedron does give the group the opportunity to show a variety of sides.

Slips up

TOMORROW sees the release of electro duo The Slips' new single, the pulsating 3.0.3.
A storming track, 3.0.3 demonstrates why the pair - who started as a couple of sound engineers wanting to have a pop at making the music themselves - already count the likes of CSS, Mirwais and Rob da Bank amongst their fans.
To celebrate the release Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice has teamed up with the rather marvellous Anti Chris to offer his Anti Chris Remix of the track.
Click here to grab a copy - and if you have a minute more, click through to Anti Chris's Myspace page and have a listen to his fantastic track, Mr Drumbastic.

Dad rock

CONGRATULATIONS to Young Knives' frontman Henry Dartnall and his partner, who have spawned an even younger knife, Arthur Dartnall.
You can see a cute picture of the little smasher, born yesterday, that the Belton-born singer tweeted here.

An Addis addition

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AFTER last year's surprise success A Town Called Addis, Dub Colossus are back for afters.

In comparison Return To Addis is, er, more of a village, a brief EP made up of two remixes and two new tracks - but it takes a while to settle.

The opener, a Sidestepper remix of Black Rose, quickly passes and then the Cesar Diaz reworking of Sima Edy takes a long time to kick in.

The standard leaps up for the second half of the EP which is made up of two dubs from Dub Colossus, a project begun by Transglobal Underground founding member Nick Page working with Ethiopian musicians.

Here the mixture of dub, reggae, jazz and traditional Ethiopian music that made A Town Called Addis such a smash are in evidence.

As a result, Return To Addis works as a companion to the 2008 release, but I would only recommend it to fans of that album - although judging by its success, that's probably quite a lot of people.

Download for those going nowhere

ARE you ready to rock?
*yeah*
I can't hear you! I said are you ready, to RAWK?
*YEAH*
Good, because to coincide with Download Festival kicking off Monsters Of Rock-style just down the road in Castle Donington today, I'm offering a free download from LA-based guitar slingers ZanKoma.
So now, even if you're not going to Donington Park, you can don your blackest T-shirt, grab a copy of the aptly-titled Road To Nowhere, and mosh away from the comfort of your own living room.
Click here to download the track.

Enjoy Incubus

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THERE'S no doubt that Incubus are a brilliant band.

However after nearly 15 years knocking out slick alternative metal, only the biggest of fans or canniest of shoplifters will own the group's entire back catalogue - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Make Yourself were staples of my listening habits back in the day, but I have to admit that the more recent stuff has passed me by.

But fear not, as the group's greatest hits package, Monuments And Melodies, is here to fill in those gaps.

And as all good retrospectives do, it only goes to show just how great Incubus were in their prime - plus it's bookended by two new tracks and with a second CD of rarities to boot.

My only grumble is despite the inclusion of a version of A Certain Shade Of Green, the earliest incarnation of Incubus is missing - would it have hurt to shove in New Skin or Azwethinkweiz?

Despite this there's almost too much to like here - and with work on a seventh studio album in the pipeline, perhaps they can rectify that on their next greatest hits release...

Get Get Back Guinozzi

AN ARRESTING freebie for you - click here to lay your hands on one half of French duo Get Back Guinozzi's debut double-A side single Police And Thieves for free.
The jangly track will be released alongside Low Files Tropical this September.

We Meat again

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LIKE a bat out of Hell, rotund rocker Meat Loaf returns with a remastered version of his condensed greatest hits package - and although two out of three ain't bad, there's no way it's going to be anything but five out five.
Slightly rejigged from its original 1984 release, all of Loaf's big hitters are here - Dead Ringer For Love, Bat Out Of Hell, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night), Paradise By The Dashboard Light - and I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) and I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth) have been added for good measure.
Fist-pumping, girl-winning, lighter-waving, handkerchief-saturating, cape-wearing overblown pomposity prevails - and it's as fun as it ever was.
If you already own some Meat Loaf then there's not a lot of point in adding this to your collection, but for the casual consumer Hits Out Of Hell is more than enough to get your fill.

They are Legend

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BACK in October last year, a copy of The Vodoun Effect unexpectedly landed on my desk - and after one spin, the mixture of vodoun voodoo ritual soundtrack and afro-funk of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou had cast a spell over me.
And on the impending Legends Of Benin, part of the commendable Analog Africa series, the cult 1970s group are again resurrected, this time alongside their musical peers from the west African nation.
Filled to the brim with funky drumbeats, jangling guitars and throbbing basslines, the LP proves that virtually unknown names like El Rego Et Ses Commandos and Antoine Dougbe could - and should - sit alongside the likes of Eddie Bo and James Brown
So if you're a DJ looking for some fresh meat to butcher, or a fan of funk who's looking to graze new pastures, then don't miss out, myth out with Legends Of Benin.

Basement Jaxx are back

DANCE duo Basement Jaxx release Raindrops, the first track from forthcoming album Scars, on June 22.
And to accompany the track - which features one half of the duo, former Loughborough schoolboy Felix Buxton, on vocal duties - the group have put out this rather racy new video -

Kelpe yourself

LOUGHBOROUGH electronic act Kelpe, full name Kel Mckeown, has put out two new tracks on two new compilation albums.
His work can be found on Japanese label Powershovel Audio's compilation In The First Place, Does Digital Harinezumi Dream, as well as on the Bleep sampler Showcase Volume One.

One last act

THE final name has been added to the bill of this year's Download Festival.
Appearing at the Castle Donington festival will be unsigned Leeds punk rockers Acid Drop, who have been named as the winners of a battle of the bands competition run at the Sheffield Leadmill.

Jetpacks sure to fly high

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THE more perceptive of visitors to my humble blog will have noticed that These Four Walls, the debut offering from We Were Promised Jetpacks, has been one of The Recent Decent for several months now.
That's because I simply couldn't contain my eagerness to tell you all how stunning this album, which is finally out a week today, really is.
Over the course of the album, the brilliantly-titled We Were Promised Jetpacks - who were signed up on the basis of being Myspace friends with labelmates Frightened Rabbit - show a talent for emotion as well as being able to rock it.
With a Scottish drawl akin to The View they combine the pop know-how of Snow Patrol, the talent for the slow-burning epic of Sigur Ros, and the driving guitar work of Biffy Clyro.
And with all these factors fuelling These Four Walls, the result is a thrilling ride that should well skyrocket We Were Promised Jetpacks high into the charts.

Kasabian in the groove

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NOW established as one of Leicestershire's top exports alongside pork pies and stilton, Kasabian are back on Monday with the snappily-titled and equally mouth-watering West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Now although I'm obviously likely to champion any group that hails a stone's throw away from Loughborough, this, their third studio album, is probably their best work yet.
After the overblown psychedelic pomp of their previous album Empire, this Dan The Automator-produced effort strips back their sound to what made their eponymous first album so appealing.
The group's rock swagger, which has led to endless 'Madchester' comparisons, is here in full effect, and although the psychedelia and electronica of earlier efforts is retained, none of it ever overpowers the tracks.
But central to the new, leaner Kasabian is the return of the groove - nearly every track is riddled with funky rhythms, from opener Underdog through the frenetic Fast Fuse to anthemic Fire, and the result is intoxicating.
Makes you proud to be an East Midlander, eh?

Hands on

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WHO'S the latest sensation hot on the heels of Lady Gaga?
Step forward electropop sensation Little Boots.
Judging by the gooey-eyed appetite of both the record-buying public and the tabloid for the aforementioned Gaga, Little Boots - real name Victoria Hesketh - is surely a shoe-in for success with her debut LP Hands.
Treading the same synth-paved path as the likes of Goldfrapp and La Roux, the former Dead Disco star has crafted some unashamed pop with an glam dance twist to it.
There are some lyrical frailties here, and the music lacks a little kick for my tastes, but there's no doubt in my mind that Little Boots will easily eke out a pretty strong foothold in the hearts and the newspapers of the country with this effort.

Umm?

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I'VE not got a bad word to say about Raissa Khan-Panni, the driving force behind The Mummers.
Her voice, the outstanding factor in Tale To Tell, the group's debut album, is distinctive in its gorgeous, other-worldly quality, sounding like a playful young Bjork.
And I can find no fault in the shimmering dreamscape of showtune-cum-orchestral movement-cum-pop laced with horns and flutes that's been crafted to hold it.
I want to like this complex, swirling concoction, I really do.
I just don't all that much.
Sorry.

Mad to miss Crazy Arm

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BORN To Ruin is quite an apt title for country punk group Crazy Arm's first album.
A debut offering was originally recorded by the Plymouth-based group in 2006, then completely scrapped, recorded again with new material in 2007, scrapped again, and then finally rewritten and put down on record earlier this year.
Fingers crossed the band let it get released on Monday and don't decide to step in again...
The results of the "hard-twang roots-punk" band's endeavours is a hard-hitting sound that's a bit Against Me!, a bit Fall Out Boy, a bit Offspring, with a rockabilly tint in places.
So if any of the aforementioned floats your boat, you wouldn't be mad going out on a limb and picking up a copy of Born To Ruin.

Look Norse

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WERE I to be appointed as a talent scout, I can't imagine the first place I'd be packing my bags for would be Astrid Williamson's homelands, The Shetland Islands.

But I would be a ruddy fool to ignore the remote Scottish islands, judging by her fourth album, Here Come The Vikings.

Because belied by the rubbish album title are a handful of cracking songs such as Store, Crashing Minis and Shut Your Mouth which pillages the work of acts such as PJ Harvey, Ida Maria and Tori Amos to great effect.

Sure, a lot of the rest is forgettable, folk-tinged pop rock unlikely to see Here Come The Vikings settling in the charts - but there's enough here for Williamson to carry out a few raids into the mainstream, probably for the first time since her work with Goya Dress and Electronic back in the '90s.

Von tease

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PRE-post rock superstardom, back in 1997 Icelandic outfit Sigur Ros crafted Von, their debut album.
At the time the LP didn't make many waves - and Monday's reissue of the rarity is unlikely to see this album thrust up there with masterpieces like Ágætis byrjun, Takk and Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.
Because Von is more ambience than normal album, and listening to it merely gives you an appreciation of the epic, string-soaked Sigur Ros that was born when keyboard player Kjartan Sveinsson joined shortly after the release of this album.
In fact the first two tracks are no more than a combined 15 minutes of noise - and only just noise at that.
The effect is like listening to Sigur Ros playing but you're sat in their dressing room, or hearing them on the wind a mile down the road as the play a festival slot - it's not quite where you Von to be.

Chesnutt conquers

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THE Headphone Masterpiece, The Roots collaborator Cody Chesnutt's only album, was recorded solo entirely on a four-track recorder in The Sonic Promiseland.

By the way, The Sonic Promiseland is in fact just the name the Jamaican-American singer songwriter gives his bedroom.

I wonder what he calls his toilet?

Anyway, the resulting double album of output, orginally released in 2002 and given a rerelease next Monday, is the lo-fi, sprawling, incoherent collection you would expect in such circumstances.

And within it's raw hybrid of rock, soul and hip hop there are some moments of pure genius.

There's some you may have heard such as The Seed, which was revamped for The Roots' sensational Phrenology, and I Look Good In Leather, recently used in a Lynx advert.

Then there's tracks such as Bitch I'm Broke, Juicin' The Dark, Serve This Royalty - so may deserve an honourable mention.

Scuzzy and soulful in equal measures, for all its flaws The Headphone Masterpiece may be just about right.