WITH a title referencing innovative childhood nose-wiping techniques, Dubliner Cathy Davey may be about to put down the hankies. The indie schtick of the opening track simply paves the way for the more 1950s Motown dreamscape 'Reuben' which in its own odd way is a real dancefloor commander. But there's more to follow. 'Collector' is a Violent Femmes rockabilly number (revisited later on 'No Heart Today') while 'Moving' is almost Chemical Brothers lite. Uniting the ambitious song structures is a funkiness and rhythm throughout. If there's a better album by an Irish girl released in Ireland this year, I haven't heard it yet. Download: 'Reuben' 'Rubbish Ocean' 'Sing For Your Supper' Neil Dunphy Various Artists A Bugged Out Mix by Klaxons New State (2CD) . . .

KLAXONS had been working on this compilation long before receving this year's Mercury prize, so there's no suggestion of this obvious cash-in allegations. Instead is a trip through the Londoners' record collections and as such comes sans Klaxons originals (except, of course for another mix of 'It's Not Over Yet'). The first CD is a moster mash . . . the darkest, heaviest mind altering house music imaginable . . . which is probably what these layabouts listen to during breakfast on Planet Klaxon. The second asserts their indie credentials and features more household names from Roy Orbison and Frankie Valli to Blur and the Wu-Tang Clan. Both are worth it in their own right but don't make for natural bedfellows. ND

Joni Mitchell Shine Universal (46m 56s) . .MITCHELL'S first album in seven years opens with five minutes of elevator music. Then there's a beautiful song: cymbals sound like steam pistons, pedal steel for the weary factory workers and those unbelievably melancholic chords that only Joni could have created. This segues into a couple of tracks about the environment. But sad. It's so sad. "If I had a heart, I'd cry, " she sobs. The more you listen the more sad it becomes. 'Bad Dreams' (where "cell phone zombies battle through shopping malls") is unbelievably pointless and depressing. Then a new version of 'Big Yellow Taxi' without that rapturous laughter at the end. Kind of sums it all up. Download: 'If I had a Heart' 'If' 'This Place' ND Prefuse 73 Preparations (46:12) Warp . . .

SCOTT Herren is nothing if not prolific, managing to make, produce and release around 10 albums in the last seven years, along with producing and managing other artists. No wonder then, that Preparations sounds a little frantic.

Samples, in true glitch-hop style, are spliced within an inch of their lives. Miraculously, as a lolloping flow takes hold of the sometimes freeform style of the record, the whole thing appears quite chilled despite the frenzied architecture of the sounds. It's a testimony to Herren's talent as a producer, even as he frequently favours frivolous trickery over hooks and melody.

Download: 'I Knew You Were Gonna Go' UM