Latest releases reviewed

HUSKY RESCUE
Country Falls
Catskills
****

There really must be something in the Nordic air which makes for extraordinary pop music. Originally released late last year, Country Falls deserves a rapid reappraisal, not least because the sparse, sweeping waves of ambient folk that this Finnish five-piece produce would be welcome at any time of year. While the shapes and sounds that guide Rescue composer Marko Nyberg tip the fedora to a range of electronic influences, from Brian Eno and Philip Glass to Erik Satie and Pete Namlook, it's the glacial whispers of vocalists Emma Salokoski and Reeta-Leena Korhola that add the funk and the soul necessary to lift Country Falls above the also-rans cluttering up the electronica racks. You'll find all manner of snow-based superlatives coming to mind to describe New Light of Tomorrow, while the closing Mean Street is all of the above and more in a widescreen snapshot. www.husky-rescue.com

VARIOUS
Future Sounds of Jazz Vol 10
Compost
***

In that Venn diagram where jazz, electronica and house come together, you'll find this series hogging the middle ground. It has proven a profitable place to be for the Compost label, which has seen its star rise since the first Future Sound of Jazz compilation back in 1994. Along the way, the releases have charted the promiscuous side of jazz, following its many stylistic couplings and seeing just what its wayward offspring get up to next. Jazz purists may shudder, but the music's improvised soul is safe in the hands of Compost, allowing them to join the dots even when those dots are not obvious or apparent. The dark electronica of Hot Chip's Playboy and the contagious Latin shake of Povo's Uam Uam would certainly never find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder on any other compilation. www.compst-records.com

OUT HUD
Let Us Never Speak of It Again
!K7
***

More punk-funk mutant disco boogaloo but, before you go running off to fetch your cowbell, this may be one of the few rock/funk/acid/electro/house/

pop soundclashes that makes more sense on CD than it does on paper. Featuring ex-members of fellow art-rock collectives LCD Soundsystem and !!!, Out Hud's shtick is about producing party tunes with really long and/or daft song titles (you can blame the politics of dancing and over-indulgence in certain stimulants for Dear Mr Bush, There Are 1000 Words for Shit and Only One for Music. Fuck You, Out Hud). Despite the wacky titles, there's actually much to savour in Out Hud's spicy, spacy, wide-eyed electronica, not least when they whip up a decent and sometimes groovy head of steam. Forward-thinking fans of Talking Heads might nod with approval. www.k7.com