The Handsome Family: Down in the Valley (Independent)

Anybody who includes a sleeve note thank you to "anyone who thought about throwing beer on us and didn't" deserves a helping hand. And the Handsome Family, Chicago-based Brett and Rennie Sparks, probably deserve it more than most, considering the unrelenting grimness and black humour of their songs. This is gothic country, performed with a disarming lack of production values and a disquieting reliance on simple two-step rhythms. But Brett's stark monotone vocals and Rennie's graphic evocation of what Warren Zevon once described as the constituents of country life - "sweat, piss, jizz and blood" - have a way of waylaying you in the dark recesses of your humming moods. These songs, drawn from previously released work, lie somewhere between Tom Waits and the Carter Family. Listen with a strong drink in hand. But listen.

- Joe Breen

Kim Richey: Glimmer (Mercury)

This is one of those albums that will probably disappear without trace but shouldn't - though the professional sheen of producer Hugh Padgham (Sting etc) threatens to leave this batch of compelling songs from a promising Nashville singer-songwriter stranded on an island too close to Mary-Chapin Carpenter and not far enough away from Shawn Colvin. Yet these two have pointed the way for mature women artists, and Richey dives right in, clearly jettisoning the alt. country sound of her first two albums in favour of a more polished and sophisticated style. That the music survives and, indeed, prospers with increased hearing is due to her clear, expressive voice and songs such as Didn't I, Hello Old Friend, and The Way It Never Was. Catch her supporting Raul Malo on his forthcoming tour.

- Joe Breen

More CDs reviewed in tomorrow's Weekend supplement