THE STROKES - IS THIS IT ................................................. With the massive hype surrounding this New York band's debut, I was almost put off checking it out. Therefore, I was surprised to discover Is This It actually lives up to the great claims made on its behalf. Eleven songs in little over half an hour, played in a New York Dolls meet The Ramones, with a proper singer, style, this is a no-nonsense rock music not popular since the heyday of punk. With songs like Soma, Barely Legal and The Modern Age, you'll be leaving this album on repeat.

RYAN ADAMS - GOLD .................... . . .. .. .. .. ... ... .... .... .. ... All but forsaking his alt.country leanings, Adams journeys through one of rock's often overlooked golden periods, the early '70s, tipping his hat to Van, The Stones and The Who, along the way. But the consistently strong song writing, and inspired performance make this much more than a revisionist exercise. If only he'd given the overblown Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard to his new friend Elton, and replaced it with The Bar Is A Beautiful Place, from the bonus disc that came with initial copies of the album!

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - RINGS AROUND THE WORLD . .. . . Possibly the best thing ever to come out of Wales, SFA have been, without doubt, the most interesting UK band for several years now. Without any radical change from their previous recordings, they have managed to produce the best album of their career. Sublime, gentle pop songs are joined in the mix by experimental noises and Wilsonesque instrumentation. The title track manages to combine all three elements.

JOLENE - THE PRETTY DIVE ............................. ......... ........ Once tipped as 'the next big thing', after signing to Sire, an unhappy Jolene eventually extracted themselves from their contract, having completed just one album for the label - the magnificent In The Gloaming - when they were left in limbo due to one of the many record company mergers/takeovers. The Pretty Dive is the band's fourth album, and finds John Crooke and co playing the sort of music REM used to make before they sold their souls to stadium rock, a decade ago. Understated songs like Break and New Refrain Detritus make for an album that impresses more with each listen.

THE FRAMES - FOR THE BIRDS .......................................... Glen Hansard looks and sounds like John Crooke's long lost Irish brother, and like Jolene, The Frames have refused to let their departure from a major record label destroy them. Instead, they've used the artistic freedom to produce the finest music of their career. Rootsier than previous recordings, For The Birds sees Hansard successfully tap into the fragile beauty of Irish traditional music, whilst retaining the controlled power of rock's unique energy. What Happens When The Heart Just Stops is possibly the year's most wondrous piece of music.

BEACHWOOD SPARKS - ONCE WE WERE TREES ..... .. ............... If you ever wondered what the follow up to The Notorious Byrd Brothers would have sounded like, had Gram Parsons not joined The Byrds, then check out this, the second album from California's Beachwood Sparks. The vocal harmony, coupled with jangling guitars sound trademarked by The Byrds is complimented by an intensity that McGuinn and co never quite brought to their recordings. Though had they not headed 'for the country' in 1968, something similar to Once We Were Trees may well have been the result.