NORTHERN LITES

Super Furry Animals

I really hope this strange calypso-type jaunt does the business, but for the life of me I haven't a clue why. It's just one of those songs.

OPUS 40

Mercury Rev

Everybody in the music press loves Mercury Rev. They're just so original, they purr, their songs are perfect compositions which should be A-Listed on Radio 1 immediately, they purr. Cobblers says I. They do sound different, which is nice. Sadly it seems as though, like Ocean Colour Scene, they can't quite adapt to the modern hurly-burly of the 1990s. The end result? A wistful, easy-going 1960s-style hippie song that will make them a lot of friends. Personally I think it's utter pants not even worth the disc it's pressed on, but this is exactly the sort of thing people are buying because they've been told it's cool to do so. Good luck to 'em, because if Mercury Rev are still having hit singles two years from now I'll be well impressed.

NB. As of two years later, I'm well impressed. Oops.

REMOTE CONTROL

Beastie Boys

And sometimes when the music press say somebody's good, they're actually right. This is how rap should be done. Shouted lyrics, guitars in the background, heavy beats and all in all, a tune that quite blatantly tells Will Smith and friends to pack their bags, get out and take their smooth funky cliche-saturated identical-sounding pap with them. One more thing, when did you ever see Puff Daddy guest on a Beastie Boys track? That's right, never. The defence rests its case. Now perhaps all the other rappers will stop shooting each other long enough to come up with something even half as good (unlikely).

SECRETLY

Skunk Anansie

Hell's bells. It's atmospheric, tuneful, mellow(ish) and actually nowhere near as bad as you think it's going to be. In fact, it's quite good. This could be massive. In Finland, sadly.