Manic Street Preachers

The Welsh rockers tap into the spirit of gone but not forgotten lyricist Richey James Edwards for their ninth album as Real Groove gets up close and personal with Nick Wire and James-Dean Bradfield.

Their songs have long been a call to arms for alienated, disaffected youth and assorted castoff freaks. Faced with the sudden, shock disappearance of guitarist and chief songwriter Richey Edwards in 1995 on the cusp of real success, they decided to continue as a three piece and have since gone on to become even bigger and more successful than they ever hoped. Their latest album Journal For Plague Loverssees a return of Edwards to the group by way of lyrics long ago left to the other members shortly before he fell off the face of the earth.

La Roux

Elly Jackson shakes her famously coiffed red shock of hair, loosening fragments of white detritus which float down to the table of the Sheperd's Bush pub we are sat at.

“I had a show last night and I sprayed my hair with that really hard spray but I didn't get all of it out so if you see little bits coming off, it's not dandruff,” she explains.

Clubland July

If you figure in Holger Zilske's release history as Smash TV, Mindlab and Acrid Gain then his debut solo album has been a long time in the incubation chamber. For the past two years Zilske's productions under his own name have focussed on the meeting points between subtle, deftly crafted techno and house. “Mes Yeux”, the first single from the album backed with”Metrodancer” appeared just two weeks before the LP and as a foreteller of what was to come was exciting news.

Clubland June

They may not happen with the greatest frequency but one thing is assured upon tracking down a new Robag Wruhme release; you will be entertained. The veteran producer has a knack of injecting his tracks with a certain buoyancy and mirth that few others manage to conjure with each successive release. Abusus Adde, his latest on Vakant finds Mr. Schablitzki in top, maniacal form with three cuts that not only prove to be weighty peak time contenders but also remind you that this music is meant to be fun.

Yeah Yeah Yeah's

From their perfect thrashing entry into the world and the unchecked maelstrom of Fever To Tell, New York three piece Yeah Yeah Yeahs have constantly stayed ahead of the pack. Cue third album It's Blitz! and another sonic spanner is thrown into the works of expectation.

Clubland May

After the industrial strength artist album from Ben Klock on Ostgut Ton earlier in the year, which left some feeling a little too chilly the label have followed up with a decidedly warmer twelve from Berlin resident Nick Hoeppner. Makeover is nevertheless cloaked with a deep and brooding atmosphere, but there are touches of house licking around the edges of the clubby techno that immediately lightened the mood.

Kasabian

Possessed of an old school pomp that harks back to the days of rock royalty, Kasabian make no apologies for their unchecked egos and diamond swagger.

La Grande Dame

In the history of comedy and entertainment there has never been a character quite like her. There can be no imitators for she is truly unique; a cultural and comedic phenomenon. Armed with a crooked, wide-lipped smile, bejewelled gowns, an acid tongue and the most iconic pair of glasses in the world she has been dishing out her goodly brand of housewife wisdom for over fifty years to an adoring audience. She has been granted audience with some of the biggest stars in the world, cites herself as a friend and confidante to the Queen and now has her own line of make-up. And as this hapless journalist was about to find she can also inject a certain spookiness into a routine interview.

Razor-lite

Million selling albums, celebrity girlfriends, debaucherous revelry, charity gigs. Razorlight seem to embody all that is required for rock canonisation so why do the press constantly paint lead singer Johnny Borrell as a twat? Real Groove goes in search of the real Johnny Borrell.

Clubland March

Maybe it's the recession, perhaps it's the planetary alignment or it could even be down to Kanye's fashion mantourage making everyone pick their game up a little but there seems to be a wealth of incredible releases out there at the moment.

Mark Broom has been a constant figure on the techno scene since the mid nineties and unlike some of his peers has seemed to be able to adapt and push his sound with the times. He's pushing a particularly prolific level of output at the moment with no fewer than six releases to his name this year already.