The latest releases reviewed
THE KILLERS Day & Age Vertigo ****
Despite their gawky earnestness and careful appropriation of everything 1980s, no one can deny The Killers' ability to pen some damn fine synth-pop tunes. Sure, there are misfires here (the unfocused Spaceman, the anti-climactic Neon Tiger), but the flimsy concept of Sam's Townhas been replaced with a far more solid batch of songs. Is Day & Ageprogressive? Bah humbug to that. A Dustland Fairytalenails that big stadium sound with its tale of "Cinderella in a party dress", and the tribal This Is Your Lifebreezes along on a borrowed Road to Nowhererhythm. The album standout, The World We Live In, boasts a chorus that lodges itself deep in your subconscious. Unfailingly inoffensive and diplomatically inclusive, the four-piece have a self-belief that, similar to their heroes U2, continues to set them apart from the competition. www.thekillersmusic.com BRIAN KEANE
Download tracks: This Is Your Life, The World We Live In
THE SMITHS The Sound of The Smiths Warner Music ****
It's always been Morrissey's proud boast that The Smiths were the first band to get "indie" records into Woolworths. And that, perhaps, is their legacy: that they took independent music out of a student union ghetto and put it on the high street. Curated by Johnny Marr himself, this 45-track, double CD is broken into two parts. Disc one contains all the singles and best-known tracks (age hasn't withered them) while disc two has all the B-sides and rarities. It's the quality of the second that still impresses. songs such as Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What You Want, Stretch Out and Waitand Oscillate Wildlystill carry more of a punch than many A-sides from today's Smiths imitators. Events are livened up further by some judiciously selected live tracks, including a stirring Meat Is Murder. A very good quality compilation. BRIAN BOYD
Download tracks: Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me, Meat Is Murder
STORY OF HAIR Cheap Rate Plugged in Pig Records ***
Maybe it's the rain, but our Emerald Isle isn't usually the place to go looking for starry-eyed flower children. Yet, despite the odds, Cheap Ratelends itself to frolicking in fields with daisy chains in your hair. With Polyphonic Spree-style spirit made precocious by fraternising with Los Campesinos' lively boy/girl dynamic, our very own Story of Hair come out sounding like happy kids blowing bubbles in their chocolate milk. From Friendly Games'sassertive joy to Hondamolly's Byrdsharmonies, buzzing guitars, tireless drums and wandering glockenspiels all encourage you to channel you inner child with abandon. The album's giddy heart is its uninhibited sense of innocent fun, deftly capturing the spirit of youth while sidestepping twee. Cheap Rateis a party we're all invited to - misery gutses need not apply. www.storyofhair.com DEANNA ORTIZ
Download Tracks: Hondamolly, Nanny Natch, Friendly Games
SECRET MACHINES Secret Machines TSM ***
New York-based Secret Machines release their third album, this time without founder member Benjamin Curtis (who left to concentrate on his other band, School of Seven Bells) and without the financial muscle of major label paymasters. It's Curtis's absence that really defines the shape of this album as the remaining band members recalibrate their sound. Secret Machines's previous albums ( Now Here Is Nowhereand Ten Silver Drops) were epic, widescreen rock powerhouses. The latest, in contrast, seems unsure about its routing. Drummer Josh Garza, as always, plays like a man possessed, though there are times when some restraint might have worked better. On Atomic Heelsand, especially, the epic Have I Run Out, the band show that they can still fire up the engines. But it's when songs such as Now You're Goneare given the space to growl that these Machines really start to hum. www.myspace.com/secretmachines JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Atomic Heels, Now You're Gone
ESSIE JAIN The Inbetween Leaf ***
Originally released in 2007, The Inbetweenis getting a bigger push on the back of the critical success of Essie Jain's We Made It Ourselvesalbum from earlier this year. When Ba Ba Bing stuck this one out, very few were in the loop about the London-born, New York-based singer-songwriter. What we missed out on then was a bunch of sweet, sultry songs, warm harmonies and snazzy melodies perfectly in tune for a voice that knows its Joni Mitchells from its Sandy Dennys. While the songs don't quite have the accomplished and nonchalant swing as those on We Made It Ourselves, there is nonetheless a strong sense of Jain finding her range and tending her own pitch. Two to check out are the captivating Eavesdropand I Ask You. Both nod to a clear-voiced folk past as Jain deals with the tribulations of life and love. www.essiejain.com JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Eavesdrop, I Ask You
AINE DUFFY Put Your Money On No label **
Co Cork has produced some of Ireland's most out-there, avantpunk and downright intriguing music. In Nun Attax, Stump and Microdisney, the county delivered music that reaches the parts that other styles don't even sniff.
Bandon's Aine Duffy has this rich heritage behind her, but she has some way to go before her otherworldliness matches the bands that made the word "nutter" a byword for creative genius. Duffy is certainly different.
Her songs occupy a space between ragged glory and just plain ragged, while her voice is a curious collage of parochial intonation and quite brilliantly attuned caterwauling. In short, she wouldn't be to everyone's taste, which marks her out as something of a maverick. Which is kinda where we came in. One to watch? Maybe. www.myspace.com/aineduffy TONY CLAYTON-LEA
Download tracks: Shiver, Paperback
B FLEISCHMANN Angst Is Not a Weltanschauung Morr ****
Following the shimmering aural universe revealed in last year's Melancholie/Sendestrasse(a double live album) Bernard Fleischmann returns to singing songs for his sixth LP. Melancholy still rules the roost, but these nine tracks have a charm and hope that would stitch a silver lining onto any cloud. Clicks and sizzles abound, but the Austrian does everything in his power to make this a loveable, laidback pop record. With guest vocalists Marilies Jagsch and Sweet William, In Trainsand 24.12become touching, vulnerable slices of philosophy. You'll hear strains of Isan, The Notwist and Air throughout, while the infectious Playtimeruns the gamut of beats and styles. Constantly moving in the most oblique directions Angst Is Not a Weltanschauungfinds Fleischmann at his playful best. www.bfleischmann.com BRIAN KEANE
Download tracks: 24.12, In Trains, Playtime
