Top ten: Scooby-doobie doo! Mike Vick lookin boy

1. Hot Stylz ft. Yung Joc, "Lookin Boy (clean version)": As far as poetic forms go, The Dozens isn't as versatile as the sonnet but it sure beats the villanelle. The array of references here -- including in the last verse, David Ruffin, Tickle Me Elmo, Pine-Sol and Lamb Chop's Play-Along -- are broader and more compressed than those of Family Guy. Which means this is actually, you know, funny.

2. TV on the Radio, "Lover's Day"; "Family Tree"; "Red Dress": "Lover's Day" has a straightforward sex-longing lyric, except who gets straightforward sex-longing lyrics right these days? The borrowed instrumentation, including an extra drummer and a subset of Antibalas, makes the track ecstatic. "Hanging on the shadow of your family tree" evokes "Strange Fruit" whether they like it or not. Tunde Adebimpe, dueting withing himself in separate octaves - with his baritone taking pride of place - shows he's joined the first rank of rock vocalists. A lover,despite this war. "Red Dress" notes that though "days of white robes have come and gone", we're still living with war. It's not clear whether the person in the red dress is good or evil, but she's surely tame.

3. Ne-Yo, "Mad": Sure, most of the time at least one of a feuding couple remembers exactly what they're fighting about. But that hardly matters when Ne-Yo hits that Learian "nothing, nothing, nothing". The tenderest make-up ballad in many a year, or, it doesn't matter if it's too late to apologise!

4. Report Suspicious Activity, "Destroy All Evidence": Darren Zentek's drumming is the thing, but the lyrics eventually make you sit up and take notice.
5. Miley Cyrus, "See You Again (remix)": "She's just being Miley" should become the standard explanation for everything.

6. Girl Talk, "Shut the Club Down"; "Set It Off"; "No Pause": The album is a piece, but tracks do stand out. Among them:

7. Raphael Saadiq ft. the Infamous Young Spodie & the Rebirth Brass Band, "Big Easy": Hiding said Katrina song in the middle of a retrosoul albums is brilliant.

8. T.I. ft. Alfa Mega & Busta Rhymes, "Hurt": Huh, I missed this one from the last album.

9. Kimya Dawson and Friends, "Wiggle My Tooth": Icky thump.
10. The Hold Steady, "Constructive Summer": Double whiskey Coke no ice.


Ten or so more:
Jorge Lima Barreto, "Zul #4"
Girl Talk, "Like This"
The Hold Steady, "Sequestered in Memphis"
Ne-Yo, "So You Can Cry"
Nik Baertsch's Ronin, "Modul 46"; "Modul 45"
No Age, "Teen Creeps"
Raphael Saadiq, "Oh Girl"
Seun Kuti + Fela's Egypt 80, "Na Oil"
T.I., "Whatever You Like"
TV on the Radio, "Dancing Choose"

Ten albums:
1. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
2. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
3. Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
4. Nik Baertsch's Ronin, Holon
5. Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
6. The Soprano Summit in 1975 and More
7. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
8. Kimya Dawson and Friends, Alphabutt
9. The Gaslight Anthem, The 59 Sound
10. Kanye West, Can't Tell Me Nothing

Reminding me why I don't listen to more mixtapes: DJ Drama, Gangsta Grillz 16. You didn't get the title? It's Gangsta Grillz! Gangsta Grillz! OK can we hear the song nowGangsta Grillz!

Top ten: Stockholm syndromes and a century

0. Franco, "Tres Impoli"; "Mamou (Tu Vois)": If you've being paying attention you'll know many of the hits on Sheer's African Classics/Cantos' Classic Titles Franco comps already, though not necessarily the same ones I did. New to me is "Mamou (Tu Vois)", the debut of singer Madilu System, though it's mostly Franco chatting over an indelible groove. Less indelible than monumental is the 17-minute version of "Tres Impoli", a grumpy diss which, in its nine-minute edit, has long been one of my all-time faves. Where the edit fades out with the second part of Franco's guitar solo (which is the same as the first part), this just keeps going, returning to choruses and verses, followed by that solo again. When you've hit upon a song this great, more of the same is a gift.

1. Kronos Quartet, "Tenebrae": So, classical music! Argentine Osvaldo Golijov seems to have become its It Dude since his version of St. Mark's Passion, which I thought a not entirely successful fusion, but this! For his first version of "Tenebrae", Golijov nicked some lines from Couperin's setting of Lamentations; for his second, he cut out the clarinet and the soprano chanting the Hebrew alphabet and handed the remains to the Kronos Quartet, who, old pros that they are, wring every last tear out of it.

2. Juvelen, "Don't Mess": It's tremendous fun to hear this Swede sing "I don't give a shit" in his pinched falsetto. His rising rapid-fire "you should know I'm only doing this for you" should shame the guy from Jamiroquai into giving up music and opening a hat shop. If you think this is unlikely because nobody has less shame than the guy from Jamiroquai: meet Juvelen!

3. Jean Grae & 9th Wonder, "My Story"; "iNTRO": Jeanius's "iNTRO" shows that Ms Ibrahim/Benjamin's flow is at the same rarified level as the brief peaks of Sha-Rock and Lauryn Hill; and she comes close to sustaining throughout the album. The heart of the album, "My Story", unsparingly details the experience of an abortion, which, along with a later miscarriage, wrecks her. She still doesn't know if it was the right choice. But don't tell her the choice shouldn't have been hers.

4. Annie, "Songs Remind Me of You": Not fun fun fun like "Chewing Gum", but less chilly than "Heartbeat". Still not sexy. Still awesome.

5. Ne-Yo, "Closer": Michael Jackson normalised, and no, that doesn't mean Janet.

6. Randy Newman, "Piece of the Pie"; "Harps and Angels": The title track of Harps and Angels, about a near-death experience, is as amiable as he's ever been. "Piece of the Pie" is anything but friendly, what with its Serious Artiste dissonance and cheap John Mellencamp diss. Yes, Mellencamp's "Our Country" is overtly patriotic, but it's not just chest beating: it's explicitly small-d democratic (we'll find out if that coincides with the big D over the next four years).

7. Jens Lekman, "Kanske Ar Jag Kar i Dig": Starts with a short shaggy pig tale; ends with a matter-of-fact statement of the romantic effectiveness of self-deprecation. How Scandanavian of him.

8. Pink, "So What": One of the most vituperative fuck-yous to an ex ever recorded. Fight, drink, fight: what does she think this is, a Kusturica movie? Not in real life: her real ex-husband gets cameo time in the video.

9. Horoya Band National, "Karan-Gbegne": Say this for the late Guinean president Sékou Touré's authoritarian socialism: it supported at least one fantastic horn section.

10. Conor Oberst, "Milk Thistle": What's improved is his singing: dig the way he milks his "ow" sounds for pathos. Melisma for the common man.

Ten more or thereabouts:
Matias Aguayo, "Minimal (DJ Koze mix)"
Easy Star All-Stars ft. Toots & the Maytals, "Let Down"
Jean Grae, "Think About It"
Keletigui et ses Tambourinis, "Miri Magnin"
K'naan, "If Rap Gets Jealous"
Randy Newman, "Potholes"
Conor Oberst, "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)" and "Get Well Cards"
Orchestra du Jardin de Guinee, "PDG"
Southern All Stars, "I Am Your Singer"
Dawn Upshaw, "Lua Descolorida"

Ten albums:
1. Randy Newman, Harps and Angels
2. Franco, Classic Titles
3. Authenticite: The Syliphone Years
4. Conor Oberst
5. Jean Grae, Jeanius
6. Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Shamokin!
7. Golijov: Oceana, Tenebrae, 3 Songs
8. Jorge Lima Barreto, Zul Zelub
9. Juliane Banse, Kurtag: Kafka-Fragmente
10. Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

Please go back to scaring the old ladies: Magnus Lindberg.

Top ten: Dirty words and dirty minds

This month's focus: Jazzbos and their descendants.

1. Nas, "N.I.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)" and "Hero" (ft. Keri Hilson): Nas's albums, like those of all the usual current and former best rapper alive candidates besides Chuck D, have been frustratingly inconsistent. But this time, finally, one of his concepts has sufficient upside to let you overlook the dumb shit about aliens. "Hero" is the #97 single, with radio-friendly Polow production, a hook from next month's big thing Keri Hilson, and Nas implying they'd never stop Dylan from naming his album Kike, which of course Dylan would never do. "N.I.*.*.E.R" is the centrepiece, with a blistering first verse that begins "We trust no black leaders" (though he'll vote for Obama) and parlays poverty into a statement of African pride and thus a justification of bling. Nas isn't as scholarly as Randall Kennedy, but, on this subject, he's deeper.

2. Lloyd ft. Lil Wayne, "Girls Around the World": Weezy has nothing left to do besides cut the usual current and former best rapper alive candidates. Here, he cops Rakim's "Thinkin' of a master plan", and follows that up with his funniest line ever (which, caveat, the video wrecks). Plz do "99 Problems" next. Oh yeah, Lloyd, I like Lloyd.
3. William Parker, "Morning Mantra", "Lights of Lake George" and "Neptune's Mirror": So maybe it's more like my 20th favourite jazz album since 1970, competing with Scrapbook to be my #2 Parker record. Whatever, it's brilliant: I even enjoy Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay's vocals, despite their (Indian) classicalness. "Morning Mantra" is my pick of the bunch for its concision, but maybe except for the 37-second "O'Neal's Bridge", the entire package is intergalactic planetary.
4. Missy Elliott, "Shake Your Pom Pom": Missy and Timbaland have never been afraid of the literal; here, the shaking noises make the song. Another Missy exclusive, another classic, another top ten... Wait, number 95? Hey record-buying public, what's wrong you?

5. Fieldwork, "Ghost Time": Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman and Tyshawn Sorey drive around in a van solving mysteries. This one they solve halfway through the song, giving them enough time for a game of hide-and-seek.
6. Silvia Blanco, "Barübana Yagien": Mother and daughter Sonia and Silvia Blanco are the stars among stars on the Ivan Duran-produced Umamali album, on which Garifuna women sing over world pop arrangements. Silvia has the sweetness of youth on her side, while inheriting a hint of her mum's grit.
7. Mystery Jets, "Two Doors Down": At last, some white boys, and boy, are they white!

8. Wire, "One of Us": The grand old wavers decompress sonically, while remaining urgent lyrically, the wordy chorus hook turning iambs into trochees.

9. Fats Waller, "Star Dust": Yeah, I knew that "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain't Misbehavin'" were great, and that he was often hilarious, so the revelation of the If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It box has been that he played a pretty piano. Of course, it helps that you're playing the prettiest melody ever.
10. Tyshawn Sorey, "Permutations for Solo Piano": Chord. Chord. Chord. Chord. Chord. Chord. ARPEGGIO!!!!11 Chord. Chord. Chord. Chord. Und so weiter for 43 minutes.

Fifteen more: Sofia Blanco, "Nibari (My Daughter)"; Collins Oke Elaiho & His Odoligie Nobles Dance Band, "Simini-yaya"; Fieldwork, "Rai" and "Of"; Al Green, "Just for Me"; K'naan, "Wash It Down"; Seun Kuti + Fela's Egypt 80, "Don't Give That Shit to Me" and "Fire Dance"; Lil Wayne, "A Milli"; Charles Mingus, "Take the 'A' Train" (Cornell 1964); Old 97's, "No Baby I"; Sonny Rollins, "Park Palace Parade"; Bobby Valentino, "Anonymous"; Cassandra Wilson, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly"; Young Jeezy ft. Kanye West, "Put On".

Good but not that good: Abbey Lincoln, "Blue Monk"; Menya, "Ripe"; Lil Wayne, "Prostitute Fling"; M.I.A. ft. Bun B & Rich Boy, "Paper Planes (Diplo Street remix)" The Whitest Boy Alive, "Golden Cage".

Top ten albums of the moment:
1. Fats Waller, If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It
2. William Parker, Double Sunrise Over Neptune
3. Nas, Untitled
4. Fieldwork, Door
5. K'naan, The Dusty Foot Philosopher
6. Seun Kuti + Fela's Egypt 80
7. Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please
8. Cassandra Wilson, Loverly
9. MI3, Free Advice
10. Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project

Nope, I don't get them: Trio Beyond.

Top ten: The world's most dangerous places

1. Lil Wayne, "I'm Me"; "Tie My Hands" (ft. Robin Thicke): Since Obama is also at least as socially responsible as K-Fed, I'm sure he knows it's not enough just to ask like the boss: you have to back it up. Wayne's Tha Carter III sounds about as much like a bestselling classic as any album can in this age, the highlight being the post-Katrina song "Tie My Hands", in which Weezy, Robin Thicke and producer K. West out-Root the Roots. But even that's not as thrilling as "I'm Me", the lead track on The Leak EP (included with some versions of the album). He takes particular pleasure in expressing, in descending syllables, the first word of the first verse, "unfuckingbelieveable": pleasure in polysyllabicity as much as obscenity.


2. Be Your Own Pet, "The Kelly Affair"; "Heart Throb": Right now these adventurers are the most accomplished young band around. "Heart Throb" discovers excitement in temptation itself. Hopefully they understand that not everyone finds that fidelity gets easier with age. In the "The Kelly Affair", a rehash of Meyer/Ebert's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Jemima Pearl makes casual sex and partying all the time seem like something to feel genuinely uneasy about. The gifted Jonas Stein plays garage-punk Honeyman Scott, slinging terse riffs where they fit.

3. Alicia Keys, "Teenage Love Affair": A slightly more grown-up prodigy, Keys's string of hits grows ever more impressive. This particular affair celebrates feeling each other up before going home to Mom. Of extreme importance, though, is the qualifier "my first": long ago she learned there was more than one way to fall.

4. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, "Modul 36": Pianist Bärtsch's percusses minimally, while the rest of his band wants to be the JB's. I hear there's a lot more where this came from; would Bärtsch and/or ECM please get it on Rhapsody or eMusic? Thanks.

5. Sugababes, "About You Now": Back when they still had two-thirds of their original lineup, they covered the Numan-Adina Howard mash-up "Freak Like Me"; this time they all-but-cover "A Stroke of Genius". The lyrics aren't as good though.

6. Orchestra Baobab, "Beni Baraale": Specialistest in old styles, Orchestra Baobab here covers a Guinean hit from the Sixties. Barthelemy Attisso leads guest Babe Nabe through some high-level guitar.
7. Mavis Staples, "Eyes on the Prize": After a few months, We'll Never Turn Back is sounding more and more like an album of the year (2007, 2008, whatever) to me: even the trad songs motorvate thanks to the dedication of Staples, the second most famous member of Jeremiah Wright's congregation, with major assistance from drummer Jim Keltner -- producer Ry Cooder thankfully condemns his son Joachim to percussion. Not quite a Buena Vista Socialist Club -- but there's an idea.

8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "More News from Nowhere": Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is, after 23 years, their first really good album (and I've heard all of them); not coincidentally, it's their funniest.

9. Steinski, "It's Up to You (Television Mix)": Nothing Steinski has done solo has been as epochal as the Lessons he created with Double Dee and a cast of hundreds. Still, this assemblage, first put together around the time of the First Gulf War, lets us retrospectively extends the history of Bushisms. (Please let us snigger: small pleasures, small pleasures.)
10. No Age, "Brain Burner": Sucker for pretty that I am, I liked not loved Weirdo Rippers; I love Nouns.

Thirteen more: King Sunny Ade, "Nibi Lekeleke Gbe Nfosho" and "Ori Mmi Maje N'te" (medleys from Gems from the Classic Years); Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, "Modul 33" and "Modul 38_17"; Björk, "Declare Independence"; Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)" and "We Call Upon the Author"; DJ Khaled ft. a bunch of people, one of whom is Lil Wayne, "We Takin' Over"; Lil Wayne, "Dr Carter" and "Dough Is What I Got"; Orchestra Baobab, "Ami Kita Bay"; Portishead, "Silence"; Santogold, "I'm a Lady".

Does this mark me as a hopeless urbaniser? I prefer Miley Cyrus to Taylor Swift.

Top ten: Don't bore us, get to the thesaurus

1. Alphabeat, "Fascination": The "word is on your lips" bridge is so thrilling that it's disappointing that the word in question is the title. Why not "wangle"? "Wangle"'s an awesome word.

2. Nellie McKay, "Identity Theft"/"Mother of Pearl": She nimbly skips from one Broadway-flavoured genre to another: who says formalists don't have a sense of humour? It's all part of her plan to create an unstealable identity. She won't limit identity to data, or even actions: she rages against subversion of characteristics we use to define ourselves, poor Pluto, while making sure she's not so easily pigeonholed. Along the way she might borrow your identity for a bit: it's not stealing if you return it before anyone realises it's gone, right? Very actressy of her, which ought to mean people capable of dealing with irony in real life can nut her out. Maybe. Here's a video with a laugh track, just in case.

3. Blow Up, "John Travolta": Hey now, now: homodance for frat boys.

4. Erykah Badu, "The Cell": The funk is approachably avant without being that hard, something it achieves through sheer weirdness. Then when the accompaniment drops out, she reminds you what a singular singer she is.

5. The Mountain Goats, "So Desperate": Not much of an actor, which means he sounds autobiographical no matter how many swamp creatures he writes about. His feelings feel like fact: he's been around as long as that.

6. Les Amazones de Guinee, "Deni Wana"/"Wamato": The stop-on-a-dime arrangements showcase a crack band, especially lead guitarist Yaya Kouyate. "Wamato" is a posse cut that gives the saxes some. "Deni Wana" is a rumba that Kouyate takes home.

7. Gwen Stefani ft. Akon, "The Sweet Escape": Yeah, turns out this is a good song, and I'm willing to give Akon all the credit. Note, though, that minimising the number of dictionary words Akon writes and sings is crucial.

8. James McMurtry, "Ruins of the Realm": America, year zero.

9. The Roots ft. Wale & Chrisette Michele, "Rising Up": I can't work out why this Roots albums is supposed to be better than all the others, but I hope they do get paper like John Travolta hey now now.

10. Robert Forster, "Let Your Light In, Babe": Victorian hanky-panky set on Silius Farm, which isn't a farm.

Fifteen more: Les Amazones de Guinee, "Meilleurs Voeux"; Apparat, "Birds"; Andrew Bird, "Imitosis"; Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body"; Hayes Carll, "She Left Me for Jesus"; Imperial Teen, "Everything"; Bola Johnson & His Easy Life Top Beats, "Buroda Mase"; The Juan MacLean, "Happy House"; James McMurtry, "Fire Line Road"; The Mountain Goats, "Autoclave"; My Chemical Romance, "Teenagers"; The Roots ft. Mos Def & Styles P, "Rising Down"; Tinariwen, "Imidiwan Winakalin"; Celstine Ukwu & His Philosphers National, "Okwukwe Na Nchekwube"; Albert van Veenendaal/Meinrad Kneer/Yonga Sun, "Posthume Verleumdung".

Good but not that good: The Field, "From Here We Go Sublime"; Girls Aloud, "Call the Shots"; Glen Hansard, "Falling Slowly"; Klaxons, "Golden Skans"; Maximo Park, "Our Velocity"; Roisin Murphy, "Overpowered"; Brad Paisley, "Ticks"; R.E.M., "Houston"; Sally Shapiro, "He Keeps Me Alive"; Rufus Wainwright, "Nobody's Off the Hook".

Must try harder: Editors, "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors"; Foo Fighters, "The Pretender"; Manic Street Preachers ft. Nina Persson, "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough".

Trying too hard: Patrick Wolf, "The Magic Position".

Top ten: Hook of the dead

1. The Roy Campbell Ensemble, "Akhenaten (Amenophis, Amenhotep IV)": This is bookended by some highly melodic, pseudo-Egyptian unison playing between Campbell and Billy Bang. In between, Campbell's flugelhorn solo is distinct yet downhome. Bang, probably the finest jazz violinist ever, is more amped-up. Surprisngly useful: vibe player Bryan Carrott.
2. Colombiafrica: The Mystic Orchestra, "Sambangole/Tres Golpes Na' Mas": Yeah, you know I have a soft spot for out-of-tune vocals. Parisian Lucas Silva mashes up Colombian funeral singers ("The Happy Ambulances") with soukous guitar to which Vampire Weekend can only aspire. Incongruous and maybe unsettling, but it's some kind of celebration.
3. Randy Newman, "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country": Newman would never say "God damn America", not just because he's too ironic, but because he loves the damned country, as much as the current adminstration would disavow the form his love takes. Me, I came here by choice, that's how much I love the place. But respect is pretty much out of the question.

4. Big Boi ft. Andre 3000 & Raekwon, "Royal Flush": Yeah, you know I have a soft spot for Three Stacks. Dre gets most of the airtime, and he responds by staying somewhere near the rhythm for once. He posits a metaphorical hokey pokey ("one foot in and one foot out") as a way of keeping up with the kids with Wiis. Call me a Swede, but I note that a decent student allowance scheme would make this unnecessary.

5. Kleerup ft. Titiyo, "Longing for Lullabies": You can also call him a Swede, because he is. Kleerup's first single was one of the greatest ever recorded, so I can't blame him for making his second the same basic song, only dreamier. The song describes what happens if you don't follow Robyn's example, and look back. The distance may be such that it only hurts with every third or fourth heartbeat, but the pain is still there.

6. Toumast, "Ikalane Walegh (These Countries That Are Not Mine)": Ishumar, the album by these Tuaregs, is coloured by French producer Dan Levy's multi-instrumental contributions, and again, unusally, the Western tinkering helps matters, on this track particularly through Levy's bass funking up the guitar of unrepentant former insurgent Moussa Ag Keyna. US tour schedules for September; good luck with those visas.

7. Amy LaVere, "Pointless Drinking": Yeah, you know I have a soft spot for drinking songs. Of course, even the Eagles knew almost all drinking has a point. Some drink to remember! Some drink to forget!

8. Kate Nash, "Mariella": Loud, weird young woman sings about silent, weirder little girl.

9. Los Campesinos, "You! Me! Dancing!": "If there's one thing that I could never confess, it's that I can't dance a single step" -- identification!

10. Vampire Weekend, "M79": I started the backlash; I might as well be first to call it off. It doesn't matter if they'd be laughed off the stage in Kinshasa if they can write this concisely.

Fifteen more: Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine" and "Grown Woman" (ft. Ludacris); Colombiafrica, "Jaloux Jaloux"; Daft Punk, "Around the World/Harder Better Faster Stronger"; Dear Jayne, "Rain"; Drive-By Truckers, "A Ghost to Most"; Holy Fuck, "Super Inuit"; Amy LaVere, "Killing Him"; Lykke Li, "Little Bit"; Nas ft. Jay-Z, "Black Republican"; Kate Nash, "Foundations" and "Birds"; T2 ft. Jodie Aysha, "Heartbroken"; Vampire Weekend, "One (Blake's Got a New Face)".

Top ten: Real time

1. Peter Bjorn and John, "Objects of My Affection": What do you know, they do have a great song. I'll forgive the odd ESL rhyme for an "In My Life" rewrite that isn't so starry-eyed as to attribute it all to one love -- though love's never far from their minds. Really, they do care about the young folks. But they're glad to have grown up.

2. Okkervil River, "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe": Terrific-sounding lyrics, filled with repetitions and internal rhymes. Also a neat rhythmic pattern which puts notes you expect on the 1 on the 3, which, coupled with his fourth bar windup minimises the dead time without voice (without needing to, you know, hold long notes and stuff). Plus the "bad movie" simile: how literary! I mean cinematic!

3. The Go! Team, "Grip Like a Vice"/"Titanic Vandalism": What's the name of this nation? Is this the Cosmic Force? Is this the Funky 4 + 1? Is this the BBC? I thought it was the U.K.


4. Kalima Pierre, "Olingi na sala boni"/"Bomba na motema": The revelation of the Roots of Rumba Rock compilation. Everything you could want in mid-Fifties Congolese rumba is here - a brass band! Thumping drums! And on "Olingi na sala boni", out-of-tune vocals!

5. Kings of Leon, "Knocked Up": They may have have less than chaste reasons for keeping the car running. But they're still heroic.

6. Wu-Tang Clan, "The Heart Gently Weeps"/"Wolves": The album is a patchwork, like every other Wu albums, so the memorable tracks are the well-hooked. "The Heart Gently Weeps" while "Wolves" is lover-not-widowermaker George Clinton's field guide to canids. Raekwon and Ghost elevate the former, while Meth more surprisingly adds value to both.


7. Alicia Keys, "Like You'll Never See Me Again": With ritual song sacrifice left to Idols these days, big R&B ballads are better sung now than in decades, and Keys sings these as well as anyone save Beyonce.

8. The Vandermark 5, "Speedway (for Max Roach)": This month's Vandermark: psycho-electrocello!

9. Three Tenors of Soul, "All the Way from Philadelphia": I barely know the Stylistics, and had look up Blue Magic and the Delfonics -- but everyone knows Hall & Oates!

10. The National, "Fake Empire": It's hard to have false consciousness if you're not fully conscious.

Twelve more: Gary Allen, "Watching Airplanes"; Band of Horses, "Is There a Ghost"; DJ Khaled ft. Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Baby & Lil Wayne, "We Takin' Over"; The Go! Team, "The Wrath of Marcie"; Happy Apple, "Very Small Rock"; Les Savy Fav, "Patty Lee"; Little Boots, "Stuck on Repeat"; Magnetic Fields, "California Girls"; Kalima Pierre, "Na mokili moko te"; Rich Boy ft. Andre 3000, Jim Jones, Nelly, Murphy Lee & The Game, "Throw Some D's Remix"; Jill Scott, "All I"; Wu-Tang Clan, "Sunlight".

All this group needs to do to be listenable is replace all their members: Klaxons.

Top ten: Welcome to the beautiful south

I'm glad I've got two, probably three spots in my top ten albums of the year sorted out already, though that necessitates a little squeezing this month.

1. Mavis Staples, "I'll Be Rested"/"99 and 1/2"/"My Own Eyes": At 68, she's taken even longer than her Pops to peak. On We'll Never Turn Back, she draws upon her memories of protests and arrests during the civil rights era. This isn't self-congratulation: "99 and 1/2" (set to LAPD brutality footage below) and "My Own Eyes" and Katrina remind us how far away we are from equality in practice, how much work remains to be done. But while turning back isn't an option for the brave, it's essential to look back and honour past heroes. Her reimagination of "I'll Be Rested" moves from a roll call of civil rights martyrs ecumenical enough to include both Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy, to a list of passed gospel greats ending with Pops. There's no song that can make me a believer. But that's never stopped me from wishing there were a heaven.

2. Tabu Ley Rochereau, "Karibou Ya Bintou"/"Adeito": I like the more expansive soukous of the Seventies onwards better than the early dance club stuff. So while I find the first disc of the Rochereau comp The Voice of Lightness enjoyable, it's the second, covering his peak Afrisa International period, that sounds great to me. The wah-wah "Aon-Aon" you should know, while "Karibou Ya Bintou" is a gently gorgeous warm welcome. In the live "Adeito", Rochereau lets his supergroup mess around for five minutes, before jumping in to show why he was the great African singer of the era. Next: someone please compile his best post-1977 tracks -- if the best are as good as those of his rival Franco (whom Rochereau dominates on their classic collab Omona Wapi), he goes way up the worldwide all-time list.

3. Taio Cruz ft. Luciana, "Come On Girl": Mostly generic, but at least they're ripping off the best, even if Timbaland would find their attempt to recreate his "My Love" synths laughable. Then there's Luciana, of "Covered in Punk" and "Yeah Yeah" fame, one of the most sexual singers ever (even though she sounds like the not particularly sexual M.I.A.), who flips the song to make it truly dirty. Funny that a song called "Come On Girl" should be most memorable for its invocation of male orgasm, but that's porn for yuuuuuuu.

4. Gui Boratto, "Beautiful Life": Hey Ace of Base, don't jump off that bridge! Just look at that water down there -- it glistens.

5. DragonForce, "Through the Fire and Flames": South African singer. Hong Kong guitarist. New Zealand guitarist. Ukranian keybist. French bassist. Scottish drummer. The official extreme power metal band of the United Nations. Go Planet!

6. Of Montreal, "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal": Break-up as theatre, explosion, implosion, food fight and over-analysis. Maybe it's the last of those that got them back together.

7. The-Dream ft. Rihanna, "Livin' a Lie": Umbrella manufacturer and umbrella wielder find that parasols can't dry your tears, eh, eh, eh.

8. Against Me!, "Thrash Unreal": It's not like you're going to make her kick heroin, so she doesn't want your sympathy -- because it'd be accompanied by your judgement.

9. Imperial Teen, "21st Century"/"Baby and the Band": Fourteen years after they formed Imperial Teen in an attempt to solve the "All My Friends" OMG-I'm-30 problem, 30 for life doesn't seem so bad. As much as they love the hair, the TV etc., and as exhausting as touring is, there's nothing like making noise to remind themselves they matter in the 21st century.

10. Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon & U-God, "Rec-Room Therapy": Eat your whole grains, else that crack vial up your ass is gonna mess you up.

Eleven more: Burial, "Archangel"; Drive-By Truckers, "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife"; Flo Rida ft. T-Pain, "Low"; Franz Ferdinand, "All My Friends"; Imperial Teen, "Room with a View"; Lil Wayne, "Blooded"; The Magnetic Fields, "Too Drunk to Dream"; Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Killing the Blues"; Ghislain Poirier, "No More Blood (Megasoid remix)"; Tabu Ley Rochereau, "Likambo Ya Mokanda"; Mavis Staples, "Down in the Mississippi".

Good but not that good: Bloc Party, "I Still Remember"; The Brunettes, "Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth"; Fucked Up, "Year of the Pig"; Jay-Z, "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"; Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights"; R. Kelly ft. T.I. & T-Pain, "I'm a Flirt Remix"; Konono No. 1, "A.E.I.O.U."; Linkin Park, "Bleed It Out"; Kylie Minogue, "The One"; David Murray Black Saint Quartet ft. Cassandra Wilson, "Sacred Ground"; Danuel Tate, "Pushcard".

I still can't work out what people see in her, possibly because I've seen neither the videos nor the iPod ad: Feist.

Under ether: PJ Harvey.