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Ladytron: Velocifero

Velocifero

From their earliest moments, Ladytron was always a band that was so far left of the norm that any mainstream success seemed like a far-fetched fantasy. With thick synths, harsh vocals, and nothing that sounded even remotely ordinary, they eventually gained some sort of widespread recognition with cult hits like "Seventeen" and "Destroy Everything You Touch." Their most recent album, Witching Hour (2005), was a giant leap forward for both the band, and their unique style of electronic pop. Velocifero continues this trend with songs that are much easier to swallow without completely disowning their signature sound. Simply put, Velocifero is easily the most accomplished Ladytron album to date.

Paul Weller: 22 Dreams

22 Dreams

2008 release, Paul Weller's ninth solo studio album in an amazing 30 year career that saw him front The Jam and The Style Council. Recorded over the course of a year at Paul's own Black Barn Studios in Surrey, 22 Dreams is a kaleidoscopic tour de force incorporating Rock, Funk, Soul, Free Jazz, Krautrock, Classical, Spoken Word, Electronica and all stops in between. It's a seventy minute (m)odyssey delivered with a verve and ambition to shame musicians half his age.

Johnny Foreigner: Waited Up Til It Was Light

Waited Up Til It Was Light

Critics have ruminated n for Johnny Foreigner since the release of last year's mini-album, Arcs Across The City. With the release of the debut album, Waited Up Til It Was Light, and critical excitement reaching near climactic levels, it's time to find out what all the fuss is about. Johnny Foreigner is a two boys and one girl three-piece from Birmingham. Formed in 2005, the trio first started picking up speed with the release of 2006's Sometimes, In The Bullring. Since then they have speedily pieced together a collection of songs so off its tits with creativity and ideas it sounds like the band have just been beamed to Earth from another planet.

Shearwater: Rook

Rook

Austin's Shearwater return with the follow-up to "Palo Santo". "Rook" meditates on man's intersection with the natural world; the world after human beings are gone. A dark fairy tale encased in a cycle of songs. Jonathan Meiburg's bold, soaring voice still anchors the songs, which broaden his pastoral prog-folk chaotic celestial mindfuckery into new realms. Beyond the continuing touchstones of late Talk Talk, Nico, and John Cale, there are now allusions to Van Morrison and hints of Joni Mitchell. All set in a newly lush sonic gorgeousness of harp, strings, and woodwinds atop the magnificent rhythm section.

The Music: Strength In Numbers

Strength In Numbers

UK pressing of the 2008 album from the UK indie act. Includes one hidden bonus track, No Danger'. Strength In Numbers, the bands third album, was recorded in late 2007 by uber producers Flood (Killers / U2) and Paul Hartnoll (ex Orbital). The new material has been road tested to an incredible response on the band's 'Four Cities' tour, which sees them returning to play the same cities in consecutive months: each time in a bigger venue, rekindling the adulation that followed their historic Blackpool Empress Ballroom show and multiple sold out nights at Brixton Academy. Universal.

Bun B: II Trill

II Trill

Bun B is a solo artist not by choice but by necessity. After spending a decade and a half in the legendary Texas rap duo UGK, Bun found himself all alone in 2002, when Pimp C, his partner, went to prison on a parole-violation charge. With Pimp gone, Bun hit the guest appearance circuit hard and eventually released Trill, his decent-enough 2005 solo debut. At the tail end of 2005, Pimp came home, and the reunited duo crafted the triumphant double album Underground Kingz. One of the few truly feel-good comeback stories in rap was cut short this past December when Pimp died from complications of sleep apnea. A few months later, Bun returns to the solo slog. If nothing else, II Trill makes for a great story of personal resilience.

Gavin Rossdale: Wanderlust

Wanderlust

Wanderlust is the debut solo album by Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale released by Interscope Records in June 2008. It is his first LP since Institute's Distort Yourself in 2005. The lead single "Love Remains The Same" was released digitally on April 1, 2008. The album was produced by Bob Rock and finds Rossdale collaborating with drummer Josh Freese, guitarist Chris Traynor (also formerly of Bush), bassist Paul Bushnell and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac. Gavin was the lead singer/songwriter for the UK post-grunge rock band Bush.

Andy Burrows: The Colour Of My Dreams

The Colour Of My Dreams

When it comes to long awaited solo projects, it's fair to say that the drummer from Razorlight probably isn't too high up the list. Yet the man who famously fell out with Johnny Borrell over who should claim credits for such meaningful lyrics as "nothing on the TV nothing on the radio that means that much to me" has indeed gone solo. It's a project that's obviously close to Andy Burrows' heart. Recorded in order to raise awareness and funds for the Jack's Place appeal to build a new children's hospice in his home town of Winchester, The Colour Of My Heart was recorded entirely on Garageband software, after Burrows stumbled upon a book of poetry written by a family friend.

The Wedding Present: El Rey

El Rey

If gossip of about Wedding Present frontman David Gedge is to be believed, the demise of Cinerama and the consequent revival of the Wedding Present was due to a falling out with Sally Murrell, his longtime girlfriend and bandmate. (Ostensibly, Cinerama's sound had "changed" so much it didn't sound like Cinerama anymore--polite way of saying that furious breakup anthems and the recounting of subsequent one-night stands didn't fit into Cinerama's dinner jacket and domestic bliss agenda; fortunately, these just happened to be the exact subjects the Wedding Present has specialized in for over 20 years.)

Usher: Here I Stand

Here I Stand

In the four years since his last album — the nine-million selling, Grammy-winning "Confessions" — Usher has apparently undergone a personal and musical maturation. On the homefront, the Atlanta-bred R&B singer now has a son, Usher Raymond V, and wife, celebrity stylist Tameka Foster (despite breakup rumors in the blogosphere). And where his previous CD dealt with themes of infidelity and mixed emotions, his latest release "Here I Stand" is a near-180-degree shift, full of solid songs about true love and committed relationships.