The Dead Weather - Horehound

You know, last week we distinctly recall waking up one morning, thinking 'hmmm, wouldn't it be amazing to hear Jack White crashing the crap out of a hi-hat', then lo and behold, the in-hiatus White Stripes front-bod goes and forms another 'supergroup', this time plopping himself on the drum stool. Who'd have thought it? Jack White - the lauded guitarist, crack-voiced virtuoso - perched at the back of his new bluesbreakers and making rhythmic banging noises, while adopted singer Alison Mosshart (she of electro-blues two-piece The Kills) makes PJ Harvey-style yelps and cries over the top and some bloke called Dean from Queens Of The Stone Age thinks he's Clapton.

Predictably, 'Horehound' deals in grubby blues with some vintage slabs of thick bass riffery and psychedelic synth, and is - for a large part - dirrrtier than rolling around in a mud-pit of discarded fag ends. It's still not as memorable as the White Stripes at the top of their game, but then again, it is what it is: a bunch of muso-mates having a load of noisy fun and pretending to be the new Cream. Worth a listen.

(Oh, and Jack: How do you stop a drummer from dribbling out of one side of his mouth? A: Make sure his drum stool is level).

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