Rock/Pop

Ani Di Franco: "Up Up Up Up Up" (Righteous Babe)

America's kookiest - and most prolific - feminist pop icon takes the title of REM's album, multiplies it by six, and comes up with a quirky, semi-acoustic stew of pop, folk and funk. This is Di Franco's twelfth album on her own Righteous Babe label; descriptions like "the alternative Alanis" or "Jewel with balls" come to mind, but what really sticks is the impression that Di Franco is a musical daydreamer, skipping along merrily on an acoustic stream-of-conscience, and humming whatever comes into her head. While tracks such as 'Tis Of Thee and Angry Anymore deftly balance the personal and political, the meandering messages in Come Away From It and Hat Shaped Hat suggest that Di Franco tends to labour the musical point a bit. Kevin Courtney

The Offspring: "Americana" (Columbia)

The surprise Number One hit, Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) has thrust these million-selling Californian punksters into the Limey limelight, prompting punters on this side of the Atlantic to seek out the band's most recent album. As US punk bands go, The Offspring are pretty OK, but a quick surf through tracks such as Why Don't You Get A Job, The Kids Aren't Alright and Walla Walla confirms that the hit single is about the best thing on offer here. In the great tradition of Ugly Kid Joe and Green Jelly, The Offspring keep their tongue-rings stuck firmly through their cheeks, piercing Metallica's sheen of self-importance and trashing the grunge aesthetic with barely-hidden glee. Puerile jabs at girlfriends, authority figures and asshole buddies abound, and there's even a crude cover of the smoochy standard, Feelings, with the word "hate" cleverly substituted for "love". Kevin Courtney

Blondie: "No Exit" (Beyond Music)

Blondie is back with the original line-up of Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri, but instead of peddling a punk revival, the band seems to be re-heating a few leftover ska beats and rehashing 1980s synth-pop. Debbie Harry is no longer the sylph-like atomic blonde bombshell, but she still can flash those come-backstage eyes and deliver those daddy's-little-bad-girl vocals. The trademark Blondie sound is almost intact on songs such as Maria, Under The Gun and Nothing Is Real But The Girl; however, the Rapture-like rap and monster mash keyboards of the title track sound more like a B-movie parody, while the country-cow-punk style of The Dream's Lost On Me and the mummy's-tomb triteness of Dig Up The Conjo make Blondie '99 seem like a musty old relic. Kevin Courtney