Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream/Let's Just Be

We've had to wait almost a year for Joseph Arthur's acclaimed fifth album Nuclear Daydream to finally get a UK release; so long in fact that it's actually coming out on the same day as his sixth album Let's Just Be, and even that came out in the States back in April. So, is it worth splashing out on both new albums at the same time? Not really, no. While Nuclear Daydream is a great album full of heart and splashes of genius, Let's Just Be is sloppy and indulgent, recorded with his touring band The Lonely Astronauts in the space of 16 days with a very improvisational feel. While it should work well hearing Arthur stripped of all the lush production that his proper albums get, Let's Just Be comes nowhere near the quality of the Stones/Neil Young albums that he claims inspired it. It sounds like they had a blast making it, but that experience isn't exactly shared by a listener who has splashed out to hear it, and whether anyone gets past the infuriating 20-minute Lonely Astronaut remains to be seen. There's some decent stuff buried away on this album, but it would have worked much better as a bonus disc for the main release, because having it come out on the same day over here just means that anyone who buys both will have even less reason to try and enjoy Let's Just Be as they'll have the vastly superior Nuclear Daydream to listen to. And make no mistake, it is a great album, full of all the magic of one of America's most under-appreciated singer-songwriters, though thankfully that might be changing, with lots of his celeb fans getting him the kind of attention he deserves, with Chris Martin and Michael Stipe covering In The Sun for charity last year and one of his last Manchester shows attended by Keanu Reeves of all people. Arthur's occasionally over-complicated production values are still a problem at times here, turning potentially beautiful songs into murky and discordant affairs, but his songwriting knack always shines through and Nuclear Daydream is probably the most focused and consistent of his albums so far, with single Enough To Get Away a clear highlight. If you want to get both albums, then do so, and you'll probably find enough in Let's Just be to make it worthwhile, but if you fancy checking out the fuss about Arthur, be very carefully which one you pick...
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Heaven & Hell - Live From Radio City Music Hall DVD

When are Black Sabbath not Black Sabbath? When they are called Heaven & Hell, of course. Two of the men in this band are in the current Sabs line-up, while the other two are former members, but even though this is a reunion of a Black Sabbath who were together in the early 80s, they decided to name themselves after an album they released together, so as to not confuse matters with the 'classic' Sabbath line-up still technically together after their own reunion ten years ago. Confused? Basically, when Ozzy left the band in 1979, he was replaced by the small-in-size but large-in-voice Ronnie James Dio and this reenergised a group that had been drifting listlessly for a couple of years. Heaven And Hell turned out to be one of their all-time great albums. Dio (and drummer Vinny Appice) made one more album with the Sabs before both left abruptly (returning in 1992 for Dehumanizer), and Black Sabbath were never quite as good again. Anyway, with that history lesson over, Heaven & Hell are touring together at the moment and this DVD is a document a show from New York to whet your appetite for their MEN Arena gig in November. The band all look their age, but are musically very tight and Dio's voice is as powerful and impressive as ever, roaring his way through classics like The Mob Rules, Lady Evil, The Sign Of The Southern Cross and Neon Knights. Don't expect to hear War Pigs or Paranoid though, because this is a reunion based entirely on the Dio years, partly to promote a compilation album. But with Tony Iommi keeping the official band name for the Ozzy line-up, hopefully we'll hear something from them too in the nearish future. However, the next best thing has to be this, and it's a stormer of a show.

Ayo. - Joyful

Ayo. (the dot is supposed to go under the 'o', 'Ayo.' means 'joyful' in Yoruba, while 'ayo' is the name of a board-game) is a German singer called Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin who lives in Paris and was born to a Nigerian father and a Romanian gypsy mother. So it's no surprise that her debut album Joyful seems to have very diverse roots and a sound that is almost impossible to pin down, with hints of folk, afro-beat, reggae and soul, but utterly unique throughout. Joyful is surprisingly low-key and subtle, with Ayo. using her cultural backgrounds to come up with an album that reveals its charms quietly and without a fuss, rather than going for a cliched afro party soundtrack, which is what some might assume it would be. Down On My Knees and And It's Supposed To Be Love are the stand-out tracks, but there's no weak songs here as all of them have their strengths, whether in the intimate lyrics, sultry vocals or infectious rhythms. Ayo. is a low-key superstar and Joyful is an evocative and impressive debut album.

Jill Cunniff - City Beach

If we ever get an Indian summer to make up for the drizzle we've mostly put up with since May, there will not be many better albums to soundtrack it than City Beach by Jill Cunniff. The lead singer of girl alt-rock group Luscious Jackson - who are currently back together and working on a children's album, of all things - has finally released her debut solo album and it's a cracker full of hazy sunshine and lazy days. The title is very appropriate, as Cunniff is a New York City girl born and bred, but yet the feel of City Beach is very warm and even Californian-sounding, with hints of Bebel Gilberto in the lush and sultry melodies. But rather than LA or Brazil, Cunniff is setting her sound around Coney Island, NY, a real 'city beach'. Whereas Luscious Jackson could occasionally be a bit scattergun with their influences and the way they presented them, Cunniff is much more focused here, making for a very cohesive and enjoyable record, full of glorious pop hooks, great vocals and memorable tunes, most notably Love Is A Luxury, but probably summed up best by Warm Sound. It may be raining outside, but put this on and you'll be plenty warm enough.

Emigrate - Emigrate

Rammstein are not exactly our favourite German metal band, with their rather preposterous antics and frankly dull tunes making them easy to laugh at but not to listen to, so it's a surprise that we actually quite enjoy Emigrate, the debut album by a side-project led by Rammstein guitarist/songwriter/founder Richard Kruspe. You would expect him to produce pretty much the same kind of music with Emigrate, and the industrial metal guitars are all there intact, and it will certainly appeal to any fans of his day-job, but there's a bit more depth in the music and most of that comes from his vocals. One of the things we like least about Rammstein is the singing from Till Lindemann, which always sounds quite affected and irritating, but it turns out that Kruspe has a decent - if unremarkable - voice that he uses to good effect here, perfectly fitting the less theatrical music of songs like Emigrate, Wake Up and New York City. My World is another excellent tune and one of the most notable things here is that he is singing in English, whereas Rammstein almost entirely do their songs in German and while the lyrics aren't exactly earth-shaking, Emigrate's songs do have rather more accessibility to fans over here than the operatic goth-metal of Du Hast or Rosenrot. Debts to bands like Nine Inch Nails and Alice In Chains are at times obvious, but Kruspe has come up with an album here that will appeal to fans he already had and should pick up some of us who are rather more sceptical of his day-job.

New Idea Society - The World Is Bright And Lonely

It's quite difficult to find out much about New Idea Society on the web, apart from the info that Stephen Brodsky from Cave In and Mike Law from Eulcid are in the line-up amongst others and that this is their second album after You Are Awake or Asleep. Both of those bands are much noisier than NIS, so the stripped-down lo-fi indie pop on offer here is quite surprising at first, with hints of Ben Kweller here and there, particularly in the vocals, which are very alt-rock. The production is defiantly home-made, which has its positives and negatives, because while it's all quite earthy and 'honest'-sounding, there are times when you feel a song like Dress Shirt could have done with being beefed up a little bit, allowing its excellent melodies to shine through more. It all feels sometimes a little bit too much like a 'project' rather than a 'band', which obviously can't have been the intention, but The World Is Bright And Lonely is a good little album for all of its lo-fi quirks and it is certainly an album that improves with each listen.

Little Dragon - Little Dragon

Swedish singer Yukimi Nagano was only 15 when she first came to prominence providing silky vocals for her compatriots Koop on their wonderful Summer Sun tune in 2003, and she was back performing with them on last summer's excellent Koop Islands album. Now she is back with a band of her own and Little Dragon allow her to take centre stage, but what kind of music do they make? Fans of Koop certainly won't be disappointed, because while Little Dragon lack the kaleidescopic sonic textures of their best stuff, the overall jazzy soulfulness is in abundance here, with Nagano exploring all of her influences - Prince, Kraftwerk, etc - while keeping a tight rein on proceedings, meaning that the songs all fit in well together and subtlety is the order of the day, as you would expect from an album released by Peacefrog, the record label that Jose Gonzalez and Findlay Brown also call home. Nagano certainly has the potential to join those two in the success and acclaim that they have had, and Little Dragon is a chilled-out album that showcases her skills perfectly.