Creating a snappy club hit requires definite prowess, as hip-hop MC (and recent DMC Championships host) Inja proved with the storming track Hat Low. Inja rises to a more full-on challenge on this album with Skuff, his fellow player in Cambridge rap crew Delegates Of Culture. The Skuff & Inja Shows best feature is its dynamic flow through varied genres; the leap to dupstep might not seem especially intrepid (although this does conclude brilliantly with the BioViolence remix of Hat Low), but there are forays into dancehall, electronica, vintage funk and folk Sunnicide samples Emiliana Torrini to harmonious effect. The blend of party bangers and quickfire social commentary presents Skuff & Inja as local heroes with show-stopping powers. AH Theres something so precisely designed about Swedish- American electro-pop trio Miike Snow that you suspect they came up with the embossed logo (a horned bunny silhouette stamped Devendra Banharts sixth album is his major-label debut but rather than mark the point at which this fringe-folk Pied Piper sells out, it seems to signify the moment at which he wises up. Producer Paul Butler marshals Banhart (pictured below) into a radio- friendly body of melancholic pop, ditching his lo-fi mysticism while allowing his musical curiosity free rein. What Will We Be roves between sweet ditties (Angelika), psyche folk (Maria Leonza), glam rock and strung-out blues (16th And Valencia; Rats). As this 14-track album nears its end, theres a sense of diminishing returns (reggae closer Foolin was a mistake) while the glossier moments point up the absence of Banharts anarchic spirit. No matter: its a fine album and he sounds more coherent than he has for years. Claire Allfree Instant Win Digital Lottery Game from Rehab Lotteries GIG Tinchy Stryder NET RESULT What we found online www.gamepressure.com Computer games fans are kept up to date with the latest releases on this site but they may also find it valuable for their gaming knowledge. Its a source for games information with various categories providing guides for titles such as Fallout 3, Prototype, The Sims 3 and many more. There is also an encyclopaedia covering new games from all the popular formats plus plenty of TV game commercials and online games. www.infloox.com Anyone who may have wondered what books influenced famous people or what they may have read will be interested in this site. Infloox also looks at the interesting links you can get from the books. The site is still being expanded but users can search for a mixture of famous people such as The Beatles, Einstein or Barack Obama (pictured), or suggest who they would like to add to the site. Users can add to the information online and start a new topic. www.iminthat.com This site was created to make it easy for people to catalogue their entries on YouTube. If your video is on YouTube then join this site and get everyone who was involved in your project to join and write what their involvement was. The aim is to give users a chance to add and share details about their YouTube contributions, such as the date their films were created and uploaded. Anthony Gibson Once criticised by politicians and sections of the media for promoting violence, grime has since made slow but steady progress in the pop world. Tinchy Stryder, born Kwasi Danquah of Ghanian parents, certainly has authentic grime credentials, having grown up in inner-city London. He got involved with pirate radio at the age of 13, which led to him hooking up with other well-known grime MCs such as Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Roll Deep. However, the 22-year-olds career has already taken a few surprising turns, most notably the support hes had in the UK from Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb, who remortgaged his house to raise funds to support Stryders early musical career. Lambs son, Archie, continues to manage Stryder to this day. Following the release of his mixtapes, Im Back U Know and Lost And Found in 2006, when he was still a teenager, Stryders debut album, Star In The Hood, emerged the following year to earn encouraging reviews. Despite recently completing his studies for a degree in moving image and animation at the University Of East London, Stryder has still found time to record a second album, Catch 22. Following his successful collaboration with N-Dubz, it continued in a pop-orientated direction, utilising a smooth R&B vocal style, as highlighted on his solo single, Never Leave You, which features vocals from Sugababes Amelle Berrabah. Phil Howarth Tonight, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey Street D1, 7.30pm, 14.50. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.myspace.com/tinchystryder poet Stories of the street: Sean Millar is inspired by the ordinary Dubliners who dont come from a literary or intellectual culture Theatre Festival. That show is now set for a New York run, but Millar has other projects to occupy himself with in the meantime. A group called Readers Wives are planning a concert devoted to his songs and a short documentary about his life, the brainchild of two die- hard fans, is currently in production. Given that those living on the margins have long been Millars inspiration, does he feel more invigorated during the economic downturn? Its funny, he says. Recession isnt really a factor for people whove been finding it hard to make ends meet through good times and bad. My financial situation, for instance, has been dramatically insecure for most of my life. Indeed this is one of the reasons he gigs so infrequently. The costs of putting on a show are so high that to do so regularly would bankrupt me. So when I do get the chance to play, he adds I try to give it my all. Tomorrow, Project Arts Centre, 39 East Essex Street D2, 12 to 15. Tel: (01) 881 9613/4. www.doctormillar.com. Of The People Part One is out now Thursday, October 29, 2009 metrolife 13 Staying In Music Reviews Album Of The Week Julian Casablancas: Phrazes For The Young Rough Trade/Cult Records Devendra Banhart: What Will We Be Warners Miike Snow: Miike Snow Sony Skuff & Inja: The Skuff & Inja Show IN Records With their skinny jeans, skinny ties and shaggy hair, The Strokes always affected the dissolute, chain-smoking swagger of a New York punk band, as if they were taking their place alongside Blondie and The Ramones on the stage of CBGBs circa 1978. However, their finest singles Last Nite, 12:51, Hard To Explain, You Only Live Once always had a precise, metrical quality, as if they were plotted on graph paper, a quality that had more in common with English synth pop of the early 1980s. Julian Casablancas might be the last member of The Strokes to embark upon a solo project (odd, considering that hes the lead singer) but he appears to be the first to fully embrace their musics slightly plasticised appeal. The compelling opening track of his solo album sounds like a Strokes song thats been deliciously processed on a primitive music software programme. Other tracks are more obvious in their 1980s sources. Left And Right In The Dark sounds like Ultravox, with Midge Ures irritating moan replaced by Casablancass wonderfully bored-sounding tenor. 11th Dimension is a ringer for New Order and River Of Brakelights recalls Suicide. Sometimes the plundering is rather more complicated: 4 Chords Of The Apocalypse suggests Brian May guesting with Soft Cell, while Ludlow Street is a demented country waltz that resembles The Pogues being played on a Casio home organ. Its all slightly disorientating but very good. John Lewis across all their publicity) before writing any tunes. But it would be unfair to dismiss their debut album as style over substance; Miike Snows collective flair extends to slickly immediate melodies (writer/producers Christian Carlsson and Pontus Winnberg previously worked with the likes of Britney Spears), pepped up by surreal touches on numbers including opener Animal and A Horse Is Not A Home, and the soulful vocals of Andrew Wyatt. It doesnt always spark thrills as a collection at points, the synth tone seems samey but emotive stormers such as Black & Blue ensure Miike Snow never surrender the human touch. 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