Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

“The Ghost of you lingers” stays in your mind long after the closing bars. It’s one of those “listen with your headphones on and with your eyes shut” songs that just <i>get</i> you. It’s delicious and dark and creepy but strangely erotic all at once. Spoon deserve to be up there with the giants of the indie/alternative scene. On “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” they manage to pull of a great trick – sounding mildly poppy and mainstream without ever compromising on their edgy hooks and their experimental genius burns strong throughout. Whether it’s the reggae-ish sound on “Finer Feelings”, the bluesy and rugged opener “Don’t make me a target”, the bittersweet pop craft evident on “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” and “The Underdog” or the sheer hypnotic thrill of “The Ghost That Lingers”, this is one of the best albums I have heard this year. You may want to avoid the limited edition version though which includes a second disc full of short outakes although it does give you a further insight into the tension to their songs which is never far away from the surface.  8.5/10

Supergrass – I Should Coco

As much as I loved Blur and Pulp, “I Should Coco” may just well be the best of all the Britpop albums. Over 12 years after its release, this album still makes you want to jump around your bedroom. It’s so much fun. The sound of young guys let loose in the studio on a sugar-rush and a headful of cool tunes. Despite “Alright” being heavily over-played at the time, it still remains a lesson in perfect teenage pop writing “We wake up, we go out, smoke a fag, put it out..see our friends, see the sights..feel alright!”. The slightly goofy punk pop sound is not without some outstanding moments. “Caught By The Fuzz” with its edgy tense fear about being arrested is a cracking tune and “Mansize Rooster” still bounces all over your head in unashamed joy. If your an old git, you’ll hate it. If you’re young or young at heart, what is there not to like? A cracking album that sounds as fresh now as it did in the mid 90’s.  10/10

The Enemy – We’ll Live and Die In These Towns

Almost 30 years ago, a band emerged from Coventry called The Specials who were to have an immense impact on British music. The Enemy could easily have a similar impact if they continue to make records like this. The comparisons to Oasis are a bit cloudy though – Oasis don’t write decent lyrics for a start! and it’s been a long long time now since the Brothers grim wrote songs this catchy, energetic and vibrant. The Appeal to this band is that they should continue to get better and better – all the ingrediants are certainly there – like songs, attitude and knowing the right trainers to wear. The singles are of course fantastic with the working class anthem “It’s Not OK” and the sing-a-long stomp of “Had Enough” hitting the right buttons throughout. And the album follows in a similar vein throughout with “This Song” also a top highlight. A young angry and highly infectious record that should be one of the albums of the year in the end of year polls everywhere. 9/10

The Pigeon Detectives – Wait For Me

I wanted to love this album, I really did. The criticism The Pigeon Detectives get is wrong – there is nothing wrong with catchy indie-pop (we have so many shoegazing serious and ultimately dull as dishwasher indie bands clogging up things)..but here lies the rub. The Pigeon Detectives are dull not for having the cheek to marry The Monkeys with The Libertines but because the tunes don’t particularly grab you over the course of an album. Sure, there’s a certain rush to songs like “Romantic Type” and especially “I Found Out” but will you be playing this album in a year or even 6 months time? probably not. Very ordinary, very samey and not very inspiring. 5/10

The Good, The Bad And The Queen

The band with no name is the latest in creative adventures for Blur frontman Damon Albarn and rather like Gorillaz, Albarn sounds yet further away from the ‘pop person’ we remembered from his Britpop days. Helped along by ex-Clash bass player Paul Simonon and Former Verve Guitarist Simon Tong, Albarn makes a record that is dark and cinematic. What they manage to do so well is to create a hangover from Parklife – as much as musical landscape about London than it is a lyrical portrait. The mood is sombre throughout with snatches of songs and scrapbooks of ideas that somehow all merge together. This helps make this sound like a fully flowing album rather than just a collection of hits and filler. Whether it stands out as Albarn’s best work is debatable but tracks like the beautifully soothing “Nature Springs” and “The Bunting Song” sound like lullabies of our times. 7.5/10