Bertie Blackman Secrets and Lies

Super Moth Black Rainbow Eating Us: [Spunk]

If you like Air but can't quite handle the highly dependable clatter of Super Furry Animals, then Super Moth Black Rainbow could be your 19th favourite band. There's an easy-going, vocoded laziness wafting across this album that could be uncharitably compared to a nauseating chill out compilation CD but the Moths pull up just on the right side of predictability. Just. Iron Lemonade teases with an ever-present threat to explode and Gold Splatter would be more at home on DJ Shadow's Diminishing Returns psychedelic mix tape. But in the end Eating Us sounds happy enough to merely exist. Apparently that's sufficient these days.

Polo Club The 13: [Amphead]

Polo Club's inventive electro-rap has spawned an attractive side to a genre I've previously scorned. Their experimental mix of rap with overlapping sound takes, heavy use of electro distortion and sampling combine to deliver an enticing new creation. The duo has a good ear for quality retro tunes and lyrics, with the funky beat from Janis Ian's Fly Too High appearing in Witness the Feeling and words from Bohemian Rhapsody used in Shouldn't Let Him Out. The poppy Million $, with its chorus delivered in chipmunk pitch, is a CD highlight, conveying the message that money can't buy happiness. It's a gas maze of assorted rhythms and effects, which even includes castanets!

Temper Trap Conditions: [Liberator]

The Temper Trap are clearly serious about their music and are here to stay. What makes Conditions work is the confidence that is projected in every song. The pulsating drum beats and commanding guitars create unity in every track, with a clear understanding and appreciation for each and every instrument used. This shines through brilliantly on tracks Rest and Fader and show their diversity. Dougy Mandagi's vocals glisten over every song, but it can come off as slightly repitious. There are far more hits than misses and the future is promising for this four-piece.

Mos Def The Ecstatic: [Downtown]

Thrusting one's opinions upon the great unwashed is the one of the main reasons alcohol-soaked journos such as myself get into this heady game. So with this in mind I implore you with great joy to spring to your nearest music emporium and pur-chase a copy of the suitably titled The Ecstatic. It's Def's best album since his genre-bending debut Black On Both Sides thanks to the poetics and earnest delivery layered over globetrotting production from Madlib, Oh No and Mr. Flash.

Hairy-knuckled folk who spend too much time in dark rooms listening to music will recognise a lot of these beats already; Oh No rejigs some samples from Dr. No's Oxperiment to launch the album with the charged guitar riffs of Supermagic, Madlib serves up a reheated-but-still-tasty India flavour with tracks from the Beat Konducta in India series, and Life in Marvelous Times recycles Ed Banger label Mr. Flash's Champions. But the tracks, and the whole album, come alive with Mos' energy and deft lyrical flow layered over the top. This will be in my albums of the year.  Make sure it's in yours.