Walter Gibbons

Jungle Music: Mixed With Love: Essential and Unreleased Remixes 1976 – 1986
Strut Records
Celebrated New York DJ Walter Gibbons’ 1976 remix of Double Exposure’s Ten Percent is recognized as the first commercially available twelve inch recording. This compilation includes that historic track plus 13 other extended play tunes ranging from underground disco and funk through to early hip hop. Highlights include disco jams from TC James and the Fist O’Funk Orchestra, Bettye Lavette, The Salsoul Orchestra and Gladys Knight. Strafe’s early hip hop track Set It Off is a forgotten gem with its call out of ‘You all want this party started right?’, later utilized by C+C Music Factory. These tracks are crisp, sparse and soulful. You’ll be amazed by how many sounds you recognise from the often sampled selection. – Graeme Watson

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Cut Copy
Zonoscope
Modular
On their third LP Zonoscope, Cut Copy have crafted their most accomplished and addictive work to date. The Melbourne four-piece built this record with a focus on rhythm– and it shows – from the tropical percussion that underlies the current hit Take Me Over, to the stomping drums and hand-clapping that propel Where I’m Going. What ties the album together is the sense of euphoria which permeates each track. On the hypnotic opener, Need You Know, frontman Dan Whitford’s Brian Eno-esque vocals soar over a cascade of 80s synths and a cooing soul choir. Cut Copy has said that they wanted to create a “world” with this album –trust me, it’s a place worth escaping to. – Andrew Searle

Sparkadia
The Great Impression
Ivy League Records
Sparkadia have an ethereal, wistful quality. To pin down their sound is like pinning down ether: it’s far better to inhale it deep than to think too much about it. Fans and radio lovers will already be familiar with Talking Like I’m Falling Down Stairs. And, thankfully, that’s just the start. What we have here is a second great impression from a band who are tenderly forceful in their heart aching brilliance. Fingerprints, Ghost and Hurt Me all add layers to a band who are marvelously adept at sensitive love songs, the kind which crack at the edges. Let your brittle heart shatter. – Scott-Patrick Mitchell

Adele
21
XL
Rolling in the Deep – the first single from Adele’s second album 21 – promised great things for the record. It’s a stomping soul track which hints at a darker, more experimental side to Adele. The second track on 21, Rumour Has It, is just as magic – so much so that Lindsay Lohan recently took a break from Sam Ronson to Tweet its praises. But after the second track 21 loses momentum as Adele wades through a range of ballads, mid-tempo funk numbers and a blasphemous cover of The Cure. Luckily, she is blessed with a voice that could make the alphabet song sound like a vintage soul record – its heart-skewering rawness is worth the price of admission alone. – Andrew Searle

Rod Stewart The Great American Songbook vol. 5
Sony
Four people deserve accolades for this mesmerising album; Richard Perry (the producer), Mike Thompson (keyboard player), Alex Navarro (synth-string arranger) and last but no means least, Mr Tonsil Tongue himself, Rod Stewart. Nostalgia classics have never sounded better and the catalogue is extensive in this double CD collection. Memories revisited and recounted with such songs as Fly Me to the Moon, September in the Rain, Moon River are stamped with the Stewart/Perry magic. Such is the power of these timeless songs and long may they endure for future artists to reinterpret. If slow dancing, cheek to cheek in the lounge room of your abode is your version of Saturday night bliss, then this CD fills the bill admirably! – Terry Larder

Pearl Jam Live
On Ten Legs
Universal

‘Best Of’ compilations and live recording records are like kissing your sister on the mouth. You’ve heard the album and you may have seen that band in concert, so it begs the question of whether you really needed that extra piece of fan hood. Pearl Jam’s Live on Ten Legs presents a stellar playlist of the band’s best but offers nothing new. Die-hard fans will denounce this, spieling the benefits of extra, off-the-cuff guitar riffs and audience participation, all recorded with a raw, vintage sound for ‘extra-awesomeness’. This may be a great start for someone unaccustomed to Pearl Jam or even better for a trip down memory lane but not much more. – Benn Dorrington

Various
Grammy 2011
Sony
The most exciting thing about The Grammy’s this February is the fact that Lady Gaga will be debuting her new single, Born This Way. I mean, for that alone it’s worth tuning in for. Music history kids, music history. Which, unfortunately, this album kinda ain’t. It should be. These are historic times after all. But there’s something a little lack luster with this entire lineup. Sure, Gags is here. That Forget You song. Whipped cream Katy Perry boob-age. Even that gay American Idol kid. Plus the cast of Glee. Good times. If you forgive Maroon 5, Sade, Paramore… and the cast from Glee. Oh well, at least we can lock in Sunday February 13 for some real music history. – Scott-Patrick Mitchell