ALIEN STADIUM ****
Livin’ In Elizabethan Times (Double Six)
Steve Mason, who used to be in the Beta Band, and Primal Scream’s Martin Duffy have collaborated on this pretty damn fine EP, which sounds like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop colliding with Scott Walker. The concept here seems to be something to do with inviting aliens to visit Earth. DN
ARGRPH ****
Llosgi Me / Llawn (Libertino)
The only thing challenging about this double A-side from the Emyr Sion Taylor-fronted outfit is their unpronounceable moniker. Both sides are downbeat and melancholy (despite the appearance of the kitsch synth stabs on Llawn) and there’s plenty of promise here for the debut album, slated for 2018. BG
HOT 8 BRASS BAND ***
On The Spot EP (Tru Thoughts)
This little EP is a follow-up to this year’s On The Spot long player – a brilliant album of bristling small band jazz. On The Spot and Can’t Nobody Get Down have been reworked in radio edit and remixed forms. A nice little sampler to end their extensive tour but not worth a separate purchase – buy the album instead. JPD
JAH SCOUSE ***
My Old Man’s A Dustman (051)
That’s Jah Scouse the Liverpudlian toaster, one-time Young Marble Giants affiliate and general ducker and diver. That’s also the popular novelty song by Lonnie Donegan, reborn as a dub reggae anthem. You have to hear it to believe it. I’ll level with you, Jah Scouse gave a CDr of this to me in an antiques shop the other week so I dunno if you can actually buy it or what. NG
NITEROOMS ***
Niterooms EP (self-released)
Niterooms are aptly named: their hazy songs swim in and out of focus, the beats often muffled and only distantly audible, as though heard from the darkened recesses of a comedown cave in the bowels of a club. Abstract, textually adventurous android r’n’b that holds considerable promise. BW