Effectively the solo project of New York based DJ and producer Andy Butler, with the help of some interesting friends, Hercules and Love Affair is , unlikely though it sounds, the point where classic disco meets classical myth-the title apparently refers to the legendary hero's fondness for his own sex. Although co-produced by LCD Soundsystem's Tim Goldsworthy, Hercules and Love Affair is a flightier, more hedonistic proposition, filled with echoes of long gone clubs and ghosts of the pre-AIDS glory days of New York's gay scene. Yet it celebrates rather than mourns the past as a series of guest vocalists leave their mark, Antony Hegarty the most familiar. The terrific, irresistible single "Blind", reportedly some four years in gestation, stands out but the wistfully positive "Raise Me Up" isn't far behind, Hegarty's inimitably sad tones incongruously juxtaposed with a gleeful arrangement. Though even his voice has a hard battle with the lift from Frankie Knuckles's classic "Your Love" which underpins the opener "Time Will". The spaced out jazz of "This Is My Love", sung by Butler himself, the dizzily ecstatic house of "You Belong", the purest of flashbacks, and Kim Ann's vocal turn on the elegant "Athene" are other highlights on a remarkably assured and entertaining first effort. This year won't see a better example of danceable melancholy than Hercules and Love Affair. -Steve Jelbert.

With Mishaps Happening-12 new tracks of retro funk, soul and jazz with a contemporary twist-Will Holland is back under his solo moniker of Quantic. The title track is an epic take on café jazz, with Holland playing most of the instruments over a cut-up drum loop—it's fine stuff and a perfect introduction to the multi-talented instrumentalist. Quantic has a remarkable feel for 1970s soul-funk, capturing a lot of the essence that made the JBs sound so distinct. "Don't Joke with a Hungry Man" and "When You're Through", both featuring Spanky Wilson on vocals, sound like undiscovered funk breaks squeezed into an irresistible hip-hop groove. Two songs that step up the pace are "Furthest Moment" (Latin house with a deep tribal rhythm) and "Perception", an amazingly soulful drum & bass romp. Mishaps Happening is very easy to listen to and always very cheerful-a great record by a very talented individual. -David Trueman.

More than just Erlend Oye's temporary departure from Kings of Convenience, Unrest is an amalgam of heartfelt lyrics from the wrong side of love's tracks, with strains of bitterness present but never overwhelming. In true minstrel fashion, Norway's troubadour invites 10 different electronic producers from 10 different cities to get involved in the project. The result is largely successful; Oye's warm tones have a restraining quality that offsets any uptempo dominance by artists more used to making music for dance floors. Morgan Geist, Prefuse 73, Kompis and Schneider TM are among the collaborative line up that, by the end, makes one wonder whether they are redefining the electronica "easy listening" experience. -Found Sounds.

Are Run-DMC the most important group of the past 25 years? Well, if you believe that hip-hop is the most significant musical development in a quarter century, what other conclusion can you draw? Though they may not have been responsible for the birth of rap, the trio from Hollis in Queens represents the genre's coming of age. They were the ones who brought what was largely a regional street phenomenon to the masses. The rhymes, the beats, the style, the attitude-Run-DMC introduced it all to the world. Focusing mostly on the group's first three albums-each of them a cornerstone of rap music-this 18-track collection is a reminder of a time when rap enjoyed a kind of childlike innocence: their boasts are forceful but not angry; the beats are simple but exciting; the overall effect (fuelled by heavy-metal riffs) is edgy and aggressive, but not violent or destructive. But most of all, it's fun. In the 1990s, rap artists would take Run-DMC's ideas to wide extremes, but the roots of this next generation-gangsta rap's street realism, political rap's social agendas, rock-rap's antagonism-are found right here. Run-DMC-like almost all pioneers from Elvis to Louis Armstrong-suffered a period of irrelevancy when they were looked upon as quaint or outdated, but their time will come. Rest assured, this is not 80s retro kitsch. -Marc Greilsamer.

Compiled by Jazz FM's Richard Searling, A Cellarful of Motown is a truly astonishing 40-track collection featuring 39 previously unreleased 60s cuts plucked from Hitsville's archives. It's simply mind-boggling that only one of these stunning tracks-Jnr Walker's "Riding High on Love"-received an official release at the time. Incredibly, the others flunked Motown's weekly "quality control" meetings and were consigned to the vaults. Surely no other label in the history of popular music is blessed with such a boundless provision of timeless nuggets. Each gem here has been fastidiously restored from the original master tapes, so although many of these tunes are available as vinyl bootlegs on the northern-soul scene they are generally poorly pressed with inferior sound quality. This, then, is the compilation that Motown collectors have feverishly anticipated for years. It's almost impossible to pick standouts as the quality throughout is eye-rotatingly brilliant; however, celestial moments include Barbara McNair's infectious frugger "Baby A-Go-Go", Earl Van Dyke's exhilarating instrumental stampede through "He Was Really Sayin' Something", and one of the biggest northern-soul discoveries of recent years, Gladys Knight's phenomenal "If You Ever Get Your Hands on Love". This is an absolutely essential purchase for anyone even remotely interested in soul music. -Chris King.

There's no question that Marilyn Manson's 1995 album Antichrist Superstar was a great-sounding record. It brooded, ripped, and clattered in all the right places, mixing industrial beats and samples with roaring heavy-metal riffs, echoing Goth keys, and the occasional tuneful pop vocal. But for all the sonic appeal, some of the song-writing wasn't too strong. No such problem on Manson's new record, Mechanical Animals, which forsakes some of the band's former grind in favour of dynamic glam rhythms and good old-fashioned melody. When the band tones down, as on the largely acoustic "Speed of Pain" and "Fundamentally Loathsome", Manson even sounds like a candidate for an Unplugged session. Most often, however, as on "Rock Is Dead", "User Friendly", and "The Dope Show", Mechanical Animals is a brash, decadent, and glittery display of self-indulgent hooks and melodramatic vocals that sounds like Aladdin Sane-era David Bowie and T. Rex at their most boisterous crossed with the more modern sounds of today's industrial nation. -Jon Wiederhorn.

Upholding France's reputation for effortless style, French trio Stephan Haeri, Christophe Héitier and Fabrice Dumont's debut album Genetic World combines the best of Air and Daft Punk to come up with the ultimate in dance-floor elegance. Intoxicating concoctions of hazy Riviera sways, seductive Billie Holiday style vocals and dreamy electro; "Smile" and "Yesterday Was a Lie" are both so comatosed that they can only be fully appreciated pool side and horizontal. Mildly more energetic, but still imbued with an incredibly sunny disposition, "Breathe"'s watery house and "Love Can Damage Your Health"'s jazzy backbeat and shuddering James Bond strings, conjure romance so vividly that it's almost possible to make out the distant sound of the sea gently lapping a deserted South of France beach. Undertandably then, the sledgehammer break beats and sociological ra! ps that drive "Free" and "Da Hoola"'s electro-pop, though both ingenious and brilliant, are more than a little conspicuous against the rest of the album's carefree ambience. Even so, they're not enough to upset Télépopmusik's sensual flow. -Dan Gennoe.