Whatever acclaim Get Behind Me Satan achieved, including its Grammy, it was an awful mess of an album for this now iconic band. Thankfully, the White Stripes' sixth album is a return to the kind of form they showed on their early work like De Stijl. Innervating blues rock, with a fair measure of British folk thrown in. If that sounds like Led Zeppelin III, you'd be dead right. Icky Thump (which seems to be a reference to the Goodies...) is like the missing link between III and IV, with its deeply captivating riffs and guitar squeals so feral that they sound alive. Along the way, there is some flamenco, bagpipes and a couple of odd folky moments, but the sheer excitement of the rock is the clincher for the majority of the time. Jack White is on top form vocally and on guitar - he nails his solos more reliably than Jimmy Page. The drumming is kept mercifully simple, providing a solid platform for the blistering attack out front. Icky Thump is a fantastically loud album - there's not a moment when this is background music. This is the same White Stripes that captured our attention with Fell In Love With A Girl all over again. It's an awesome return to pre-Elephant form.

ACE rating 9/10

Most bands that ape the Beach Boys do the woozy harmony vocals thing - step forward Panda Bear. But the exciting Beach Boys music, the Good Vibrations/ I Get Around/ Barbara Ann songs, they took some writing. And only one band in recent years has come close to that kind of invention and joy. Blitzen Trapper are a sextet from Portland, Oregon, and they sound like some wonderful cross between the fun Beach Boys and Sparklehorse, with some early Beck and Flaming Lips thrown in for good measure. While a lot of indie heads into more-earnest-than-thou territory, Blitzen Trapper actually sound like they're having a whole lot of fun with their talent. The songs sound unforced, although there is tremendous detail on further listening. Wild Mountain Nation is one of the most creative discs you'll hear - one minute raucous jam, then country breakdown. This isn't the band's first album, but it is the one which could break the band into the mainstream - like Beck's Loser, it has an elemental indie rock folk vibe that is more addictive than nicotine.

ACE rating 9/10

Some rock music is written from the head, some from the heart, and some from a bit further south... The Beasts of Bourbon are an Aussie band, formed in 1983 and revived in various 'Aussie supergroup' incarnations since, by Tex Perkins, a singer who makes QoTSA's Mark Lanegan sound like Aled Jones. Like the Rolling Stones with the dirt turned up to 11, or, as one German magazine once said, like Muddy Waters on crack, the Beasts have a wonderful legacy of swamp punk blues records. Little Animals is no exception - it has a vitality and aggression in its heavy riffs and straightahead rock that makes it utterly compelling. Like Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For The Deaf played at two in the morning by the Stooges after a heavy evening on the sour mash, Little Animals makes no excuses for its grungey guitar attack. Where the Beasts have always differed from similar sounding bands is that there are great songs underneath - like the Stones' late 60s singles (and their unreleased Sucker Blues), they have an immediate appeal that only improves on further listening.

ACE rating 9/10