i Quit

Lambchop hails from Nashville and claims to play a "refined, and redefined" style of country music, but the songs the band creates on its second album, How I Quit Smoking, have more in common with Brit crooners the Tindersticks than Chet Atkins and Billy Sherrill (whom the Lambchop members claim as heroes). Boasting 13 players on this album, Lambchop feels more like an art collective on a mission of enlightenment than a country band bent on AM airplay. Still, with subtlely threads of clarinet, sax, organ, and even a full string section integrated into the mix alongside a double-necked lap steel and an impressive lineup of vintage guitars, the music is so lush, lovely, and thoroughly hypnotic you can see their point. The country element lies buried in the subtle rhythms and melodies, surfacing in the quiet moan of the lap steel or the melancholic flutter of the strings. Spooky as often as it is soothing, Lambchop's music may not be the fireside countrypolitan of Atkins or Sherrill – I don't think either would put up with the babbling rhymes of "Smuckers," the sinister guitars that mark "The Militant," or the existential undercurrents of "The Scary Caroler".

Two decades before X-Factor rejects Jedward gave British pop twins a bad name, Luke and Matt Goss, aka Bros, were conquering the charts with their heart-throb good looks and highly polished teen-friendly pop-funk sound. Celebrating the short-lived shelf life of the duo, this 2011 Camden compilation indicates how the bleached blond brothers went from hysteria-inducing teen idol millionaires to near-bankrupt flops in the space of just three years.

Fans of George Thorogood & the Destroyers would probably stage a minor rebellion if their man strayed from his well-worn path of bloozy boogie. Luckily, there is no need to take up arms anytime soon, as Thorogood's sound remains unchanged on Ride 'Til I Die. Good-natured, guy-at-the-end-of-the-bar vocals, buzzing slide guitar, and solid American blues-rock are still the order of the day. The album is the usual mix of covers (Thorogood adds only one original, the forgettable "Sweet Little Lady") played with a barroom-friendly wink and smile. Songs like Eddie Shaw's "Greedy Man," J.J. Cale's "Devil in Disguise, " Nick Lowe's "That's It, I Quit," and Chuck Berry's "Move It" are perfect for Thorogood's good-time persona, and he plays them with energy that has been lacking on the last few records.

Although ‘Quit the Curse’ is Anna Burch’s debut album, the Detroit-based singer/songwriter has already established her talent by cutting her teeth playing with Frontier Ruckus and Failed Flowers. Now signed to Polyvinyl in the States and Heavenly in the UK, many more people are going to be left spellbound by the combination of angst-ridden confessions, slyly dark humour and gorgeous pop hooks on these nine songs.