Latest releases reviewed
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House Capitol ****
So that's where the French electro-disco duo have got to - they've been hanging round at James Murphy's pad, paying their respects to the new king of clever, ironic club music. Someone should release an answer song called LCD Soundsytem is Playing Daft Punk at Moby's House.
CAROL ANTHONY
Wrong Universal **
Here's a great way of publicising your new protegée: get her nominated for Best Irish Pop Act in the Meteor Music Awards. Not that the top people behind this Cork girl would dream of doing such a thing; besides, she sounds like she could give that Natasha Bedingfield a run for her advance money.
STOAT
The Saltee Tango Stoatmusic ***
The result of some sinister experiment in a secret laboratory deep beneath the Bog of Allen, this oddball rock trio (two of them from Wexford) make The Frank and Walters sound positively normal. This is a psychedelic sea-shanty, coupled with their ever-popular live version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Stoat-ally bonkers.
GIRLS ALOUD
Wake Me Up Polydor **
The David Blaines of TV-manufactured pop groups, Girls Aloud have managed to stay in their little pop box and outlast the combined careers of Hear'say, Six and One True Voice. They certainly come on loud and strong but, like a hen party in search of a late night drink, they're all a bit annoying, really.
VENTILIN PIMPS
Dead from the Waist Down SARC Records ***
They sound like they should be a dirty-ass electro-punk glam-disco band, but these guys are more like Damien Rice's stand-ins, and this sensitive, tortured song is about what happens when the blower's daughter blows you off for another guy.
IDLEWILD
Love Steals Us from Loneliness Parlophone ****
Roddy Woomble and the lads have been touring America with Pearl Jam, and they've brought back a few new, stadium-friendly anthems for us to roar along to. This hummable tune is off their upcoming fifth album, Warnings/Promises; sounds very promising indeed.
JUDAS PRIEST
Revolution Sony Music UK ***
Oft-cited as an inspiration for Spinal Tap and sometimes blamed for The Darkness, JP are back to reclaim their British heavy metal crown. They've added some modern nu-metal flourishes, but this is still a gloriously bombastic mix of Zep, Sabbaff and, of course, Tap.
