Latest CD releases reviewed

VOLCANO CHOIR

Unmap Jagjaguwar ***

You have to wonder just how much attention Unmapwould receive were it not for the huge success of For Emma, Forever Ago. After all, the presence of Justin "Bon Iver" Vernon on the Volcano Choir cast list, alongside fellow Wisconsinites Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, ensures Unmapwill receive a hefty promotional leg-up. A collaboration which was in train before Bon Iver became everyone's favourite deerslaying, hut-dwelling folkie, there are certainly some flashes of the Vernon we've all come to know. The soft acoustic coos and sighs on opener Husks and Shells, for instance, are familiar, though the slimline electronic loops cossetting his falsetto on Island, ISis a far more exciting hint of where Vernon may be headed. While there are other attempts to hit the electronic motherlode (see the jazzy drifting on Seeplymouth), there's probably more applause accruing for an alternate take on Woods. www.myspace.com/volcanochoir JIM CARROLL

DIZZEE RASCAL

Tongue N' Cheek Dirtee Stank ****

When you've had three No 1 hits in a row, as well as four successful albums and the adoration of practically every teenager on the British Isles this summer, you have a right to be a bit cocky. Grime superstar Dylan Mills has ventured even further into the mainstream arena with his fourth longplayer, enlisting the production talents of dance titans Armand Van Helden ( Bonkers), Calvin Harris ( Dance Wiv Me, Holiday) and Tiesto ( Bad Behaviour). Their contributions aside, it's Mills's amusing rhyming dexterity on the topics of girls, cars and cash that make Tongue N' Cheek a bit of a gem. What's more, diversifying his approach means there are songs here that will sound equally at home in a club or on a street corner. Without a doubt, Dizzee's his best album yet. www.dizzeerascal.co.uk LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers, Leisure

REEMO

Colours Reekus Records *

Somewhere in Ireland, there is the musical equivalent of a box under the stairs, and in it, a multi-teated beast keeps spawning bands like Reemo. These offspring inhabit rehearsal rooms across the land rarely making it past the debut album post. Not so Reemo. As with a gazillion Irish bands, there's a palpable sense that friends and family have adoringly egged them on, X-Factor style, to make that one great album. And in most cases – this one included – the results are jaded and dated. Colourssounds like a graduate of the Big Generator school of rock, but brash guitars and bland chords do not a decent tune make. Holocaustis a truly horrific mesh of air-raid siren effects and woeful lyrics. Tsunami drowns us in out-of-tune vocals and tinny synths. Colours?It's blood red, from music being murdered. www.reemo.ie SINÉAD GLEESON

MIKA

The Boy Who Knew Too Much Casablanca ***

Mika bounced on the scene just in time for the rebirth of fab, injecting some old-fashioned camp and kitsch into pop (not that it needed more). Now that we're over the shock of the novelty and Mika's signature falsetto, he can't rely on mere quirkiness to keep our attention. But he can still call on his sharp pop sensibility. Mika's second album sees him taking on the pop divas at their own game – and nearly pulling it off. Originality may not be his strong suit, but he's deft at mashing up disco, r'n'b, Latin and Caribbean styles and putting it all through a classic pop blender. Blame It On the Girlssounds like Coldplay's Viva La Vidaall gussied up and strutting its stuff at the Copacabana, while Rain sounds like West End Girlsfiltered through Weather Girls. Mika gives it the full killer Queen treatment on Dr John, but Touches Yougropes a little too much through George Michael's back catalogue. www.mikasounds.com KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks: We Are Golden, Rain, Good Gone Girl

SAVING J

This City Street Can Can Recordings *

Saving J's debut seems draped in an uncertainty that they'd probably be hard-pushed to identify themselves. Is it Sean Redmond's strangely Americanised vocals, too ordinary to carry an album's worth of trite melodies? Their suspect lyrics? Their lack of general creativity? The fact that the quartet don't sound like they have faith in their own material? Whatever it is, T his City Streetis a lamentably bog-standard collection of watery pop-rock songs that never really takes off. Occasionally doffing its cap to Picture House ( Indication Street),Matchbox 20 ( Valentine), their citymen Kerbdog (ABC) and, apparently, children's TV show Balamory (Unwind), there's nothing here that distinguishes the Kilkenny band from a particularly dreary pub act. If Saving J have hidden reserves of potential, now's probably the time to unleash them. www.savingj.com LAUREN MURPHY

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