Album: The Kills - God Games

The pair retrace their steps back to a signature strain of rollicking rock

With a name like The Kills, it’s not surprising to hear that the band’s long-awaited sixth album, God Games, is suitably tuned for spooky season.

Album: Duran Duran - Danse Macabre

★★ DURAN DURAN - DANSE MACABRE Halloween album is a throwaway oddity

New Romantic veterans’ Halloween album is a throwaway oddity

Simon Le Bon has described Duran Duran’s new album as being “about a crazy Halloween party” that is “supposed to be fun”. In fact, it’s a fair bit thinner than even that might suggest.

Album: OMD - Bauhaus Staircase

★★★ OMD - BAUHAUS STAIRCASE 80s electro-pop duo sound like they're enjoying themselves

Eighties electro-pop duo sound like they're enjoying themselves

The three previous albums that Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark have released since reforming in 2010 have all, to varying degrees, adhered to their early sound. The band were part of the post-punk, post-Kraftwerk, 1979-82 synth-pop boom, alongside the likes of The Human League, Depeche Mode and Gary Numan.

Album: Sampha - Lahai

★★★★★ SAMPHA - LAHAI After his Mercury Prize winning debut, an ambitious, remarkable album

Sampha follows up his Mercury Prize winning debut with an ambitious, remarkable album

In 2011 the BBC aired Wonders of the Universe, a documentary presented by physicist Brian Cox about the origins of the universe divided into four parts: “Destiny”, “Stardust”, “Falling” and “Messengers”. These episodes could easily have been titles of songs on Sampha’s remarkable new album, Lahai, which is similarly concerned with the cosmos – but in a deeply personal way.

Album: Emma Anderson - Pearlies

The solo debut of the co-founder of Lush is a delight

Well, this is lovely. Pearlies opens with “I Was Miles Away”, a puffball of a sonic cloud which marries twinkling electronica with guitar-led shoegazing. It has a familial resemblance with the sort of thing perfected by Sweden’s I Break Horses, but lacks the frostiness. Here, there is a glow akin to that of a fire’s embers. Next, the vaguely bossa nova-ish and similarly exquisite “Bend the Round”.

Blu-ray: Brannigan

Ludicrous but likeable crime thriller, strikingly played by John Wayne and Richard Attenborough

Brannigan begins in arresting fashion, Dominic Frontiere’s funky theme playing over leery close ups of the titular hero’s Colt revolver. Directed by Douglas Hickox and released in 1973, this was the only film starring John Wayne which wasn’t shot in the US.

Album: The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

★★★★★ THE ROLLING STONES - HACKNEY DIAMONDS A new seam of rolled gold

Sixty years on, the Stones strike a new seam of rolled gold

It’s been a while since Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood sat down together at the Hackney Empire to introduce their first album of new songs in 18 years, and their single, “Angry”, is now approaching 20 million views on YouTube.

Album: Agnetha Fältskog - A+

★★ AGNETHA FALTSKOG - A+ ABBA star's decade-old album reimagined to little useful effect

ABBA star's decade-old album reimagined to little useful effect

When ABBA split in 1982, Agnetha Fältskog went on to a solo career that was mostly overshadowed by the titanic popularity of her former band. By the 21st century ABBA’s status in pop, especially with the Mamma Mia phenomenon, had become iconic.

Album: Nitin Sawhney - Identity

Voices of diversity - another dazzling celebration

Nitin Sawhney never fails to produce albums that draw on the talent of his brilliant friends, touch on issues of current urgency, and bridge musical styles with great deftness and in a way that avoids the frequent artifice of fusion.

Album: The Streets - The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light

You're never to old to hit the clubs it would seem

You may have heard that Mike Skinner’s made a film. He’s certainly done the rounds, press-wise, so you’d be hard pushed to have missed it. You have to admire the man’s tenacity. When the money to make a feature film didn’t surface, he decided to fund it himself. And direct, produce, write, edit, score and star in it, too.