Kaiser Chief's third album and the new release from Mercury Rev among this week's offerings.

KAISER CHIEFS

Off With Their Heads

Universal/ B-Unique

Yours Truly, Angry Mob, Kaiser Chiefs' sophomore release, put paid to the theory that lightning can't strike twice. A year on, their third album will defy the sceptics again.

Drafting in Mark Ronson and Eliot James on production and inviting Lily Allen to provide backing vocals, there is little in the way of filler. By now you should know what to expect: retro-fuelled, hook-heavy pop with an underlying conscience.

On Like It Too Much, Always Happens Like Thatand Half the Truth, the Leeds quintet's knack for knocking out gems shows no sign of stopping. At odds with the jocular tone and laddish antics are Ricky Wilson's lyrics, which contain the usual cutting stabs at the lethargy of today's youth.

The Kaisers may still believe that modern life is rubbish, but with a soundtrack like this, it's a lot more bearable.

www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk

BRIAN KEANE

Download tracks: Never Miss a Beat, Half the Truth

MERCURY REV

Snowflake/Moonlight

V2

****

What now for Mercury Rev? Over 10 years ago they were part and parcel of the virtually invisible psychedelic Americana genre (other members included Flaming Lips and the always out-there Howe Gelb/Giant Sand collaboration).

While they embraced obvious US folk/country music, they also employed the kind of psych-pastoralism that Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream have made careers out of .

Snowflake/Midnight(released, not without irony, one might imagine, a decade after their incredible Deserter's Songsalbum) continues the band's sense of grandeur with a series of gentle pulsing and skyscraping electronics. It's part Krautrock and part Brian Wilson, part blind ambition and part open-eyed wonder. It's all in the song titles: October Sunshine, Runaway Raindrop, Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower. Pretty and blissful.

TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: Snowflake in a Hot World, October Sunshine

JUANA MOLINA

Un Dia

Domino

Juana Molina's shtick has served her well to date, and album No 5 doesn't veer too far from the path already trodden by the former Argentine TV comic: another pristine array of electronic sounds and blurs tip-toeing their way in from the margins, as Molina hums and sighs over and about them.

As with her previous albums, such beautiful sonic tinkering creates sounds and textures that show up Molina's fine ear for unconventional, unforced melodies. But while you could easily imagine such frolics pressed into use as background ambience, Molina is a little more reticent when it comes to using them to shape coherent songs or melodies.

When she does raise her game, such as on the hypnotic and full-bodied Los Hongos de Marosa, the album catches fire.

www.juanamolina.com

JIM CARROLL

Download track: Los Hungos de Marosa