Reviews

Eclectic New Yorkers triumph over the punk-funk hype

Probably the year's sexiest record. Mellow, who made it, are half-French and have links with Air. As if that wasn't enough crazy cosmic links, it's from top video director (Strokes, Moby) Roman (Sofia's brother) Coppola's debut, a cross between Barbarella and Breathless. This slinks and purrs like a baby tiger trying to work out if drowning in baby oil is an acceptable pastime. Hung up on '60s cheesiness and Gallic guile, it's like Moon Safari on a mission to Mars. Only it keeps getting caught in the bedroom. With Modesty Blaise. And a young Anna Karina. I'm projecting now. Anyway, stupendous.

Space-punk brilliance

Two-CD, twenty-seven track, best-of from his seven Creation albums, 1987-93

Greatest hits of the big beat pioneers, weighed down by famous friends

Darkly bizarre Gallic cartoon is sophisticated delight

Comic book adaptation with Woo favourite Chow Yun-Fat as a kind of near-immortal arse-kicking Dalai Lama who's spent the last 60 years battling baddies for possession of the Scroll of the Ultimate. And now it's time to pass the baton to a younger chap. You could see it as a martial arts Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or a Crouching Tiger for nitwits. Or you could not see it at all. The choice is yours.

Rumour has it that the CIA funded Halas and Batchelor's 1954 cartoon adaptation of George Orwell's political barnyard allegory. But even though it's dated and stilted, it remains not only darkly savage anti-Stalinist satire but also a quite stunning piece of animation. Surely long overdue for a Babe-style remake?

(Other new music DVDs)

Catch-all NYC trio's long-overdue follow-up to 1997 debut National Chain