BETH ORTON
Comfort of Strangers
(Astralwerks/Toshiba EMI)

Gone are the “folk-tronica” leanings of Beth Orton’s first three albums. For Comfort of Strangers, the English singer worked with noted guitarist/producer Jim O’Rourke (Sonic Youth, Wilco), who set her vocals against a spartan tableau of guitar or piano. The results are enchanting and focus attention on Orton’s haunting yet supple vocals. The simplicity of the old-fashioned folk instrumentals on the opener “Worms” belies the track’s lyrical complexity, something that could be said about all of Orton’s songs, whose lyrics are strong enough to stand alone as poems. The regret-steeped ballad “Absinthe,” made more poignant by the presence of a keening harmonica, is another striking song on an album that places Orton alongside the likes of Aimee Mann and Norah Jones as one of the strongest voices of the moment. DG

CUONG VU
It’s Mostly Residual
(Intoxicate)

Japan got its first look at Vietnamese-American jazz trumpeter Cuong Vu as a sideman on the latest Pat Metheny tour. Now Vu steps out front and center with an album released in Japan on the specialist Intoxicate imprint that shows him to be one of the most authoritative voices of the downtown New York jazz scene. It’s Mostly Residual is a tour de force of four decades of modern and free jazz. From the bright sunshine clarity of the title track to the ambient moodiness of “Blur,” Vu evinces a mastery of the post-bop vocabulary pioneered by Miles Davis. At the same time, he’s a distinctive presence unto his own, with a sound that takes the jazz trumpet even farther beyond its roots in the blues. Verdict: a welcome antidote to the neo-classicism of Wynton Marsalis. DG

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Eastronika
(flower/Universal)

While the kanryu boom has brought Korean idols and heartthrobs into Japan’s record shops and living rooms, little remains known about the country’s club music scene. Japanese dance imprint Flower aims to remedy this situation with Eastronika, a compilation of tracks by some of South Korea’s hippest house music producers. Overseen by DJ Jinu, an influential tastemaker and bassist with popular acid jazz unit Roller Coaster, Eastronika is inevitably derivative of Tokyo, London and New York house. The quality is high, however: DJ Jinu’s own “Sunny Days” is reminiscent of the bubbly bossa stylings of vintage ’90s Shibuya kei, while New York-schooled DJ Decode’s “Jam Da House” is a classic NYC garage house workout. Another indication of the rapid diffusion of dance music culture across Asia. DG

EL PRES!DENTE
El Pres!dente
(SonyBMG)

Just when you thought every concoction of musical styles had already been tried, out comes a(nother) band from Glasgow looking like Colombian drug dealers, revamping the catchy glam-rock of T-Rex with the funk of early Prince and Parliament while basing their cross-culturalism firmly in 2006. After only eight gigs, this band of five, including Singaporean keyboardist Dawn Zhu and Irish bassist Johnny McGlynn, got themselves on the bill at Glastonbury and were soon asked to support Kasabian, Oasis and Duran Duran. A Scottish Scissor Sisters with a lot more edge to their sound and far less camp, El Pres!dente have produced an impressively fun debut that clearly bucks the trend of shoe-gazing Brit acts. The latest single, “Turn This Thing Around,” is the best of a very good bunch. Robert Poole

Would you like to comment on this article? Send a letter to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp .