The Lipster

Madonna - Hard Candy (album)

A restlessly innovative Madge-goes-hip hop mash-up, or a Justin and Pharrell record with their Auntie singing rude things on top? The critics are as split as bananas. We don't love it as much as the glorious neon disco of Confessions On A Dancefloor, but it's still a big, dirty pop record, of which we heartily approve. (But it just us breaking into Snow's ragga-tastic Informer when Justin goes "Ma-DON-nah!" on Four Minutes? Hmm - just us, then.)

Portishead - Third (album)

Three albums in 14 years isn't exactly a punishing work-rate, but Portishead are as far as you can get from a crank-it-out kind of band. Third plays like a phenomenal soundtrack to the End, with the sounds of metal on glass, 1960s electronics, urgent Krautrock, a forlorn ukulele on Deep Water and Beth Gibbons' electroshock voice sending chills up the spine more than ever.

Sam Sparro – Sam Sparro (album)

Universal Records' bright new hope has the whiff of disco novelty about him (that being the smell of spilt Martini Rosso and Embassy fags), but Black And Gold (below) is still a great pop song, and the rest of Mr Sparro's debut album shimmers like a brightly-lit summer's night doing shots down the Ritzy.

The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent (album)

It's a myth that women don't like The Fall: this one bloody loves them. On their 457th album, Salford's James Joyce-channelling booze goblin Mark E. Smith sings – OK, sort of sings – about strange towns, Alton Towers and how he's a 50-Year-Old Man and he likes it. Lovely.

Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw (album)

Every sensible woman's favourite filthy romantics are back, this time as a trio, with more booze-stained, bruised songs about love, loss and regret. Here's a lovely video introducing you to the album, filmed in Stuart Staples' very own kitchen.