A BITESIZE catch-up on the recent great and not so...

VETIVER 'THING OF THE PAST' (FatCat): Often referred to as Devendra Banhart's band even though he doesn't appear to have a great deal to do with them these days, Vetiver resurface after the majestic 'To Find Me Gone' (in my top 20 for 2006, no less) with a set of relatively obscure covers.

I say relatively because I haven't heard of most of the artists never mind the songs, but that doesn't mean you won't have:

Hawkwind and Loudon Wainwright III are a given, but Ian Matthews, Michael ('Silk' - just kidding) Hurley, Townes Van Zandt...maybe I'm just showing my ignorance.

Regardless, it pains me to tell you that it's just, well, a bit flat, a touch pedestrian, and certainly a disappointment after the real Vetiver albums. It's not even like they've stamped their sound on it; it's listenable enough, but it washed over me and three plays later I accepted that it wasn't going to grab me like I wanted it to.

SPECK MOUNTAIN 'SUMMER ABOVE' (Peacefrog): A full UK release - on a label that's undergone a serious transformation from electronic trailblazers to introspective folk purveyors, most notably via the phenomenal success of Jose Gonzalez - for an album that caused a major splash on import last year.

Comparisons to Mazzy Star will always get me interested, although in reality that's probably more a band they want to be named alongside rather than an accurate parallel.

Velvet Underground also get mentioned, and the two combined should tell you exactly what we have here; dreamy, wistful, melancholic, woozy widescreen indie-folk, with fragile female vocals.

It's nowt new by any means, but it's well-executed and really rather lovely.

V/A 'FUSE PRESENTS ADAM BEYER' (Music Man): Onto a different beast entirely, with a relentless mix of electro/techno from Sweden, via belgium's legendary Fuse club.

Beyer's been around for years, and techno is very much the exception in dance circles - a genre that is a constant, rather than the fly-by-night speed garage/drum & bass/dubsteps (mark my words) of this world.

It's a genre that's constantly evolved, thus securing its longevity, and Beyer (and Fuse) have employed the same approach with success.

This 22-track mix is one of the best within the genre in a while, and doesn't suffer from the peaks and troughs some DJs go for - nor does it fall victim to monotony.

Bereft of household names perhaps, but that's techno for you. A seamless, flawless selection that's as home or car-friendly as it is a party or club soundtrack.

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS 'REAL EMOTIONAL TRASH' (Domino): When you leave a seminal band and go solo it's an unavoidable albatross, and you get the feeling that however good Malkmus' efforts are they'll always be overshadowed (he was the frontman in Pavement - shame on you...).

It does however mean that people like me will still buy them, and there are probably enough of me, rather disturbingly, to justify the effort.

This is Steve's fourth solo offering, and it's everything you'd expect it to be - angular (a word that'll be on his tombstone/plaque), wilfully uncommercial and unmistakably him.

It rocks a little more than he has at times, and it's still worth investigating whenever he delivers new material, but it all kinda merges into one when you've ploughed the same furrow for so long.

MARK MORRISS 'MEMORY MUSCLE' (Fruitcake): Another front fellow from a band with a vast history - probably more so than you realise (they're still going, and going strong) but this time it's a solo debut.

Morriss is the charismatic and rather dashing singer from The Bluetones, which most of you will know (I don't mean to be patronising).

Rather than the affable, lovable jaunty indie pop of the parent band, MM has stripped it down and dropped a delightful collection of acoustic songsmithery - all of which showcases his terrific voice (which is one of the best in the world of indie, don't you know) perfectly.

He supplements his own compositions with covers of Lee Hazelwood and the crown kings of lovely indie pop Teenage Fanclub; his reinterpretation of 'Alcoholiday' doing exactly what a cover should do by making it his own, and turning out one of many album highlights in the process.

SPARKS 'EXOTIC CREATURES OF THE DEEP' (Lil' Beethoven): Ah, you gotta love the brothers Mael. Camp pop music is always welcome when it's executed as well as this, and they're almost in a class of their own.

You may be aware that they're playing 21 nights in London, performing their entire back catalogue, one album each night. Suitably extravagant behaviour for one of the most entertaining live bands I've ever seen, and one of the few acts who could carry it off with such panache.

'Exotic Creatures...' is album 21, and it's Sparks being Sparks; ludicrous pop-opera with witty, sharp lyrics and crucially some of the finest out and out pop music you'll hear all year.

Highlights would be the genius/madness of '(She Got Me) Pregnant', the tongue-in-cheek 'Lighten Up, Morrissey' and lead single 'Good Morning', but to pick out tracks is doing a disservice to what is simply an exhilirating listen from beginning to end.