ALBUM RELEASES

HAIM Women In Music Pt. III ★★★★

On their third time out the California sisters keep their patented sunkissed sound and adorn it with a selection of loops, beats and sonic diversions. The add-ons make for an agreeably bumptious and forward thinking clatter, delivering groovy glam rock beats cross-patterned with delicious harmonies. The girls are in control, pulverising and convincing when they need to be, or delivering home truths in deceptively liquid style. Triumphant.

MACEO PARKER Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo ★★★

Pretty much what they call a no-brainer in record industry terms. Mister Maceo, veteran sax star for James Brown and Prince among many, gets to work on a selection of well-thumbed classics. Maceo’s solo classic Cross The Track gets a run through as do a tasty selection of New Orleans-bred classics, a sizzling take of Aretha’s Rock Steady and the scintillating summer sound of Grazing In The Grass. Kitchen soundtracks come no finer than this.

NADINE SHAH Kitchen Sink ★★★★

Plucky, confrontational Tynesider Nadine is courageous, diverse and freewheeling here, but bang on target too. Her celebration of womanhood (Club Cougar) takes in a range of flavours and hypnotic atmospherics, while Kite is a tribute to her less-is-more approach. The exotic and unsettling title track, the Beefheart swagger of Buckfast and the soaring and galloping appraisal of Trad all grab the attention with brain and bodyengaging confidence. Time to tap dance.