Full-throttle rock'n'soul mini album. From Detroit, obviously

Absorbing countercultural rap

Singer in Texas punk bluegrass band The Bad Livers in strong new start. Bill Frisell guests, Marc Bolan's covered

Lazer-Guided Melodies for the laptop generation

He's The Man again

Cath Carroll's complete 'C86' years

The Big Star flew solo, jumped back to his Southern roots, then went live in London

Tear-streaked wonder from Abba's pop-rock progeny

Sci-fi tosh with Christian Bale

Set at the death of the samurai age, Japanese master Nagisa Oshima's first feature in 13 years charts the disruption of a militia barracks by the arrival of Ryuhei Matsuda's androgynously beautiful young swordsman. A partial return to the erotic obsession of In The Realm Of The Senses, it's a bleak but mesmerically beautiful movie where realism balances with dreamy stylisation.