Chic

Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn ham it up energetically in this surprisingly perceptive, punchy comedy about where groupies go when younger rock chicks muscle them out. Hawn wants to keep headbanging in leather, Sarandon's primly settled in beige, Geoffrey Rush is a celibate writer caught in Goldie's slipstream. No more syrupy than Almost Famous.

Last hurrah from cancer-stricken Uncut hero. Released in the US on August 26

Bizarre female electropop debut with several Kid 606 productions

Clever but irritating one-man band from Chicago

The poet laureate of hooliganism returns

Chicago-via-Kentucky multi-instrumentalist gets jiggy with the post-rock crowd

Performance-driven crime drama hits the mark

Pioneers of rootsy Southern fried rock and funk school

Crotchety improv from Chicago's avant-roots collective

This album from Detroit electro-garage band, Electric Six, invites the listener to consider two obvious reference points. One being Dynasty, the abysmal 1979 disco album by stadium rock clowns Kiss, the other being the inside cover of Daft Punk's 1997 debut Homework (a collage of grubby teen paraphernalia—comics, rock stickers, Chic seven inches). Electric Six nail a kitschy hybrid of '70s rock and disco—AC/DC & The Sunshine Band, if you will—but repeated plays reveal little charm and less real humour.