Every so often, a record lands that knocks you sideways and leaves you wondering if anybody took down the registration number of the truck that just hit. The busy London borough of Hackney isn't known as Rock and Roll Central but The Dustaphonics sound like they're doing their level best to change that.

If you can imagine a soulful, bluesy engine room with guitar that has a tone thicker than your great aunt's cankles, you're halfway to getting a grip on the sound John The Conqueror shoots for. Named after a psychotropic herb rather than a dead King of England and with members drawn from the Mississippi Delta, Philadelphia and parts in-between, this power trio hits their intended mark with accuracy, more often than not.

Onetime Australian alt.country poster boy Dan Brodie has taken the low road. One wheel's scraping against the gutter on "My Friend The Murderer" and it makes the ride more interesting.

His nearest and dearest might know him as Peter but you'll most likely recognise him as Blackie from the Hard-Ons. Not that this, his second solo album, bears much relation to that esteemed band's fast and furious output. "No Dangerous Gods…" is off-the-wall, whip-smart and often lush acoustic rock that suggests Syd Barrett more than Sid Vicious.

Here are two messages to all those lazy smartarses that say: 'The '70s are back'. Firstly, they were just the '60s on steroids. PLus a few other things. Secondly, they never went away. Like many bands with smarts, Buffalo Killers reach back 30+ years to source their reference points. The point of difference for them and those other smart acts is how well they nail their flag - freak or otherwise - to the mast.

It's a brave band that bandies around the tag "Detroit Rock" these days - especially when they come from Sydney. Most Michigan music types have not the faintest idea that their state capital's name was commandeered by one of their own expats Downunder in the '70s and has since been applied to any Aussie rock and roll band with the slightest hint of guitar aggression and Motor City attitude. On the other hand, many Sydney music types now treat the whole thing with disdain and say it's all in the past.