Sov, as she's known to her friends, is the latest London import to find favor in the US. With Jay-Z and Ad Rock pushing her, she's sure to be big among the hipnoscenti. Fortunately beneath the hype and big-name pals, there's serious talent. Her voice is incredibly distinctive, her lyricism, senses of flow and humour are infectious. Unfortunately this album is little more than a taster. I've heard most of the stuff she's put out in the UK and I sense a classic album is coming. Get on board now and impress your friends with your prescience.

MIA certainly is the press darling of the moment, but she really has something new and different to offer, so the attention is mostly warranted.

Although I think in a year's time this album will be seen as slightly overrated, for right now it's quite a rush. Not every track is classic, and the skits are a waste of time, but the remaining 8 or so tracks are pretty amazing.

Definitely worth checking out if you're into dance music, or rap, or just want to hear something strange and otherworldly.

How on earth straight-edge clean Ian MacKaye (Fugazi) ever got convinced to record an album with notorious junky Al Jourgensen (Ministry) is anyone's guess. Whatever, the result is a largely satisfying record that combines the industrial thrash of Ministry with the lyrical edge of Fugazi. "Man Should Surrender" sets the stage with an insistent machine driven beat and some punch-the-air guitars. Although Ministry sort of turned into a self-parody eventually, it's good to recall a time when they made potent music with a message.

This EP was recently released on Ryko's "Ministry: Side Trax" compilation. Beware though - the Ryko disc has a mastering error that presents the tracks in glorious mono. Hopefully they will fix this error with subsequent pressings.

Hard to believe this album is 22 years old. I discovered it in the late 1980's and it has never left my personal Top 10 list. Every song on here is a mini-opera, jam packed with lyrical and instrumental ideas. Kate loads more information into a 3.5 minute "pop" song than most artists put into an entire album, or career in some cases. You've got songs about abstract philosophical issues ("Sat In Your Lap", a questioning piece about the search for knowledge), music hall mini-plays ("There Goes A Tenner"), anti-war statements ("Pull out the Pin"), a song about the plight of the Australian aborigines ("The Dreaming"), Houdini's quest to disprove spirit mediums... it just goes on and on.

Top drawer writing, incredible performances, timeless production. One of the most important records in the history of mankind. No joke!

I am not ashamed to admit that I was a huge Duran Duran fan. Apart from the fact that you had to know the name of all 5 original Duran members in order to have any hope of conversing with the girls in my high school, the first two albums have stood the test of time as absolute classic new wave icons. I still listen to them, 20+ years down the road.

You can imagine that I was fairly interested to see what the "reformed" original lineup would sound like.

Unfortunately, it's crap.

I will admit that "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise", despite the dire parenthesization, is a reasonably catchy track, but it doesn't sound particularly like DD, except maybe in their later 90's incarnation. Simon's voice is still as flawed as ever, and while that was charming in 1981, it just sounds lazy now.

As others have said, this is music for Club Med gyms. Music for 40-somethings eager to retain some cachet of hipness in their musical taste. Well I'm not that old, or that rich, yet.

It's a damn shame because there are plenty of bands out there doing the sort of thing that DD could be doing, if they weren't terminally rich and clueless. The Faint comes to mind.

Anyway, my advice: Skip it.