Orbital - Style (London)
A long-awaited return to the fray from the undisputed godfathers of ambient electronica sees Orbital laying down lashings of Stylophone samples and loops of unadulterated paddywhackery; coming up with a magnificent new bleep-feast in the process. Yes indeed-y, 'Style' is the tune you're gonna be humming for the next few months.

Blue Planet Corporation - Micromega EP (Flying Rhino)
If it's eerie undercooked trance you're after then the denizens of Flying Rhino Records have the menu for you. Blue Planet Corp. are French techno-makers, looking up from the underground to the likes of Cassius, and still putting out better records than their more distinguished fellow countryman ever has. 'Micromega' is a dizzy tune that borders on enthralling when the trance turns whirlwind-esque. Amazingly easy to like.

Bumbling Loons - Rumbling Toon (Flying Rhino)
A pounding climax takes 'rumbling Toon' off the runway and screaming into the air in a way that made my spine tingle. An addictive 303 line is the undertow to an unrelenting wave of classic trance. An Evolution remix later and the world turned Day-Glo.

Black Dog feat. Ofra Haza - Babylon (Warner)
Weighing in at 10 tracks and over 60 minutes, this is decidedly more than your average single. Without going into too much detail, half of the mixes are somewhat dodgy but the other half are joyously endearing slices of pure ambience. Trust me, it's worth it.

Gus Gus - Ladyshave (4AD)
Nine children of Reykjavik: a pop star, an actor, a DJ, a photographer, two directors, a politician, a computer programmer and a teen star. Together they're Gus Gus and they make music like you've never heard before. A hip hop/pop/electro soundtrack to a seedy B-movie: rabid with funk, and trashy like trashy is supposed to be. 'Ladyshave' is the pop song the indie-kids have been waiting for.

David Gray - This Year's Love (IHT)
Remember Wet Wet Wet and "Four Weddings and A Funeral"? 'Love Is All Around' and all that? Well, David Gray is the songwriter Reg Presley could only aspire to be and 'This Year's Love' is ten times the song that 'Love Is All Around' ever was. An underground phenomenon for years now, this one will undoubtedly see Gray catapulted into the glare of the proverbial spotlight. And rightly so.

Blur - Tender (Food)
The band-wagoning Brit-poppers are at it again. Nirvana beat them to the grunge scene... and beat them by about five years, actually. This time, with 'Tender', Spiritualized got there first. So take away the gospel choir and you're left with the same old Blur: timid and dull.

Radiator - Make It Real (Chrysalis)
I'm not a huge fan of scorching rock music, so I'll not rant on about my dislike for this particular vial of poison. Suffice to say that if ever a song should not have been recorded, then this is it...

Velocette - Bittersweet (Wiiija)
...Sweet mother of fuck, it gets worse. Bittersweet female vocals and tedious strings combine awkwardly (and tunelessly) in a song that's so repulsive it's harmful. Honestly, this kind of shit should be outlawed.

The Cranberries - Promises (Island)
See closing sentence of previous review. Then multiply disgust by two. Did I really expect anything but the same old shit?