The High Llamas: Hawaii; Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup

UPON OBSERVING A SMALL dog walking on its hind legs, Doctor Johnson famously noted that it was less remarkable how well the cur in question performed this trick than that he performed it at all. One is tempted to say the same thing of two musical ensembles who dwell in the New Cross netherlands of south-east London, whose metier happens to be an uncanny kind of mimicry or pastiche. They do it brilliantly, but is it worth doing? Both these albums argue strongly that it is.