Album

Portrait of a tragic country genius

Two CDs of remixes from the eternally bloody-minded Richard D James

Punk blues recorded in a condemned shack

Twenty-first album from America's startlingly original lord of lo-fi

Self-styled "gay church folk music" from Toronto

The fastest-growing TV show in the US, wherein tales of a young Superman are accompanied by a radio-soft blend of American rock, from Remy Zero's theme to Ryan Adams' "Nuclear". Von Ray's "Inside Out" is the spit of Nickelback, and the new single. Best thing here by a mile is The Flaming Lips' "Fight Test", the opening track of what's been described in these pages as the greatest album since Best Of Jesus Christ Volume One. It's lovely, but owes an extraordinary debt to the Cat Stevens song "Father To Son".

Power pop with guts

The mighty Lemonhead gets seven-year-itch and returns a much-changed man

Cherry-picked selection from original Mac man who had the blues word perfect

Reissue of blonde wonders' five studio albums. In other words, Sting when he was good