Mann - Mann - Mann's World

These days, one feels almost pathetically grateful for a new urban pop artist who doesn't default to the overdriven, Eurohouse chart template. When the first few tracks of Mann's debut album demonstrate the 20-year-old rapper's penchant for old-school G-funk and an actual light touch, it's enough to make you predisposed to look on it favourably.

It's not a feeling that bears much scrutiny. The album is helmed by one JR Rotem, whose discography to date places him firmly into the ‘generic hack’ category of producers: Rihanna's SOS, Iyaz's Replay, so many Jason Derülo singles that you begin...

Gomez - Gomez - Whatever's on Your Mind

It’s a long time since Gomez won the Mercury Music Prize. Thirteen years, to be precise, since they beat The Verve, Massive Attack and Pulp to the award back in 1998. And after one spin of this, their seventh studio album, you’ll think it was even longer ago. Perhaps in another life altogether.

To be fair, Gomez have been sliding towards middle-of-the-road mediocrity for a while now. Those first three albums - Bring it On, Liquid Skin, and In Our Gun - were rife with a sense of raw, youthful experimentation, blending British and American folk...

Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley - Grace

While Jeff Buckley’s sole complete studio document has achieved two million sales worldwide since its mid-90s release, its impact at the time was far from impressive. And that’s from both critical and commercial perspectives, as although today it’s regularly held in high regard come top-albums lists, a mixed reception greeted it on its initial emergence.

Listening today, almost 17 years to the day after that first release, it’s easy to hear why reviewers weren’t universally moved by Grace. Its best-known track isn’t even one penned by Buckley, Hallelujah being a cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting masterpiece. Nor is Corpus...

Pop Levi - Pop Levi - Motorcycle 666

After what can only be described as a massive kiss of death, Pop Levi is bouncing back from being tipped by Lauren Laverne four years ago. Since then, he's kept himself busy by making more obscure films than most people would admit to, and having a nice line in accessible indie.

"Motorcycle 666" is like a male-fronted version of the Gossip, all driving guitars, insistent bass and rhyming couplets while the drums keep time. It's indie disco fodder and should live long enough in the memory of drunken revellers to go and download the morning after. It's a bit pointlessly long,...

M83 - M83

"Midnight City"from the album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming2011iTunesIt's been a long and fruitful journey for M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Started in the early '00s, the once-duo-but-now-solo project has been pumping out albums of top-tier electronic shoegaze for the better part of a decade. That said, M83's been kind of quiet since the release of 2008's excellent Saturdays=Youth, but it seems that the time off was a necessary evil: Gonzalez recently announced the imminent arrival of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, an epic double LP due out October 18. With that release date slowly approaching,...

Caribou - Caribou (Latitude 2011)

Electronica music is always bound to go down well at a festival; it's danceable, atmospheric and energetic; the perfect way to keep spirits high and leave the crowds buzzing. Few are better in this field than Canadian Daniel Victor Snaith, with many musical monikers and projects under his belt, but none more popular and with a larger discography than Caribou.

Snaith's set exuded professionalism; entertaining the packed Word Arena with synthesised tracks and complicated time-signatures causing awkward middle-class Latitude-goers (who were already cautiously coming out of their shells) to bop their heads all the more awkwardly, which only added to the...

Sum 41 - Sum 41 (Sonisphere 2011)

I briefly stopped over at the Saturn Stage on my way through to watch Revoker at Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage. The band on next is one of the more unusual choices for Sonisphere. The organisers always seem to throw a wild card into the mix when putting Sonisphere together, 2009 it was Bjorn Again and 2010 we had Good Charlotte. This year Sonisphere went all out and headlined Biffy Clyro, but now we also had pop-punk sensations, Sum 41 playing their hits on the Saturn Stage.

Normally I would have avoided this, but having to go past Saturn Stage to...

National - National (Latitude 2011)

The National were a headliner that no one really predicted, with no new material out and having already headlined The Word Arena with a sublime performance in 2010. This is far from a bad thing, The National are in my view one of the strongest and most expert bands on the scene.

This was the third time I'd seen The National and the second in quick succession. Having seen the band deliver a set of hits and rarities alongside members of Arcade Fire at Main Square Festival in France, my expectations were understandably high - especially with this set being a...

Dawes - Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong

In two short years, Dawes has emerged as one of the finest bands in the burgeoning neo-folk-rock sceneâ€"the four group even scored a gig backing none other than Robbie Robertson has at some upcoming live dates. In fact, there is no act that Dawes is more closely related to than The Band. Building off 2009’s surprise debut hit North Hills, Nothing Is Wrong is a nearly perfect combination of incredible songwriting, brotherly harmonies and loose grooves that dip from Neil Young crunch to CSN grace. There’s a growing confidence and earthly honesty in these songs, but it’s the brilliant lyrical...

My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket (Latitude 2011)

It was an odd start to the festival with noticeably fewer punters than in previous years and a mutual feeling of misery throughout the site as the torrential rain in stark contrast to the blazing Friday heat took the vest wearing optimists by surprise.

But My Morning Jacket reminded me what Latitude was supposed to feel like and gave me the rush I'd felt in previous years. Getting front and centre with ease was strangely disappointing rather than gratifying, it felt like someone was throwing a party and no one had turned up. But what a party it was, as the...