SINGLE: 321 VS TIM HEALEY & DEEKLINE Bring It Back (Giant Pussy)
Giant Pussy describe this as an electro/house/dubstep/garage/urban/carnival release. As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s right on the money – in fact there’s also a bit of Bollywood in there too. It’s all about an outrageous bassline that Herve might discard for being, you know, a bit much, on top of which all manner of sounds battle with some dancehall toasting. JFB and Ed Solo work the Caribbean sounds into breakstep then shoot it into space to fight with robots. The robots win. (JK)

SINGLE: ABSENT ELK Change My World (Amazon)
You know all those bastards who made a load of dough betting on that JCB Song for Christmas No1 a few years back? Well you could be onto an admittedly outside winner with this. They’ve just played to a billion or so kids supporting on a Girls Aloud arena tour – the kind of punter for whom a love song like this reminds them of the boy at the back of the bus and makes them all blubby and shit. All it takes now is a bit more radio – Dermot O’Leary had them in recently and practically wet himself – and the overall odds on this could go properly short. (NC)

ALBUM: ATLUM SCHEMA (atlumschema.com)
When we hear music like this we wonder why on earth anyone bothers getting bogged down with old school record companies anymore. This sounds as polished as anything backed by Universal or EMI, and yet has been made without them sticking their beaks into it. It’s also being given away for free on their website, with specific encouragement to rip it and pass it on – this is how you grow a fanbase. Permission or not, you’d be passing it on anyway – this manages to make epic music from sparse backing and pretty much any of the songs here could catch an influential ear and propel this nationwide. (NC)

SINGLE: JIMMY BRITISH FEAT. WHISPER I C U GIRL (Hot Cake)
Fronting his own single on his own label at the age of just seventeen, Jimmy British has plenty of the focus and drive that people like Anne Widdecombe don’t want to believe exists in our teens. After a stint at the Brit Academy with the voice of the record, rapper Whisper, Jimmy set about putting his plan for r’n’b dancehall domination into effect, with this debut release. Urban and house mixes vie for prominence and depending on you whether you want to see the girl in question ‘shaking that arse’ (not ‘ass’, he’s British) or just ‘shaking it fast’, there are explicit and clean mixes to suit every age. (NC)

ALBUM: THE GREAT PARK The Wife (Woodland Recordings)
The Great Park is essentially one man, Stephen Burch, who crafts hushed, finger-picked guitar folk. On his latest release The Wife, the ten songs are embellished by mournful violin and minimal percussive accompaniment, while in the middle of a noisy, frenetic world The Great Park sits quite still, whispering striking and heartfelt tales of love, loss and yearning. Another quiet gem of a record from the Woodland Recordings stable and quite possibly Burch’s best work to date. Lovely. (IC)

EP: LEON LACE Live From Henriques St (Anvil)
We don’t know a great deal about Mr Lace, his CD arriving somewhat bereft of pertinent biographical information. But sticking the disc in the player, we’re at once overcome by his groove – a bass guitar-led jam which has echoes of early Quantic but with an altogether more organic feel to it, relying on sparing guitar licks rather than trippy vocal samples. Much of this kind of sound veers too easily into muzak, an aural wallpaper that struggles to hold the attention, but there’s enough going on here, sax and keys duels especially, to keep the interest going. Nice. (NC)

SINGLE: LONG RANGE Control Me EP (Pure Mint)
Back after a long break and now very much a full band set up, Long Range boss Nick Smith, Jimmy Day from Mula, ex-Largo fella Ben Burns, Will White from the Propellerheads, Toby May and Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll seem stronger than ever. The supergroup’s Control Me is a sultry, slutty, squealing piece of electro throb with a call and response, male-verses-female vocal. Aimed right at the dancefloor, it’s ace and perhaps the best thing they’ve done. (JK)

SINGLE: MICHAEL MORPH Go Cat Go (Pure Mint)
“Elvis was a hero to many/but he never meant shit to me,” reckoned Public Enemy but the Pure Mint boss doesn’t subscribe, clearly. He’s taken a line from ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and completely re-contextualised it into Fake Blood style electro. It takes what is already a good distorto-stomp and ramps it up to the next level. We’re looking forward to hearing it over Digital’s Funktion 1 soundsystem. (JK)

ALBUM: NICK PYNN The Colours Of The Night (Roundhill)
Nick and partner Jane are responsible for Kemptown’s Bom-Banes restaurant, which admittedly immediately draws us to this CD. It’s ace in there (see our Secret Eater feature from ages ago) and the musical eclecticism the pair install, along with all the other oddness, is writ large within this collection. The recorded accompaniment to Pynn’s Edinburgh Fringe Show of the same name, it achieves orchestral width and depth via the gradual layering of sounds, delivering a deliciously avant garde take on contemporary folk. In other words, proper bonkers but brilliant. (NC)