The polyphonic spree

Whether it was because for the first time in a few years I was missing out on the customary exposure to dozens of exciting acts at Leeds, or because I'll shortly be leaving Nottingham and decided to take as much of Selectadisc with me as possible, I embarked upon a major CD buying spree on Saturday. A few thoughts on some of the CDs which found their way into my grateful arms...

Attention all bands out there who want to gain my immediate patronage: forget innovation and originality - if you can make your single sound like the very best bits of Psychocandy then it's guaranteed to push my buttons, no questions asked. It really is as easy as that to bypass my critical faculties. So well done to Swedish noisemeisters The Radio Dept for realising this, and turning out 'Why Won't You Talk About It?', the finest slice of hurricane pop since, ooooh, fellow Scandanavians The Raveonettes last year.

Even by their own immaculately skewed standards, The Fiery Furnaces' recorded version of 'Single Again' is utterly bonkers, all buzzing synths and colliding rhythms. B-side 'Evergreen' is much more sedate but no less brilliant for it, particularly as it appears to concern Eleanor Friedberger's visions of being a tree.

Love The Cup, the mini-LP by Sons & Daughters, is just what I was expecting, following 'Broken Bones' (the track featured on a recent NME CD) and their set in support of The Fiery Furnaces at Stealth in Nottingham last week - deliciously dark no frills bar-room country blues that staggers around with menace threatening to glass you in the neck.

My initial impressions of Bubblegum by the Mark Lanegan Band aren't wholly favourable, though - yes the man's legendary croak is as awesome as ever and the supporting cast is phenomenal (Duff Mackagan, Izzy Stradlin, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, Polly Harvey, Chris Goss, Greg Dulli, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider, all of Burning Brides), but on first listen the songs seemed unremarkable and dulled by unnecessarily poor production. Maybe it's a grower.

As for the rest, I plead for more time to assess fairly the merits of Clinic's Winchester Cathedral LP, TV On The Radio's 'Staring At The Sun', Aberfeldy's 'Heliopolis At Night', The Stills' 'Still In Love Song' and The Shins' 'Fighting In A Sack'.