Rakaa - Crown of Thorns

Emcee with the Los Angeles-based underground hip-hop group Dilated Peoples, Rakaa Iriscience released his first solo effort, Crown of Thorns, in the UK this week. There's been minimum fanfare or press coverage surrounding the release, which has gone unnoticed by all except dedicated hip-hop fans, but listening to the 13 tracks on Crown of Thorns there's a good chance that this could find an audience through word of mouth alone. Rakaa is joined by some of the underground's big hitters too, including Mad Lion, KRS-One and the unmistakeable baritone of Chali 2na.

Tom Jones - Praise & Blame

Tom Jones turned 70 last month, even his famously dark and fulsome head of hair has finally ceded to the inexorable passing of time, but the voice is as luxuriant and colourful as ever. That's not a gratuitous hair reference either, it appears significant, because on Praise & Blame the Welsh pop legend seems at long last to be acting his age. After playing the pop world's equivalent of your wedding-dancing grandad for too long, Jones has adopted a new, sophisticated gospel and blues style on this record, picking up comparisons all over the place to Johnny Cash's final albums.

It's a dramatic change of direction for Jones, after years of shaking his hips and belting out pop tunes, he's stripped all that away to reveal the raw singing talent that we all knew he had. It is undoubtedly a good move, it's just a shame it didn't happen a decade ago, depriving us of years of material as good as this in favour of albums like Reload was frankly criminal.

DVD & Blu-ray Round Up - Clash of the Titans

Dear reader, it is with a slight twinge of embarrassment that I submit to you today Clash of the Titans as our DVD and Blu-ray release of the week. Yes the swords and sandals, gods and gorgons epic hits the stores this week, to delight lovers of muscle bound men and CGI beasties everywhere. The story, if you really care, follows Perseus (Sam Worthington of Avatar fame), who is the son of Zeus (but doesn't know it yet), on his quest to slay Medusa and foil the evil plans of Zeus' brother Hades played by Ralph Fiennes. Yes, that's right, another pesky evil uncle...it's like Nanny McPhee all over again.

Readers of a certain age will recall the 1981 Clash of the Titans, featuring the late Ray Harryhausen's magical stop-motion booglies, with some nostalgia, and while it has to be said those monsters had far more charm, the original had nothing to match the sheer scale of the spectacle on offer here. The 3D fight scenes were impressive in the cinema, but they lose nothing for being returned to two dimensions here, so if it's big dumb fun you're after, look no further.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Rush to Relax

Melbourne garage rockers Eddy Current Suppression Ring released their third album Rush to Relax in the UK this week. Despite achieving a level of recognition, and garnering plenty of critical acclaim, in their native Australia, Eddy Current Suppression Ring aren't well known in these parts. Rush to Relax is unlikely to be troubling the upper reaches of the charts on these shores, but I for one was delighted when I heard that Manchester record label Melodic were giving the album a proper release.

Much has been made of the fact that Eddy Current Suppression Ring (ECSR from here on in) are a such an Australian band, and it is with good reason. Lead singer Brendan Suppression's vocals are always delivered in a broad, distinctive Australian drawl, but it goes deeper than just accents. ECSR's major influences might be American garage rockers (think Stooges, MC5, etc) but the band gives them a typically relaxed Antipodean twist. Rush to Relax is a case in point, the band recorded it all in around six hours, usually using the first or second take of each song in an attempt to capture the energy of the performance. It's an incredibly casual approach, and a risky one too, which lays the band open to accusations of laziness if the album isn't up to scratch.

Howard Shore - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - The Score

I don't claim to be the biggest Twilight fan, but I am a fan of Howard Shore, so the chance to review The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - The Score came as a welcome opportunity. Although this is a fantasy film, it's good to hear Shore exercise his considerable talents in some more real-world compositions than were possible in his epic orchestral arrangements for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The result is a soundtrack that sounds as good out of context as it does in the movie itself.

Fans of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks who are looking for more of the same can expect to recognise maybe half of the tracks - not because they're too similar to the LOTR music, but because they have much of the same dynamism and ominous, booming bass motifs. Once again, Shore's compositions prove perfect for the fantasy film genre.

Tokyo Police Club - Champ

Champ is the third long player from Toronto indie-popsters Tokyo Police Club. As David Monks sings on 'Breakneck Speed' (and again on closing track 'Frankenstein') "It's good to be back", and it's good to have them back too. Since bursting on to the scene in 2007 with their much-hyped debut A Lesson in Crime, Tokyo Police Club have cut a swathe through the indie scene, filled with catchy guitar hooks, and quirky singalong choruses. It's not complicated, not particularly sophisticated, the band stick pretty strictly to the three minute per song rule on Champ, but none of that is necessarily a bad thing.

Alan Pownall - True Love Stories

Alan Pownall's True Love Stories is an enjoyable and detailed sequence of songs that starts out sounding a bit like The Mike Flowers Pops but soon reveals hidden depths with strains of Bowie and more than a little resemblance to a cheerier version of Pownall's one-time neighbours Mumford and Sons.

If you like to wallow in angst or unrequited emotion, True Love Stories probably isn't the best idea for you. Those themes are among the topics covered, but the pace and Pownall's optimistic-sounding delivery mean that this is something of a feel-good album nonetheless.

Professor Green - Alive Till I'm Dead

Alive Till I'm Dead is the new album from Professor Green, out on July 19th 2010. At a dozen songs of three to four minutes each and a slightly longer closing piece, Goodnight, there's just over 40 minutes in total to either revel in or endure, depending on how you feel. There's a few collaborations and four Professor Green solo efforts, according to the credits, with names including Lily Allen and Labrinth appearing alongside Green's.

That being said, there's no attempt to hide behind the collaborators; Green's voice is centre stage throughout, making this a good opportunity to review his vocal ability, delivery and all-round performance. To cut a long story short, Green does a pretty decent job of delivering emotion and anger as the genre demands, without becoming anything approaching a musical cliche. His songs and performance alike are well balanced and well judged.

Seth Lakeman - Hearts & Minds

Seth Lakeman shot to fame in 2005 when his second album Kitty Jay, which he recorded independently for a meagre £300, was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. It was a surprise inclusion in the field for the Devon born folk artist, but his presence alongside such artists as Coldplay, the Kaiser Chiefs, and that year's winner Antony and the Johnsons immediately propelled him to a new level of stardom. Kitty Jay was re-mastered and re-released on Relentless (an imprint of EMI Records), and tours followed including a stint supporting folk-rock giants the Levellers.

Overnight Lakeman had gone from a relative unknown even in folk circles, to a breakout artist with mainstream success and a major label record deal, and it's fair to say he hasn't looked back since. Hearts & Minds is his third album since Kitty Jay, and in some ways he has been repeating the same trick over and again during that time. This is another collection of original poppy-folk material, characterised by Lakeman's distinctive voice and raucous fiddle playing, but it also continues the rockier trend that was introduced on 2008's Poor Man's Heaven.

Sting - Symphonicities

Symphonicities is a chance to hear some Sting classics reinvented - not particularly in a modern way, but certainly in a new way. Think of this as an album of orchestral rearrangements, a fresh review of the originals rather than an album of entirely new tracks or mere remixes of the old ones.

Favourites including Roxanne and Englishman In New York are given the treatment - some to a greater extent than others - while Sting's vocals are still there; these are not instrumentals. The instruments are the stars here though, with Sting's delivery similar to a live performance, fairly stripped back, and the arrangements allowed to shine through.