Uncut

Young English heirs to The Flaming Lips

Arizonan soundtrackers make ill-advised foray into space rock

Missing link between Yokota's soulful ambient and upbeat house projects

Now wealthy enough to not fall foul of record company lawyers (unpaid for Nana Mouskouri samples resulted in tracks being pulled from their 2000 debut Programmed To Love), The Everlasting Blink features a series of inspired if somewhat bizarre guest stars.

Full-throttle rock'n'soul mini album. From Detroit, obviously

This month's New Strokes. Disappointing

Pretty, discreet indietronica from Oz

Unheralded Chicago-based tunesmith comes of age

For a man so steeped in the honeyed hickory grit of Gram Parsons, newcomers to Bruntnell could be forgiven for mistaking his English 'burb origins for Bakersfield, Ca. New Zealand-born, Surrey-raised and westward soul-bound, he finally drew acclaim with 2000's superb third LP, Normal For Bridgwater. Its follow-up is equally fine, studded with guitars (courtesy of 21-year-old James Walbourne and Son Volt's Eric Heywood), faint washes of piano, peals of steel and a forlorn, imagistic delivery and way around a melody reminiscent of Joe Pernice.

Ten songs of dark and disturbing genius from Seattle singer-songwriter