Imagine, if you will, that the musicians of O Brother Where Art Thou? decided to embrace modern rock and the hedonistic Spanish street rhythms of Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent. If that sounds like your kind of gig, you'll absolutely love Meek Warrior, an album whose hypnotic music is reminiscent of Beirut's Orkestar, but with American folk as its base, rather than Russian folk. On one hand, the album should be a complete mess - its styles are literally all over the place, but like a Magic Eye painting, something emerges in a minute or two, and that thing is rather wonderful. An organic, breathing thing, this is clearly a band who enjoy playing live - the interplay of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies as attractive as the Beach Boys of Barbara Ann. Although there are only seven tracks, with one mis-step (No Space In This Realm), you'll leave disoriented but wanting more. A fantastic follow-up to 2005's self-titled disc, this is clearly a band who are happy in their own furrow.

ACE rating 8/10

There are still guitarists out there whose craft makes their albums well worth a listen. Duke Robillard is probably the finest proponent of T Bone Walker's blues style, and was chosen to be Tom Waits' guitarist on a recent tour of the US, which is some accolade. Here, he expands the stylistic range to incorporate jazz, surf, blues and rock - equally at ease in each, with mostly a drummer and bass player for company. Guitar Groove-A-Rama is the kind of album you may think doesn't get made any more - it genuinely sounds as though it could have been made by Scotty Moore, Brian Setzer or a relaxed Stevie Ray Vaughan. Better when it sticks to instrumentals rather than his limited voice, the standout track is Blues A Rama where he explores the styles of a whole range of blues musicians (introducing them, impersonator-style, as he goes). Robillard, former member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, is clearly an institution all on his own. When Tom Waits wants you behind him, you know you're doing something right.

ACE rating 8/10

Radio 4's debut, Gotham!, was rightly held up to be something special, but the sophomore slump definitely hit them on the follow-up, Stealing of a Nation. Here, they reprise the Joy Division-does-Clash style, more successfully than they managed the second time around. If they had been able to sustain the energy of the excellent opening title track, this would have been one of the discs of the year. But it's not to be. The band slip into pastiches of either Joy Division or The Clash - to be fair, they're pretty good imitators, but the rawness they manage on track 1, and which their idols managed, eludes them. The reggae they attempt actually comes across more Specials than Clash. The best recommendation is to download the (really quite excellent) title track, and be very very cautious if that suggests you should explore more. Make sure you buy London Calling first.

ACE rating 6/10