Johnson, front man and writer for one of America's best (but unknown) bands, Centro-Matic, has a sideline in solo albums, where his quieter, introspective and darker side is explored. Instrumentation is kept to beaten-up upright piano, acoustic guitar, a fine rhythm section, and a voice of such character that it lends heart-ache to any song. To songs as fine as these, however, it makes each and every song a treasured, measured piece. These are songs you fall in love with, around and to. Where Wilco's Jeff Tweedy gets the glory, Johnson is the finer artist - Wilco have never written anything which approaches the genius captured here. Songs like As Victims Would and Fly, My Sweet Dove are simply wonderful, like The Band taking on elegance and beauty. It is difficult to think of songs that have been more starkly, sadly, simply beautiful than Just To Know What You've Been Dreaming in the past 30 years. That this album has no filler track, and never drops below that level, must make it pretty special.

ACE rating 10/10

Completely unknown in the UK (and only available from emusic.com), Billy Harvey strikes an immediate chord for resembling a whole host of stellar artists, from The Beatles, Beck, Matthew Sweet, 10CC, Ryan Adams, and The Beach Boys to REM. What makes it special, however, is that none of this seems deliberate - it all seems so effortless and artless, from acoustic ballad to straightahead rock. Music laden with easy melody seems to ooze out all perfectly formed and sweet, with poignant and sharp lyrics and rock sensibility. Sometimes it is easy to get cross that artists as limited as Joss Stone get airtime while real musicians like Billy Harvey reach audiences a thousand times smaller. However, popularity was never a gauge of ability, and I can't think of a single bookshelf that this album shouldn't grace.

ACE rating 8/10

It is all too easy to be put off by Nick Cave's overtly gothic demeanour and melodramatic pub singer stage voice, but this album reins in a lot of those tendencies and comes out with some very strong songs. The double album is a journey taken with a host of excellent musicians and a powerful gospel choir. Abattoir Blues mixes melancholy and glam rock well, with strut and power, recalling old Aussie favourites, The Beasts of Bourbon. Some of the dynamics of the songs are breathtaking, but none so much as on The Lyre of Orpheus's Oh Children, where the interplay with the London Community Gospel Choir is wonderful. Like the Tindersticks, Cave's voice is a feature that both draws in and keep away - this double album is unlikely to gain him many new fans, but those he does have will be delighted in the extreme with his strongest work in many a year.

ACE rating 7/10