Gotham

To be quite honest, though, I don't think Radio 4 would really care what anyone thought of them. Naming yourself after the BBC's most conservative radio service, for example, won't win over 'the kids'. But who cares? For the rest of us, there's a wonderful and frightening world to discover...

I'm truly convinced that, in what has been a pretty lean time for outstanding albums of true originality and trend-defining gusto (or defying, depending on your point of view), "Gotham" is one of the best records you'll hear all year. Trouble is, you may not think that on first listen - it's one of those brilliant records which you'll play for ages trying to understand, until one day something finally clicks in your head - 'hang on, this is pretty awesome stuff'.

The music itself harks of the punk-funk of Entertainment-era Gang Of Four, only with a much more dance edge. The bass is so high up in the mix of "Dance To The Underground", for example, that if you strip the track of the vocal you'd be forgiven for thinking it was some warped late-70s disco track. Add in some almost riot-grrrll antics (closing track "New Disco" sounds like a male Bikini Kill), a bit of sped-up diseased Happy Mondays funk (the mighty "Struggle") and some pretty acerbic lyrics and you've got the album that The Clash would have loved to had made instead of "Combat Rock".

The true genuis of this album, however, does not solely lie in Radio 4's ability to recycle, but in the knack they have to knock out something no-one else dare to. "Speaking In Codes" starts with a slightly nervy Joy Division bassline, and then mutates into something almost resembling industrial indie-pop. You can hear echoes of Suicide in "Start A Fire". And I'm sure the Chilis are kicking themselves for not writing a tune as deciliously depraved and funky as "Eyes Wide Open". Once you're into it, "Gotham" has treats tucked in every corner. Only "Pipe Bombs", which sounds turgid in comparison to its companion tracks, sounds out of place. But with the best production I've heard for a VERY long time (the bass in particular is so well emphasised that you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd purchased a dance record), and all the impact of a Tyson punch, "Gotham" will leave you exhausted - especially if you listen to it through headphones (recommended, by the way).

The encouraging thing here is that New York is currently enjoying its most furtive musical period since the CBGBs punk days of the mid to late 1970s. Along with The Strokes, Radio 4 belong at the very top of the current crop. Yes, there will always be a Northside for every Stone Roses, but once in a while a band will pop up whose cause you can't help but champion.

So, with the disparity of their influences, how can lame old music hacks catagorise "Gotham"? As the latest New York phenomenon? The perfect soundtrack to your indie-rock disco? The album to change people's perceptions of the current wave of alternative Americana sweeping over the Atlantic? The sound of a 'new rock revolution'?

To be frank, who cares? It's great stuff and you'll forever kick yourself for not buying it. Tune in and dance to the sound of the underground.