New releases last eight weeks: Roots/Lovers Rock

Review: ATA regulars Sam Hobbs and Neil Innes stretch back over two decades of joint musical graft, and The Return Of The Flying Hats shows just how tightly wound that shared rhythm has become. Rooted in Innes's club-hardened taste for Afro-American dancefloor sounds and Hobbs's immersion in everything from New Orleans soul to roots reggae and calypso, the record draws in longtime allies Bob Birch and Chris Dawkins, whose Hammond and guitar works ha e graced British reggae and rock for years. There's a swampy Kingston-New Orleans fusion to 'Grafter' and 'Bust Up', with nods to Lynn Taitt, The Meters and Fatman Riddim Section throughout, and a glorious free-for-all on 'Iron Fist', where Birch plays straight from instinct.

Review: Built on two decades of collaboration between drummer Sam Hobbs and bassist Neil Innes - no relation to the Monty Python and Rutles man of the same name - the pair's new ATA project blends rootsy Jamaican groove with the syncopated strut of New Orleans funk. Though technically a new release, it's more a continuation than a debut: the lineup includes jazz organist Bob Birch and session guitarist Chris Dawkins, drawing from deep wells of soul, rocksteady and r&b. Tracks like 'Grafter' and 'Bust Up' land squarely in the crossover zone between Studio One and The Metersiraw but slick, with a tight pocket and loose-limbed flair. 'An Autumn Sun' leans sweet and sentimental, while 'Strong Fish' pays organ-heavy homage to Jackie Mittoo's Hot Milk-era work. Elsewhere, 'Power Cut' and 'Night Bus' arrive with horn motifs that seem tailored to I Roy-style toasting, and 'Tough Swagger' is a heavy-lidded jam that could've wandered in off a Bunny Lee tape. But it's 'Iron Fist' that best captures the group's method: groove-first, melody-second, built on intuition and the friction of mismatched rhythms. Despite the vintage touchstones, it never feels like pasticheithe record balances reverence with invention, keeping one foot in Kingston and the other in Treme. For a group with so much history, it sounds impressively fresh.