On the back of a 23-date UK tour and being namechecked by Madonna, Andy Carthy's (aka Mr Scruff) sophomore album Trouser Jazz has certainly been worth the wait. Having built a formidable reputation on the DJ circuit, not least for his genre-defying and strenuously long sets, but also for his ability to hold down residences throughout the UK, he has missed two label deadlines for this album release. Brimming with humour and littered with his characteristically playful sampling shenanigans, Trouser Jazz is a joyous romp through funk, jazz, soul and hip-hop complete with commentary from children's TV presenters and fish references aplenty. "Here We Go" sets the scene with a minute of looped horn-led retro funk that fades straight into the jazzy vibes and disco beat of "Sweetsmoke". First single "Shrimp" ups the tempo further with squelching rhythms and a trembling Rhodes hook, but it's moments such as "Valley of the Sausages" with it's strings, flute and breathless Latin vocals and the ragtime rhythms of "Come On Grandad" that confirm that Mr Scruff is no slouch when it comes to blending the absurd into a life-affirming sonic jumble. -Christopher Barrett.

One thing's for sure: you won't have heard a hip-hop album quite like Hinterland before. Aim man Andy Turner recorded this-the follow-up to his excellent debut album, Cold Water Music-in a private studio on the sleepy Barrow-In-Furness seafront, a hundred miles from the bustling hip-hop underground of Manchester where he made his name. Rolling elements of vintage soul and classic Bacharach-style songwriting into its grand hip-hop design, Hinterland pulls out wild cards a-plenty. "The Girl Who Fell Through The Ice" finds Turner loops a flourish of violins and frosty synths, as longtime Aim collaborator Kate Rogers wrapping her tonsils around a chill tale of a doomed love affair. The upbeat "No Restriction" revives A Tribe Called Quest's daisy-age blueprint, with guesting rap crew Souls Of Mischief offering rhymes of a mischievously English bent: "We mean biz'/ You won't believe this/ We're in Buckingham Palace droppin' beats with Queen Liz". And "Good Disease" strays right off the hip-hop map: a slick four minutes of R&B-tinted lounge music, it features a unexpected falsetto-high cameo from ex-Baby Bird man Stephen Jones that bafflingly, is one of this commendable record's high points. It's not for those that like their hip-hop raw, but Hinterland is a very welcome addition to the traditional rap terrain. -Louis Pattison.

Although Swansea dance collective Hybrid have been heard to lament the deficit of emotional content in modern electronic dance music, the duo's second album Morning Sci Fi isn't exactly forthcoming in conveying the nuances of human feeling and frailty. While a punctilious adherence to the machine-like rhythmic strictures of progressive house arguably leaves little room for the temperaments of sorrow, anger and elation, it wouldn't be unfair to suggest that Hybrid clearly never intended to sound as clinically dispassionate as this. However, this failing (as they would see it) really works in their favour, for much of Morning Sci Fi sounds like the futuristic product of the breakbeat generation with a fear for the impersonality of the hereafter, clearly manifested in such starkly autocratic song titles as "Higher than a Skyscraper", "We Are in Control" and "Steal You Away". Darkly swooping strings from St Peterburg's Hermitage Orchestra deepen the creases on their furrowed brows while the stealthy bass twang of New Order's Peter Hook (on "True to Form", for example) and some ghostly industrial sound effects (perhaps Martin Hannett's work with Joy Division was an inspiration) add an engaging level of tension to Morning Sci Fi's brutally wintry soundscapes. -Kevin Maidment.