Rock/ Pop

The latest releases reviewed

Music as shiny and happy as Paddy Casey's latest collection is a rarity. Maybe it's the fact that he's based on California, or maybe it's just that the boy's getting serious legs as a songwriter. Shades of Hall & Oates imbue Addicted to Company Pt 1 with a white-boy soulfulness that becomes him. At times, Casey's attempts to assert his presence more forcefully struggle to ignite (City) but he tripswitches effortlessly between ragtime (Not Out to Get You), white soul and classic singer- songwriter angst (Tonight). The wah-wah guitar and lyrical sensuality of I Keep suggest a musician who's not afraid to drill deep inside himself when he could have been tempted to rest on his laurels after the success of his previous CD, Living. www.paddycasey.com   SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: U & I, Refugee

He's become our own private Idaho guy, but Josh Ritter has held firmly to his own outlaw identity while winning himself a huge Irish fanbase. Historical Conquests, recorded in a Idaho farmhouse, finds Ritter giving his roots a good watering while keeping his eye on the world at large. Unlike some of his Irish compadres, who have stopped trying, Ritter is hungry to push the boundaries of his genre, and his record that is firmly in-country without being stuck in the boondocks. He's shifted the emphasis from guitar to piano, and there's a barrelhouse momentum to several tunes, not to mention a raucous, saloon-bar humour in such lines as "My orchestra is gigantic/This thing could sink the Titanic". Sometimes the exuberance goes too far (Right Moves sounds like Gilbert O'Sullivan on moonshine), but the straight- shooting rock vibes of Mind's Eye and Rumors more than reward the cavalier attitude. ww.joshritter.com  KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks: Mind's Eye, Rumors, Empty Heart.

In discography terms, this frantic four-piece outstrip Arcade Fire's output, but both share a multi- layered approach to what they do.If Arcade are the serious uncle, Animal Collective are the manic, goofier cousin. Now it seems, they also share a producer in Scott "The Wizard" Colburn, who might be responsible for things sounding more structured than the Collective's previous work. Playful wig-outs and walls of noise still feature, and the move to Domino sees them in top form, sound-tracking a trippy funfare. The rabid conga dance of Chores gives way to the thumping toms and stuttery distortion of Reverend Green. Fireworks's high- pitched delivery explodes into the spacey rock of €1, and here's a band who manage to capture a unique live energy with a straightforward studio release. Roll on their November Dublin gig. ww.myspace.com /animalcollectivetheband  SINÉAD GLEESON

Download tracks: Peacebone, For Reverend Green, Fireworks

Now that Bell X1 are taking a break - for however long or short that might be - it's an ideal time to take on solo projects. While touring drummer Tim O'Donovan releases work under the Neosupervital moniker, multi-instrumentalist David Geraghty uses his own name for his debut solo album, as astute a slice of modern pop that has come our way in ages. Predetermined in some degree by the first single from the album (the catchy-as-hell Fear the Hitcher), the doubt that Geraghty had fired his best shot is soon dispelled by the fact that the five songs which arrive before it - and at least two in its wake - are just as good; not, perhaps, as immediately radio-friendly, but certainly up there after a few plays. www.davidgeraghty.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: Kaleidoscope, Fear the Hitcher, Delgadina

Ian Parton and his gang of punky- funky stormtroopers didn't really go too far out of their way when it came to putting album No 2 together. Sure, there are guests galore (Chuck D, Marina from Bonde Do Role, a crew of junior rappers from Maryland and, repping the old-school, Double Dutch Divas),

but the same bold, bright and brash soundclash that made Thunder Lightning Strike such a wow (and sold 250,000 copies) still rules round here. What's obvious from the get-go is the confidence that comes with knowing that the world is more than ready for a block party featuring screaming guitars, cranked-up percussive thrillers, Godzilla-sized beats and head-turning chants. Be it Titanic Vandalism's wall of supersonic sound or the crunked-up northern soul storm on Doing It Right, the Go! Team are more than capable of covering everything they do with hyperactive, dayglo magic.  ww.thegoteam.co.uk  JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Titanic Vandalism, Fake ID, My World

With their all-conquering debut, Stars of CCTV, the Staines foursome arrived with a swagger. As a follow- up they've created their own Crosse & Blackwell spaghetti western, set once again in the bleak suburbs of west London, and inspired by The Clash, Billy Bragg and Sergio Leone. The strains of a very big string section run through plaintive anthems Tonight and Watch Me Fall Apart, making the latter sound uncomfortably like Robbie Williams, but Richard Archer is smart enough to counterpoint these middle-of-the-Westway tunes with the punked-up I Close My Eyes and the dub-reggae-inspired single Suburban Knights. Still, there's a sense that Hard-Fi have found their comfort zone, and are content to reel off the same old slogans ("Television, the new religion") with strings attached. They may have gone even softer in the middle, but fans will flock to the stadia to sing along to these done-and-dusted hits. www.hard-fi.com   KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks: Suburban Knights, Tonight