Mud Pie Sun - Wooden Circle

This is back-porch psychedelia like the last two Woods albums. It's strung-out folk. It's spare and sometimes despairing like Big Star's Sister Lovers. They say they were inspired by the noises being made on Flying Nun way back when and since they mention it, yes, there's a bit of David Kilgour's Here Come The Cars and there's definitely some of The Bilders' skewed pop. I bet over the years Mud Pie Sun have worn out their copies of Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Wooden Circle was recorded between 2004 and 2011. When they were younger they released three tapes in the early 90s as Mud Pie. You can hear on new track Church Of Bitter Souls a kinship with the old K stuff, particularly Beat Happening.

Maybe if this had been released on a private pressing in 1974 Light In The Attic would have picked it up. As it is, it's released on a private pressing in 2012 by the two guys from Philadelphia who are Mud Pie Sun. It's a pretty special artefact.

Fear Of Men - Mosaic

Fear Of Men are compellingly dramatic like The Sugarcubes, they write songs that are are mysterious, grandiose statements like The Sundays' Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and mine a rich seam of strange wonder in their pop that recalls Mute by The Catchers.

They cover The Chills' Pink Frost and have even got a song called Doldrums, so you know in part where their beguiling melancholy comes from. Mosaic is the third single by Fear Of Men, which makes it a double hat-trick (all their b-sides are amazing, too) of stylish, swaggering gems.

Mosaic by FEAR OF MEN

Baffin Island

Baffin Island - the musical and geographical meeting place of Idaho's The Very Most and Glasgow's The Hermit Crabs - sound like they share a love of Jonathan Richman, The Lucksmiths and Camera Obscura. This is a very good thing, obviously.

The warm melodic swirl, gently tugging tune and acute regret of ep opener suggests that Surrender To Jonathan - one of JoJo's key albums, but a little overlooked, I've always felt - is Baffin Island's starting point. No great surprise, as The Very Most have a wonderful song called Jonathan Richman, but this ep is no mere pastiche and stands up very well on its own.

We Were Meant To Meet

Big Wave - Only You

Big Wave's Only You zips along punkily like Kenickie and deliriously manic like The Flaming Lips when they go pop, which means it's closer to Leavers Party and Another Year Or Two from their The Roots Of Love tape. It makes me think of Help Stamp Out Loneliness (only without so much of a stomping soul influence) and I'm not at all surprised they've got a gig coming up with The Tuts. It's out on 7", November 5. What else do you need to know? OK, it's on "beer" coloured vinyl and you can order it now.

Ralph 'Soul' Jackson: The Alabama Love Man

Some things you should know about Ralph Jackson:

1. He got his soul sobriquet from the legendary Rick Hall of the equally legendary FAME studios.

2. He gave himself 'the Alabama love man' name for good reason: "I may sing my songs from the gut but they come from my heart. I learned very early that women appreciate attention, I’m not singing for women, I sing to them."

3. He was inspired to write music after hearing Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. It shows.

4. He's been making music for 50 years.

5. The Alabama Love Man is his first album. It's a masterclass in southern soul.

Freqnik & WDRE: Favela B-boy Funk

Favela B-Boy Funk is killer Latin funk, huge drums and sensual horns, caught somewhere between 70s original jams and 80s hip hop beats. Did someone say Joe Bataan?

There's not a lot of difference between the soul revival songs and the old school hip hop tunes coming out these past few years. They're all coming out on 7", too, maybe so they can be held up to the classics they're emulating or sampling. And there's no better jam right now than this debut 7" from New York producers Freqnik & WDRE.

The folkin' brilliance of Charles Latham

Don't think you know Charles Latham? Bet you know Hard On, which Withered Hand covered. And if you know the world weariness of Phil Ochs, the sweet melodic intuition of Paul Simon and Michael Nesmith's downhome country, then you know Charles Latham.

Latham's songs are equal parts funny, wry and desolate. His observational thumbnail sketches will slay you. How about the opening lines to the ironically solipsistic My Perfect Church, "I pray from my toilet seat, make my holy life complete/My god hears me when I speak, can yours say the same"?

Or the pathos of Applications For Employment, "Interview after interview, beg for jobs I don't wanna do"? These songs and more, all bittersweet beauts, are on Legend: The Best Of Charles Latham. The whiskey-soaked misery keeps on coming on new album Fast Loans, a collection centring on financial woes:

Inevitably, Latham is cash poor. There's a UK tour in November and a kickstarter, which you can use to buy Fast Loans. Oh, and UK gig promoters, he's got some dates in his diary to fill.