The latest rock and pop albums reviewed

DUKE SPECIAL

The Stage, a Book & the Silver Screen

Pledge Music ***

This exceptionally clever work (three CDs devoted to a distinct Duke Special project) manages to mix the singer/musician's own singular talents with the likes of Kurt Weill, Paul Auster, Mark Twain and Bertolt Brecht. In the wrong hands this could have been an uncivil collection of cultural conspirators, but Special makes light work of such heady company. The trick is that this plays to his
strengths: quirky tunes hide highly melodic lines, even when eyeball to eyeball with the tricky atonality of the Brecht/ Weill interface. The gems here include all of disc two (the first ever recording of an unfinished Weill musical based on Twain's Huckleberry Finn) and most of disc three (based on Auster's The Book of Illusions). Best song of the tri-part bunch? Neil Hannon's Wanda, Darling of the Jockey Club, which has more wrong-turn bounces than a rugby ball. www.dukespecial.com

Download tracks: Wanda, Darling of the Jockey Club, Apple Jack, Teller's Tale

TONY CLAYTON-LEA

HOLLY MIRANDA

The Magician’s Private Library XL ****

The VIPs are out in force to support Brooklyn boho Holly Miranda. Her debut album is produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek (and please, no comparisons to previous Sitek client Scarlett Johansson), while Kanye West and Trent Reznor have hyped her up. Yet all of this high-profile cheerleading would mean nothing if Miranda's music didn't swing and sway with the kind of sass that money or endorsements can't buy. There's much enchantment at play on The Magician's Private Library as Miranda jumps neatly from one beautifully embellished, fully imagined tune to the next. You sometimes wonder if Cat Power or PJ Harvey have wandered into the studio, yet Miranda's quite electrifying, dreamy, silken flights of fancy on Forest Green Oh Forest Greenand No-One Just Is are very much all off her own making. www.myspace.com/holly miranda

Download tracks: Forest Green Oh Forest Green, No-One Just Is

JIM CARROLL

TUNNG

And Then We Saw Land

Full Time Hobby****

After three albums, the departure of lyricist Sam Genders, and collaborating and touring with Tinariwen, Mike Lindsay now leads an experimental pop folktronica collective. Not only does Tunng's fourth album soundtrack lazing in a sunny Mediterranean grove with

wine and friends, but it sees them at the top of their game. Thoughtful acoustic numbers mingle with playful electronics and intricate vocal harmonies in rolling layer upon layer of suburban flower-child revelry. The result is an intoxicating 47 minutes of attention-hijacking fizz and nary an inch to pinch. From the epic lead single, Don't Look Down or Back, to aural opiate Sashimi, Lindsay's crew has delivered an everlasting gobstopper of an album sure to leave fans salivating for more. www. tunng.co.uk

Download tracks: Don't Look Down or Back, Sashimi, Hustle

DEANNA ORTIZ

EFTERKLANG

Magic Chairs 4AD ****

It would have been easy for Efterklang to capitalise on the success of 2007's Parades by making another album of meandering post-rock tunes, but their third studio album is a much more focused affair. No doubt: Magic Chairs panders to the mainstream more than their previous material (Casper Clausen's voice even sounds like Chris Martin's – well, at times), but it's still stuffed with odd rhythms and peculiar arrangements that spike and swerve in ways both unpredictable and eminently listenable. Enlisting wunderkind Peter Broderick for their live performances was a beneficial move; the young American's presence is especially felt on the crisp strings of Scandinavian Love and the tense tick-and- clatter of Harmonics. Fans of Efterklang's jumbled methods of yesteryear may be turned off by this album's comparatively commercial bent, but there's no doubting that this is the Danes' most accomplished work to date. www.efterklang.net

Download tracks: Alike, Harmonics

LAUREN MURPHY

ERRORS

Come Down with Me

Rock Action ***

There are many ingredients that can be squeezed into the instrumental rock mix, and Glasgow's Errors have always believed that a couple of dollops of electro add sizzle and sauce. Their second album sees Errors heading further down that post-electro road, with any lingering connections to either math-rock formulae or label bosses Mogwai's well-worn sense of melancholia disappearing rapidly. It's all for the better, because Come Down with Mehas a snap to its grooves that was just hinted at on Errors' debut album. A Rumour in Africais a wonderful squall of melody and momentum, Beards shows that they haven't quite abandoned a fondness for chinstroking, and The Erskine Bridgehas a quiet, charming sparkle to its stride. For those who want to check out Errors in a live setting, they play Dublin's Academy 2 on March 25th. www.myspace.com/ weareerrors

Download tracks: A Rumour in Africa, Beards

JIM CARROLL

PLASTICINES

About Love Nylon **

The long, bony, nicotine-stained fingers of Pete Doherty stretch further than you might think – as far as a Parisian suburb, even, where a group of young Libertines-loving ladies were inspired by the "urban poet" to start their own band. With The Strokes, Blondie and The White Stripes among the quartet's "influences", it's not hard to imagine what Plasticines sound like. Strange, then, that Katty Besnard and cohorts are at their best when a) singing in French ( Camera, Pas Avec Toi), and b) leaving their heroes at the door. Jerky garage riffs are the order of the day on their second album, with dashes of moody Shirley Manson impressions for good measure, particularly on the opener, I Could Rob You. It's just a shame that Plasticines fail to mold anything original from the implements at their disposal. www.plasticines-music.com

Download tracks: Barcelona, Camera

LAUREN MURPHY