Edwyn Collins - Adidas World (Setanta)
For my money, Edwyn Collins is a bit of a genius. Anyone who can cope so admirably well with not being a very good singer or guitar player should be an inspiration to us all. What’s more, he’s the only figure on the British music scene at the minute willing to take the bull by the horns and inject some political bite back into rock. For noble sentiment salone, 'Adidas World' should be a smash hit. Better still, it’s a great tune, an anthem for the disaffected which reeks scorn on the advertising world. As ever, the extra tracks are fantastic, especially a cover of Scott Walkers Mr. Beau Jangles.

Tindersticks - Rented Rooms (Polygram)
Equally satisfying is 'Rented Rooms, a song so choaked with passion it should be illegal before midnight. While Tindersticks full-length albums never have the cupids arrow treatment on this reviewer, like those arty foreign films which get 4 stars in the paper but have you nodding off halfway through, Rented Rooms is a self-contained narrative probing depths of the human psyche not usually explored in pop music.

Beck - Deadweight (Geffen)
Beck proves that he’s still a runner in the celebrity stakes with Deadweight, an off-kilter trawl through the great outdoors of the weird and wonderful. It’s always amazed me how someone reared in the urban junle of downtown LA can end up sounding like Syd Barrett busking in the Bible Belt, but Beck succeeds where most are doomed to failure.

2k - ***k The Millenium (Blastfirst/Mute)
From KLF to the K Foundation to 2K, this seminal acid house outfit are more renowned in the art world for burning a million quid (not real money, by the way, except for £30,000 A-House gave them) than for their seminal dance track What Time is Love. They’re back with the wittily titled '***k The Millenium'. This single also includes an acid jazz remix of 'What Time is Love' which doesn’t sound as memorable the second time around, but maybe that’s because it’s a remix, or maybe I’m just an old fart who doesn’t know what good music is. The main track is a pretty entertaining hardcore stomp through BPM boulevard, which is really what matters after all.

Stonysleep - This Kitten is Clean (Big Cat)
Stonysleep are an obscure combo whose single comes without a cover (the horror, the horror!). The music is definitely a winner, though I’m sure it won’t see them scaling the charts as it probably isn’t everyones cup of tea. Soft guitar chords are delicately interwoven into a layered sound glued together with gentle vocal paeons, to make 'This Kitten is Clean' a worthy purchase.

Guy Chadwick - This Strength (Setanta)
Edwyn’s Setanta soulmate Guy Chadwick is far removed from the cynical invectives which the Northern soulboy deals in. 'This Strenght' pays tribute more to the understated laments of soft country acts like T-Bone Burnett. It’s hard to know whether this is highly moving or plain boring. I’m still listening, however, so I definitely think the scales are tipping to the former. If not quite melting my heart, it does at least capture the imagination.

Bush - Bone driven (Trauma/Interscope)
Bush are adequately named, but I can’t help but think that bollocks or arse might have been even more insightful. 'Bone driven' is more of the same. Horrible music for horrible teenagers.

V2 have invested a lot of money into a lot of new acts. The fruits of their labour are witnessed in the avalanche of new singles just released. The bad news is that few of these are worthy of your hard-earned cash. The ones to watch out for are the Jungle Brothers eponymously titled single (that means it’s called 'Jungle Brothers'), which grafts fast-rappin’ rhymes with a colourful nu-soul backbeat. It’s at the opposite end of the spectrum from the dark gothic melodrama of the Wu-Tang’s, but it’s a tasty morsel nonetheless. One Minute Silence are the future of metal according to various noise mags, and 'South Central' is an eclectic piece of mayhem, to the extent that white boys with loud guitars can be eclectic. Coming across like a hybrid of Fear Factory and Faith No More, they’re a welcome impetus to a genre rapidly disappearing up it’s own arsehole.

On the downside, Amber Sunshower’s elegant voice is wasted on 'Running Song', a tired nu-soul piece of musak. It sounds decent enough on first listen, but compare it to something truly soulful like Bowie’s Young Americans and it loiters palely. At the bottom of the barrel are the Kings of Infinite Space. The press release for 'Slut' describes it as a blend of punk, grunge and powerpop. Excuse me, but am I the only one under the impression that all these are the same thing. On listening to the single, I think I’m proved right. Mandalay apparently mix electronic sounds with the human touch, although 'This Life' resembles any other pseudo trip-hop exercise. A good day for the press release writer, not so good for the consumer.