Faux Movement
Autour De Lucie

A lot of French pop has the heady and fizzy sweetness of cheap champagne, it's easy to get nice and drunk on it but too much can make you feel a bit sick. Those who prefer a more sophisticated tipple might want to have a sip from Autour De Lucie's magnifique third album. Garnishing their usual ethereal guitar music with some nouvelle electronica they have created an edgy sound that jump cuts like a Godard movie and has all the passion and romance of a whirlwind love affair with some moody French woman – one minute they're slipping into silk undies and seducing you with some lush ballads, the next they're slapping you round the face with some big crunchy beats and buzzing guitars. Acting the part of femme fatale in this drama is lead chanteuse Valerie Leuillot whose silky voice sounds so dangerously seductive you'd jump off the Pont Neuf if she asked you to. My mother warned me about girls like her. [Official site]

Call and Response
Call and Response

I'm sure all Californians can't be as perky as this lot, maybe the sun's gone to their heads or they've been sniffing something but they sound like a gang of happy teenagers with perfect teeth sitting in the back of a van having a good ol' sing-song on their way to the beach. For their beach party they've brought along some sunny harmonies and thrown them into the cooler with some rubbery basslines and nonsense lyrics about rollerskating and blowing bubbles to produce a hybrid funky-folky-kitschy sweetness that's like The Mamas and The Papas sharing a strawberry milkshake with The Tom Tom Club. While I'd hate to be stuck in the van with them on a longer road trip there's just the right amount of bouncy sun-kissed pop fun here to make even a miserable git like me want to break out the sun cream and flip-flops and join them. [Kindercore Records]

The Facts of Life
Black Box Recorder

Us grown-ups that have actually done it with a lady know that sex is a lot more complicated than you imagine when you're a young boy dreaming of a mere glimpse of teacher's ankle. If you do it right it's pretty darn good (honestly kids!) but it can also be a bit grubby, humiliating and disappointing. This is what Black Box Recorder want to tell you, and a few tracks in you think this is all good stuff: some nice tunes, nice singing and tart lyrics about cars and bonking. That'll do nicely. Problem is they do go on, you get the point by about track five and by track six you're hoping Morrissey will turn up to show them how this sort of miserabilism should be done. Like a lot of conceptual art, Black Box Recorder sound better in theory than they do in practice, or at least over the length of an album. On the plus side the prettified music makes them sound like a suicidal Saint Etienne and vocalist Sarah Nixey's plummy, bored-debutante tones adds a certain tweed-skirted sexiness to the affair. Being a repressed Brit myself, the sound of a sexy upper-class young lady reciting tales of naughty doings behind the bike sheds has a kinky fascination that is best sorted out with a cold shower and a sound beating.

Indelible Impressions
The Impressions

My first priority when writing a review is usually trying to think of some good jokes but there are times when even a daffy jokester like me falls down on his knees dumbstruck in the face of sheer musical heaven. Originally led by Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions produced a slick and smooth brand of soul that often tackled social and political concerns (a clear influence on a certain political soul album Marvin Gaye was soon to release). Covering the years 1968-1976, this compilation captures Mayfield hitting the peak of his songwriting powers just before he went solo and also shows how damn good they continued to be after he left. Losing a force as potent as Mayfield would kill most other bands but The Impressions carried the torch well into the 70s despite changing line-ups and musical fashions. This set has to be the bargain of the century, 45 tracks bursting with sweet soul beauty for less than the price of a round of drinks. Buy it you mad fools!