Just Jack: All Night Cinema

Jack Allsopp's 2007 rap album Overtones suffered from comparisons with the Streets. This time he's combining the suspiciously well-spoken street talk with singing, although the most charitable thing you could say about Allsopp's nasal vocal is that it resembles Ian Brown's. In fact, laden with strings and "phat" beats, All Night Cinema often sounds like a Brown album. It's a curious shift that hasn't hampered his way with a genial tune, whether the Cure-ish 253 or rockier Doctor Doctor. His lyrics veer from endearingly cumbersome (rhyming "Alka Seltzer" with "could have helped her") to slightly clumsy (Blood's unconvincing lament of a street stabbing). However, it's hard not to snigger along with the electro whirl of Goth in the Disco, a brilliantly observed tale of a wannabe edgy trendy marooned in suburban dancefloor hell.