Album

In 1980 Diana Ross, Motown and Chic all needed each other. With Rick James' breakthrough still a year away, Motown were forced to hire their biggest competitors to provide Hitsville with some hits. In turn, Diana was the last of the original sequence of classic Chic albums, the real follow-up to Chic's 1979 milestone Risqué. Disc one includes the original "Chic mix" of the album (essentially demos, with slightly gutsier vocals) as well as the familiar one. We are reminded just how skilfully "Upside Down" orbits around its absent centre.

Artsy, twee, quietly mad label presents three collections of rarities

Third album from young prog masters

Poll-winning singer-songwriter in his native Ireland, Rice is about to crack America

Ninth album by veteran Austin-based bard of disenfranchised America

This melancholic accompaniment to the David Gordon Green slow-burner draws succour from the nocturnal chambers of alt.country's heart. Will Oldham's "All These Vicious Dogs", Sparklehorse's "Sea Of Teeth" and Mogwai's "Fear Satan" are more than willing to cry into your beer. David Wingo, whose lyric yielded the film's title, couples with Michael Linnen for three tracks; Mark Olson and Paul Jones also peer for clouds among the silver linings. I'm writing this on the hottest day of the year, and it sounds inappropriate.

27 minutes of rickety alt.rock genius

History of both '60s and '80s ska hits

Classic mid-'80s Jam & Lewis R&B

PiL bassist's latest genetic experiments on music from planet dub