Album

Booty-shakin' mini album from the new Timbaland

Cork's Simple Kid is making a virtue out of being in the middle of the road, that easy-listening, glam-rock neighbourhood that often produces uplifting music. And this Kid knows his stuff. Kicking off with a tribute to David Essex à la "Rock On" for opener "Hello", he then ventures into Bowie meets Lieutenant Pigeon territory on "Staring At The Sun" and turns up a Ween-standard ditty for "Drugs". Most albums that spin around the pop-about-pop axis can fall short and wane, but SK1 retains interest. It's exciting, sassy and funny. T.

Guitar-led jazz from large ensemble in multifarious styles

Next-level drill'n'bass from truculent Pole

Debut release for Boston trio covering all bases from psych-trance to Miles Davis

Quarter-century of Beeb appearances from the Newhaven rabble-rouser

Reissues remind us that Mr Smooth was once an artiste

"Songs of murder, mob law and cruel, cruel punishment" get the once-over

NY's nerdiest are smarter than The Strokes

A Derbyshire-bred, Manchester-based group formerly known as the Dakota Oak Trio. DOT loiter pleasantly at the dewy, bucolic end of post-rock. Fridge are, perhaps, their closest contemporaries. And just as Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden's solo output outshines his work with Fridge, there's a sense DOT's Dave Tyack and James "Pedro" Rutledge make much better records on their own. Plenty of ramshackle virtuosity, crafty folktronica hybrids and limp singing amongst these 10 tracks, but the earth remains resolutely unshattered.