The latest releases reviewed

50 CENT
Outta Control feat Mobb Deep Shady Records/Aftermath/Interscope 
**

Hooray! Fiddy saves the day! Eminem has blown off Slane, but the slow-rapping smoothie is still coming to Ireland, and he's gonna bounce with the Irish peeps at The Point. He shoulda just moved up to headline Slane - all the kids want is a day out.

DEVENDRA BANHART
I Feel Just Like a Child XL
***

He looks like some scary cult leader - or a young Cat Stevens - but we're assured that Dev's a cool guy, even though he does go on a bit about love and giving peace a chance and not killing people. But why do folkies have to look so, well, folky?

HYBRASIL
We Got Music Fresh Indie Frontal Attack
**

Here's a buncha guys who've been getting it together in the wilds of Wicklow, where there's no one to tell them what a crap band name they've got. Never mind; this is kinda like The Shamen doing Zooropa - with Erasure's keyboards.

TRACY CHAPMAN
Change Electra
**

Rest assured that Tracy hasn't changed: she's still the endearingly earnest folk queen of old. This one, featuring Flea on bass, is off her seventh album, Where You Live. Sounds a bit like Joan Osborne's One of Us played on a porch.

STEPHEN MALKMUS
Baby C'mon Domino
***

The guru of garage is back with a positively exuberant tune, in which he gets down on his grungy jeans and begs, to the accompaniment of cheap guitars and busted effects pedals. Backed with the shapely titled Wow Ass Jeans.

ROB THOMAS
This Is How a Heart Breaks Melisma/Atlantic 
**

The former Matchbox 20 guy is up and running with his solo career. This is the second single off his album, Something to Be - perfect for those hootie-rockers who have now hit middle age.