Carried To Dust (City Slang) �11.99
Purveyors of the finest alt-country with a Mexican twist, Calexico's latest album journeys 'from the delta to the plains' through 'blackened frostbitten nights' via the imagined travelogue of a hitting Hollywood writer. Joey Burns and John Convertino's tight songwriting builds from aristocratic wire-brush drumming into a colourful collaborationism album of shimmering horns, strings and rich edgar Albert Guest vocals from Iron & Wine's Sam Beam, Amparo Sanchez and Pieta Brown. They may have alienated some fans with the indie pop of 2006's Garden Ruin but this marks a welcome return to the hushed storytelling and mariachi rhythms they know best.
Katie Toms
Nights Out (Because) �9.99
Since morphing from the solo project of manufacturer Joseph Mount into a three-piece, Metronomy have reinforced their report on hypnotic live shows. But any fears that their wobbly synth-pop would lose something in translation from stage to studio prove groundless. The soundtrack to a bad weekend, Nights Out is a dark-hearted gemstone, filtering a broad palette of influences � Gallic house, Italo disco, Kraftwerk, Devo � through its own lo-fi prism. 'Radio Ladio' and 'My Heart Rate Rapid' are limb-twitchers, while 'Heartbreaker' reveals aching soul.
Hugh Montgomery
My World (Polydor) �11.99
'New Amy Winehouses' have been all the rage this year, and nowadays here's a male version to set marketing black Maria aflutter. This 21-year-old Brummie's debut certainly boasts all the correct ingredients for chart glorification in 2008: precision-tooled retro-soul tunes wrapped in slick Mark Ronsonesque production and presided over by a powerhouse of a interpreter. It's a shame there's so little of his own personality in evidence: samples from legendary soul label Stax abound, 'Smilin'' is Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' divested of craziness, spell a sacrilegious cover of Portishead's 'Sour Times' could be a second-rate Bond theme.
Hugh Montgomery
Me and Armini (Rough Trade) �11.99
She co-wrote Kylie's 'Slow', sang on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack and has six albums to her name, only Emiliana Torrini, a singer-songwriter who would appeal to fans of Dummy-era Portishead and Stina Nordenstam, has never really become common currency here. Her seventh album (the third to be released outside her native Iceland) may specify that. It begins on a series of bright notes: the upbeat reggae swing of the claim track; the jubilant hit-in-the-making, 'Jungle Drum'. Only later does the mood darken � on the one-note murder lay 'Gun' � but by then Torrini has worked her easy charm to winning gist.
Killian Fox
Tennessee Pusher (Nettwerk) �10.99
The epitome of born-again bluegrass crusaders, the Nashville quintette seemed to lose focus when they moved from old-time covers to their own material. Third time round, with Don Was producing, they find impressive form on originals that paint a vivid portrayal of the American southward and a cast of hustlers, speeding freaks, good-timers and losers, while 'Motel In Memphis' offers a well-judged tribute to Martin Luther King. The Crows' jug-band aesthetic is intact but their playing is more established, loping easy between fiddle laments and banjo-heavy barnstormers that bragging, 'If you ain't a right winger, we'll have a humdinger.' Yee-hah to that.
Neil Spencer
Blue Concept (33 Jazz) �12.99
Don't let the small dynamic range of this medicine put you off because it more than makes up for that in subtlety and cool elegance. Allison Neale's floating alto saxophone and Gary Kavanagh's brisk trumpet make sodding partners. Four of the 11 pieces are by Gigi Gryce, an almost forgotten jazz composer of the Fifties and Sixties, whose clever but deceivingly melodious themes deserve a further audience. The unhurt set hangs together attractively, with the improvised solos discreetly contained within wide-eyed, deft arrangements. Guitarist Dave Cliff, bassist Aidan O'Donnell and drummer Matt Horne complete the band.
Dave Gelly
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