BROKEN promises are not nice.

This Chicago foursome promise dub, bass and quirkiness with tracks titled 'Scarlett Johannsson Why Don't You Love Me' and 'Murder Pon The Dance Hall Part II'.

But they break those promises, offering up instead a safe, uncertain package of rock. This band start each song with inventive promise and then chicken out, reverting to the norm. 'The Low Frequent Sea' . . .

with its strange if cliched 'old movie' conversation samples . . . has some intriguing beats but then slips into odd ska. It's just not brave enough.

Download: 'The Low Frequent Sea', '30's In The Thousands'
Una Mullally

Fried Things Change
RCA
. . . . .

FRIED has been a long time arriving but the aptly titled 'Things Change' has been worth the wait, its passionate beauty testament to David Steele's dogged perfectionism. In singer Jonte Short, he has unearthed a vocal diamond, a secularised gospel singer with more than a touch of Aretha Franklin to her timbre and phrasing. Steele's arrangements are rooted in the timeless verities of early '70s soul and funk, from the languid Memphis momentum of 'You're with the Wrong One' to the 'Summer Breeze' mood of 'Ain't You the One'.

Download: 'You're With the Wrong One', 'I'll Be There', 'Sorry If I Ruined Your Life'

Andy Gill

Grand Drive Everyone Loose
. . .

AFTER 10 years and five albums, one might expect GD's Danny and Julian Wilson to bring a touch of maturity to bear on the disruptive themes of break-ups and leavetakings. Home, it's clear, is a contrary concept but, as the squabbles of the night before give way to the regrets and repairs of the morning after, it always seems to be friends from whom one departs.

Musically, the Wilsons exemplify that dialectic, expanding beyond core country-rock stylings to accommodate fluting mellotron, fizzing synth, harpsichord and louche sax (Pete Wareham) without sacrificing warmth.

Dowload: Far From Home"

AG Stateless Stateless ! K7
. .

LEEDS combo Stateless are the latest addition to the "progressive" ranks, blending minimalist keyboard loops, piano and complicated jazz drumming with sundry scratches, the occasional clunk of marimba or bleak wash of strings, and vocals of a blithe, mannered airiness. It's OK for a track or two, with the fussy drum patterns ably conveying the edginess of a collapsing relationship in 'Prism #1' and the big-beat drums and dark strings of 'Exit' recalling Portishead.

But the overweening self-importance capsizes proceedings, leaving one aching for a burst of dirty guitar.

Which never comes.

Download: 'Prism #1' XX

Jazz

Paul Williamson Quintet Far Away Here
Jazzhead Records
. . . .

MELBOURNE-born but currently Irish-based trumpeter Paul Williamson composed all but two of the tracks on this excellent recording, which features some of the leading lights of the scene down under. Another recent Irish resident, saxophonist Jamie Oehlers, supplies the title track, with another from the impressive Paul Grabowsky on piano. While influences are discernable . . . from Kenny Wheeler to Dave Douglas . . .

there is a solidity and integrity to the group's sound and a sense of purpose to the compositions that holds from first to last. Catch him live in JJ Smyths next Sunday.

Cormac Larkin

Classical

Beethoven: Diabelli Variations Vladimir Ashkenazy
Decca Classics
. . . . .

ASHKENAZY is a pianist and musician of such unrivalled standards it may seem like he has always existed but this year marks the maestro's 70th birthday and this release of the only major piano work which he has not previously recorded is a special commemoration from Decca for the occasion.

Several of the slower movements are rather hurried, though this makes for a more all-encompassing thread of tension throughout the performance, rather than a meditative fragmentary approach.

That there is a master at work here is undeniable and the most salient quality of this landmark record.

Karen Dervan