Singles and Downloads 2

Rihanna, Russian Roulette (Mercury)

I strongly suggest anyone who believes the sound of US mainstream pop is somehow homogenised and safe take another look at the current charts. Standing over them like android colossi are Lady Gaga and Rihanna - who not only look exactly as pop stars were always going to look "in the future", but sound apocalyptically insane. This song is in the standard melodramatic modern power-ballad style of writer/producer Ne-Yo, but the combination of Rihanna's piercing voice and the lyrics that circle in the non-specific manner of nightmares around death, obsession, loyalty and points of no return - with (no shit, Sherlock) a heavy whiff of sado-masochism - make it an incredibly harrowing but addictive listen.  The flip side to "Umbrella"'s promise of protection, it's scary pop music for scary times.  "Russian Roulette" on Amazon. "Umbrella" on Amazon. (JM)

Kid Sister, Right Hand Hi (Asylum)

Like the dance-pop Rihanna makes when not singing terrifying ballads, Chicagoan Melisa "Kid Sister" Young's records traverse the increasingly blurred boundary between US urban music and European club sounds. This release is all about the stupendous remix by Caspa which shows precisely why young British dubstep producers are conquering America where their rave and drum and bass forebears failed so completely. Perfectly fusing slow'n'low hip hop swagger with post-techno sonic invention and British soundsystem culture, it is pretty much the state of the art -- although it probably requires something a little better than laptop speakers or white earbuds to be fully appreciated.  Kid Sister on Amazon. (JM)

Wild Palms, Over Time (Popular)

Does anyone remember Wild Palms? It was an early Nineties TV series produced by Oliver Stone in the wake of Twin Peaks, imitative of David Lynch's eccentric brilliance but nowhere near matching it. Presumably this London four-piece recall the show. Their own debut single is imitative of scatchy post-punk and The Cramps but similarly doesn't stand up by comparison. In fact, it would be just another NME-friendly indie guitar outing were it not for the menacing, echoing chorus, attuned to the spirit of Eighties goth, and surprisingly hard to shake from the head. Wild Palms MySpace. (THG)

Pet Shop Boys, Christmas (Parlophone)

2009 has been an active year for Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, culminating in their forthcoming UK stadium tour. They remain a well-loved and very English pop institution, and this festive EP is unlikely to either enhance of dent that reputation. It contains a new version of the likeable "All Over The World" from their recent underpowered Yes album, an unlikely cover of Madness' "My Girl" and a reinterpretation of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida", all topped off with a throwaway dig at Yuletide humdrum entitled "It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas" ("The Christmas message was long ago lost/Now it's all about shopping and how much things cost."). It won't be troubling the X Factor winner for the Christmas No.1 spot but, as an oddments selection for their devoted fan-base, it's cheesy fun. "Christmas" at Amazon. (THG)

The Prodigy, Invaders Must Die EP (Take Me To The Hospital/Cooking Vinyl)

This year The Prodigy made a bona fide comeback, their startling success a very visible sign of electronic music's return to mass popularity. With a nigh on twenty year career behind them, they've become part of the pop landscape so it's sometimes forgotten how demented they sound compared to bands of an equivalent stature. The previously unreleased "Mescaline" delivers an industrial-strength rave battering while the Doorly mix of "Thunder" is a jerky, roaring electronic rampage. There's some truth in comments from disparaging critics that The Prodigy's recent material is a pastiche of their best work, but when it's such a glorious, snarling racket, who cares? "Invaders Must Die", one of two remix EPs, on Amazon. (THG)

Alog / Astral Social Club, FatCat Split Series #20 (FatCat)

Two acts transmitting from far corners of the global psychedelic underground. Norwegian duo Alog turn in a 12-minute-plus voyage through percussion and chanting, like a cosmic disco track with all its edges made rusted and raw. Veteran Yorkshire-Scots DIY musician Neil Campbell aka ASC, meanwhile, turns in what sounds like a techno track made from short-wave radios ("Clarion Super-Cortex"), a jagged, raging industrial miniature ("Corby Kiss") and a beautiful but disturbing ambient piece that builds to a My Bloody Valentine-style climax of ecstatic distortion ("Vurt Chorale #1"). It's very, very weird and, mainly, very wonderful too. "Split Series #20" 12" vinyl at Amazon. (JM)

Beat Pharmacy, Wikkid Times Remixes EP (Deepspace)

These remixes of a Berlin producer by two Bristolians, an Irishman and some Americans is the diametric opposite end of dubstep and techno from the Caspa Kid Sister remix. Liquified and enveloping, they loosen gravity around the listener, their bass pulses pushing the stentorian reggae vocalists' voices around the mix, the whole creating a sense of high-tech, stoned luxury. That this is on venerable French-Armenian New Yorker François Kevorkian's label only adds to the futurist cosmopolitan chic of it all. Literally lush. "Wikkid Times Remixes" at Amazon. (JM)

The Blue Eyed Shark Experiment, Aun Aprendo (I'm Still Learning) EP (Sidew7lk)

I'm worried by Blue Eyed Shark Experiment. His identity is a mystery - as you can see from the photo - but he's a pal of Radiohead and, according to his promotional blurb, once "swam with Johnny Cash". This leads me to surmise he's possibly an ageing session musician or hack biz insider sneaking through the backdoor with a low key release before suddenly revealing himself to be the new Snow Patrol. This feeling is only enhanced by most of this EP, especially the dreadful indie-epic "Goodbye My Little Friend". However, the opening "Generation" is too intriguing to ignore, a catchy sliver of orchestrated pop whose po-faced lyricism is neatly counterbalanced by a synthesizer, a theremin and a compulsively mournful tune. Download "Generation" at Amazon. (THG)

Richard Hawley, Open Up Your Door (Mute)

When this poured elegantly from the speakers, a silky, well-aged whisky of a song, I had to hunt around for the writing credits. It seemed to be a song I'd known forever but, of course, it's by Richard Hawley and from his latest album. Pitched somewhere between Chris Isaacs and Matt Monroe, "Open Up Your Door" glides along on a swell of strings, mellow, smooth, twinkling and emanating a lovelorn longing. It musters engaging class while still recalling the sort of easy listening that used to constantly be on BBC Radio 2 a couple of decades ago. Richard Hawley's Truelove's Gutter album or download "Open Up Your Door" at Amazon. (THG)

Jaga Jazzist, One-Armed Bandit (Ninja Tune)

Jaga Jazzist are an outfit who pleasingly evade categorization. A nine-member Norwegian group with roots in jazz, they consistently reappear with unpredictable new material, ranging from cinematic orchestration to avant-garde dancefloor. Their latest direction is described by head honcho Lars Horntveth as "Wagner meets Fela Kuti", a wonderfully offbeat idea, but one which this taster single doesn't fulfil in the slightest. Instead 'One-Armed Bandit' sounds like the twitchy harpsichord-led theme to a kitsch Sixties spy flick, tinted with a dash of Elmer Bernstein circa The Man With The Golden Arm, an unforced cocktail that bodes well for the forthcoming album of the same name. Download "One-Armed Bandit" at Amazon. (THG)

Girls, Laura (Fantasytrashcan/Turnstile)

This San Francisco duo, much feted by the NME and those who follow its diktats, appear to be a pair of American Pete Dohertys. Radiating wasted glamour and talking a great game, on paper they're perfect rockstars; unfortunately on record they're just dismally middle-of-the-road strumalong indie that we've heard a thousand times before without it ever getting better. The best you could say about them is that the vocalist could get a job as a passable Elvis Costello impersonator if and when their emperors' new clothes act is seen through. And hopefully that will be soon, as this truly is stupefyingly bad music. Download "Laura" at Amazon. (JM)