ALBUMS OF THE WEEK

This is Mike Skinner’s first record as The Streets since 2011’s Computers And Blues. He says, ‘it’s really just a rap duets album.’ Some of the collaborators, such as Idles, were unheard of when he put The Streets in abeyance. Their lead singer Joe Talbot’s delivery on the title tracks locks into Skinner’s rhythms and cadence almost seamlessly. Another millennial MC, Ms Banks stamps much more of her own personality on You Can’t Afford Me. At 41, Skinner is smart enough to know he can’t be ‘the

The Streets None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive (Island) ★★★★★

lad’ who sang ‘fit but you know it’ in his early 20s, but he is still sharp with comeback lines such as ‘Take me as I am (or watch me go’) and where he says knowingly ‘everyone in the club is smelling their keys’. He is not a participant, just an observer these days and is as good as he ever was.

In interviews, Donna Missal has described her music as ‘if Sheryl Crow and Shania Twain were the lead singers of a band that had members from Nirvana, Oasis and Weezer’. The influence of Crow and Twain on the New Jersey singer’s album is apparent on country-tinged rockers such as How Does It Feel and Hurt By You. Some of Weezer or even Pixies’ loud-quiet-loud dynamics can be heard on Just Like You and on Best Friend, where slacker icons Mazzy Starr also get a shout-out. Speaking of Pixies,

Donna Missal Lighter (Capitol) ★★★★★

the chord structure of their song Where Is My Mind is almost interchangeable with the very likeable Bloom. She shows off a powerful set of pipes on slower songs such as Let You Let Me Down and Slow Motion. When she is less the sum of her influences, Missal could well be a force.