A recent release reviewed

HANDSOME BOY MODELLING SCHOOL
White People Atlantic
**
The finest in hip-hop in-jokes has always been the main subject taught at the Handsome Boy Modelling School. It's what you would expect from a seat of learning supervised by erstwhile Gorillaz man Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and longstanding hip-hop production luminary Prince Paul. As with 1999's So How's Your Girl, it quickly becomes apparent that the quality of handsomeness is all in the eye of the beholder. While this year's student intake contains the usual high-profile names - including Pharrell Williams, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, Cat Power, Mike Patton and jazz shortarse Jamie Cullum and others - much of their contributions play second fiddle to the quips and pastiches of the head Boys. Musically, it's effortlessly all over the shop, but that's just not enough to save it from getting sucked into the in-joke quicksand.