Rock/Pop

The latest releases reviewed

TOKYO POLICE CLUB Elephant Shell Memphis Industries **

Tokyo Police Club don't do opuses. Last year's Lesson in Crime EP was talked about in reverential whispers, but reviewers were greedy for more than 16 pithy minutes. Their full-length debut continues this blink-and-you'll miss it approach. But if the EP was a tantalising starter, this is a lukewarm main course. From skewed time changes to Dave Monks's self-conscious rhyming, Elephant Shell is predictable. Surprisingly, the tracks that linger are not the post-punk run- throughs, but ones with punctured pace, such as the melancholic twinkle of The Harrowing Adventures Of . . . and Listen to the Math. Tokyo Police Club most likely have a great album in them; this just isn't it. www.tokyopoliceclub.com - SINÉAD GLEESON

MATMOS Supreme Balloon Matador ***

Matmos are a bit like Marmite - you either love them or hate them. Their experimentalism beguiles and frustrates in equal measure, and one person's melodic electronica is another's hellish bleep-fest. Supreme Balloon provokes a similar reaction, but the San Francisco duo have taken a different approach here. Past albums (Quasi Objects, Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure) pushed the idea of experimentalism to extremes, incorporating sounds of cut hair, surgery and amplified crayfish brainwaves. Their seventh album ditches aural randomness in favour of 100 per cent synthesisers. Using vintage makes and models, Matmos are on a spacey, hypnotic kick that references Orbital of old (especially a hidden track, Orban Matmos). The beauty of its finer moments - Polychords, the laser-guided melodies of the title track - manages to outweigh weaker repetitive tracks. Challenging, but mostly interesting. www.brainwashed.com/matmos/ - SINÉAD GLEESON

Download Tracks: Supreme Balloon, Orban Matmos