BASEMENT JAXX: Red Alert (XL) - Funky going-ons with a sleazy synthesised bassline and plenty of good-time shouting and growling along with electronic samples, including telephone noises. The grinding intensity blended with the uplifting vocal make this a reasonable, if sweaty, dancefloor tune. (6/10) PB

SLEATER-KINNEY: Get Up (Matador) - The fascinating thing about this American all-girl trio is the way they manage to entice you into their trap with their charming pop sensibility and then, just as the chorus is about to break, turn on you like wailing banshees in desperate need of medication. Frightening. (6/10) JS

ALBUMS

FRANK BLACK AND THE CATHOLICS: Pistolero (Play It Again Sam) - There's no messing about where Frank Black (pictured) is concerned. From the opening chords of Bad Harmony to the close of play on So Bay, the larger-than-life former Pixie delivers rock and roll in its rawest, most brutal form. He may have inspired Kurt Cobain but he's still got a lot to thank Husker Du's Bob Mould for. (7/10) JS BOREDOM UK: Elvis Saves The World (Abstract) - Pulse has kindly been granted a sneak preview of the Blackburn four-piece's album, set for release later this year. Playing in a style which is much more '70s than '90s, these four unassuming lads may be keeping the fires of punk burning but they are unlikely to set the world alight. My main reservations with the album in its current form is the running order - listeners have to wait some time before hearing the best bits. The humorous She's Not A Girl has a great edgy riff and the silly-but-catchy Cows has a truly wonderful attacking riff and an infectious chorus. But these two gems are tucked away among some rather average material. The album opens with the uninspiring Elvis Saves The World, followed by Homage, a pastiche of well-known punk riffs from the 1970s held together with the rather unwelcoming chorus "you really had to be there". But the cutting lyrics on gritty rocker American Mannequin show the band's writing potential and, in places, the lads' zanyness and energy shines through. But the grapevine whisperings and tales of live prowess had me hoping for a little bit more than this. (6/10) PB

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.