Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a rock single in possession of a lo-fi aesthetic, must be in want of a stereo. Or headphones. Either. But basically, this sounds like drek unless the sound quality's smoking hot. You lose all the texture in those fuzzy chords. It's my blog bitch, I can be as pretentious and demanding as I like.

Edward Sharpe & The Magic Zeros - Home

Nice bit of whistling, steel-stringed guitar, and a chorus that occasionally sounds a bit like your gran swearing. Topped off with a super-saturated old-school Technicolor video.

That is what I've been playing on repeat this evening, and it's making a smile spread all over my face. Even though the video is definitely properly weird. It's pretty colours though, and nicely shot, so I'll forgive it being disturbing.

Big Boi ft Janelle Monae - Be Still

Here's some controversy to spice up Monday morning: rap interludes might not be that bad after all. I have been staunchly opposed to them. And in the interests of preserving what little integrity I have left, I would argue that this is about 30% soul, 20% Motown swing and 50% hip-hop.

So it's a fair mix, rather than just an embarrassing cameo by some rapper who should know better. Also, it's got Janelle Monae on the intro, and her voice melts my little hard heart, so by the time Big Boi starts trying to rhyme "orange" with, um, "urr-ange", I'm already in a little ecstasy of aural bliss.

Pubs P - No Idea

I am seriously considering designating my Sundays as Skweee Sundays. I could just play Skweee all day, and eat herring on rye bread (that being about as Nordic as I can get).

I think the fact that I would consider this an improvement in my life shows how much I like this, and how little I usually do on Sundays. Anything that's improved by herring was obviously not great to start with.

Anyway, enough herring. This has a lovely bassline that can only really be described as a funky groove (although that makes me sound like a 40-year-old man dancing in a pub). I defy you not to break out a little head-nodding in the chorus. And the lyrics are the best tounge-in-cheek fun since your last snog.

Pubs p - Panskweeeno Mixtape (Mixed By Kid Logic) - 10 10- No Idea (w-Miramichi) by mantequilla

Jean Grae - Love Song

And here's something a little more traditional, from the Slick Rick sample at the beginning, to the soul-sample violins and wronged-woman lyrics, it's got all the standard ingredients.

At first listen it doesn't stand out as anything more than a confessional, but it's darker and tighter than most cookie-cutter classics: she rhymes "pussy" with "fishy". And that line - "so tight it's like he moves when she stretches" - is straight out of Pablo Neruda (Sonnet XVII for the geeks: "so close that your hand on my chest is my hand//so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep").

Tabi Bonney - The Come Up

This is pretty minimalist, and if you don't like chant-rapping, you're not going to like it. But I love the spoken-word arpeggios in the chorus, and those clicky-ticky drums.

Also, the video is well fit: silhouettes are one of my favourite-things-that-I-can't-spell.

Big Nuz - Uyoysholo Wena (Moroka Remix)

This is lush party music: danceable, up-beat, fast and funky. The original is a kwaito classic, but the remix is less pounding four-to-the-floor, and just has a lighter touch. Even though it has whistles. And bells.

If you want to see the genius behind the remix, he's playing in London a week tomorrow... looks like fun.

Uyoysholo Wena (Moroka's version) - Big Nuz by Moroka

And Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter A, the number 5 and the illustrious ghettobassquake.com. (So thank you to them for the hookup on the track. I'm sure Elmo likes this very much.)

Mark Ronson/The Smiths - Stop Me

Sequels are sometimes better than originals (e.g. Batman Forever and The Dark Knight, me and my little brother). Remakes are rarely an improvement, but this one is a stonker.

Super-producer Mark Ronson, whose career has been based on recreating the 60's for the post-baby-boomer generation, has drenched this Smiths classic in tambourines and trumpets, and then stuck a massive Supremes sample in the middle, just in case we'd missed his oh-so-unsubtle references to everyone's favourite decade.

That said, it's an ace song (as is that Supremes track). This video is a remake of the original Ronson video - Oh the post-modern lolz!

Kid Cudi - Know Why

Hot damn this is good! I've always wanted to say that, but since I don't go to many (any) Southern hog roasts, I've never had the chance. Well, wish fulfilled I guess.

I think Dot Da Genius is my latest favouritest producer - this is like ambient soul. Have you ever heard someone doing a peak flow reading being used as a syncopated beat? No? Now you have. And it's catchy too. This kid is seriously good.

The vocal by Kid Cudi's pretty hot too - better than your usual swagger-rap (Kanye should be quaking in his boots).

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Night

I know this is old and fairly ubiquitous, but I like it. That bleepy bassline and the tetchy snare are gorgeous, I like that techno-hop sound. The instrumental was produced by Dot Da Genius, a relative unknown - probably one to watch.

Kid Cudi isn't the world's most exciting rapper (not much flow or technical sparkle), but he's a pretty stand-out songwriter: this track is so atmospheric. The Crookers remix that made it big has none of that. Their loss.

Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do

Oh yes, Bat For Lashes have combined melodrama and tambourines.

It shouldn't work, but it really does: it sounds like a Sudanese desert lament played by a 80's pub band from Kent. Sort of.

This video is also stunning: at heart I'm still young enough to be impressed by wheelies and bunny hops, and slightly scared of full-face masks.

Talib Kweli - Never Been In Love Before

So when Talib was signed to a major label (Universal c/o Geffen), he made a straight-forward soul-based ode to love, and fidelity. This is a little cheesy for him, but I'm sure the label lapped it up.

And then he made a nice snarky video about censorship. Which is like telling the label that they've been lapping up laxatives. And then watching them go poo themselves. Truly brilliant. With Talib it's basically non-stop-lol in the world of hip-hop.

Long story short, he got dropped from the label, and goes from strength to strength. And the music industry as we know it is collapsing. And Talib's giving away a free mixtape. Life is good.

Lady May - Kuminina

My two favourite things about this video are the colour scheme and the way she makes her voice squeak on the end of the lines so she sounds overexcited. It's got a buzz.

Also featuring some wildlife cameos (check the cows and the cheetah), and some nice writhing. The video-writhe is hard to pull off without looking like you belong on Channel 5 at 3am, so props.

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop

This was the first piece of poetry I ever learnt to recite, aged 11, sitting beside the stereo on Saturday mornings, rewinding the tape over and over again to play through this song and mouth the words.

I never quite managed to twist my tongue around those Brooklyn vowels, and I'm sure I didn't know what "rims and Timbs" were, but to me the foreign words glowed exotic.

Reciting the lyrics felt like a magical incantation that could transport me away from my drab town to a brightly lit place where someone was bashing a piano, people were dancing and Lauryn was rapping. All I had to do was shut my eyes and lie on the carpet, and sing along and teleport.

James Blake - Limit To Your Love

Hangover music is difficult. I need something that to impel me out of bed and into the shower, but too much bass just makes my head throb. And anything too downbeat exacerbates the gloom and guilt, but cheery things make me vom in my mouth a little bit.

Never fear, James Blake is here. (And he should definitely consider adopting that as a tag-line). This is the most perfectly put-together down-tempo song, and he is really easy on the eye.

Also, the video's not too brightly-coloured, so it doesn't make your eyes hurt.

The original is more romantic and swelling. I prefer James Blake.

Shaggy vs The Beatles - Let It Be It Wasn't Me (Paul Simcoe Remix)

Do you remember the last summer that you were a kid, on the cusp of being a teenager? It was probably the first summer I was allowed to stay out after dark, and my friends and I would go sit in the park and share one measly soggy roll-up between eight of us, giggling and trying not to cough.

And the song playing all that summer was Shaggy's watertight defense track: It Wasn't Me.

I guess the only way you can garnish a classic is to mix it with another one: in this case, the Beatles "Let It Be", an anthem to sincerity, fidelity, and hope.

Oh the sweet sweet irony. Doesn't sound bad either. And it's another free download: hip-hip-hooray! (You would think hipsters would have adopted that as a catchphrase)

Let it be Me (Shaggy vs. The Beatles) by psimcoe3

Check out Mr Simcoe's soundcloud for more goodness.

Pubs P - Breadwinner

I know I just hyped Pubs P, but this skweee shnitzel is probably the future of hip-hop. Get excited.

The lyrics are ridiculous (in a good way), and that funny heavy beeping funk is going to grow on you, I promise.

I have listened to this at least 5 times in the last 24 hours. Either I'm a bit autistic, or this is a amazing. Probably a bit of both. Enjoy!

Yasmin Levy - La Alegria

And now for something completely different. I don't really go in for ballads, but this has awesome clapping in it, which makes a world of difference. I also quite like the wailing - I mean, if you're going to sing a melodramatic song, you might as well do it properly.

The lyrics are brilliantly dark, the opening lines are "I drink and drink and drink to forget you and I sleep and sleep and sleep to not think". Someone should set her up with Tom Waits or something.

Yasmin levy - La Alegria by Congoragazzo

Pubs P ft. Mesak - No To Drugs

This needs headphones and a couple of listens: it sounds horrible coming out of a laptop but I had it plugged into my ears coming home tonight, and it made me smile so much that random people started smiling back at me. Now, how can that be a bad thing? Give it a chance to grow on you, and I promise all that electric vibrato starts to sound really good after a while.

Also, that syncopated new-millennium funk is officially called Skweee, which is the best name for a genre EVER (apart from lol-step. Which I may have invented myself.)

If you find you like the Skweee, check out this luscious blog called Skweeelicious... lots and lots of free musics. You can download the rest of Pubs P's album from here, for free. Now don't say I never showed you no love.

Mexicans with Guns - Dame Lo

This is absolutely and utterly the music video of the week. Although it features more firepower than I've ever seen in a music video, it's not your usual gun-toting idiocy. It's artistic, innit.

I love the Mexican Day of the Dead facepaints, and the superhero cholas. All that day-glo Catholicism looks gorgeous too. I want a holiday. But in the meantime their website will suffice - there's lots of free downloads.

Sir Mix-a-lot - Baby Got Back (Wick-it Remix)

I think if I could make this a genre, I would call it lol-step. Take a classic of lighthearted hip-hop, like Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back (an ode to the well-rounded derriere). Put on a big juicy bassline and some languid drums that build to a big skittering climax, a la dubstep. Et voila - lol-step!

This is a good antidote to last night's video.

For additional lolz, watch the original video - it's a classic. And if you need even more joy, the track's free to download from Wick-it's soundcloud. Hallelujah!


Baby Got Back (Wick-it and Axis remix) by wick-it

MV Bill - O Bagulho É Doido

This one absolutely breaks my heart. MV Bill is a hero-advocate for all the kids in Brazil trapped in the drug trade. Show this to your local coke-heads. The clips with the kids faces blurred out are from his incredible documentary about the reality of growing up, marginalised, demonised and poor, in the favelas.

My Portuguese isn't up to much, but basically the song is about the injustice of a system where rich addicts are treated as the victims, and the kids from the favelas who grew up with no options other than drug-dealing are treated as delinquents. The lyrics are brutally hard-hitting, and the song's got an incredible soundscape to back it up.

The production values on the video aren't up to much, but it still brings tears to my eyes. The quotes from the kids that are sampled in the song are devastating:

"Se eu morrer... nasci outro que nem eu ou pior, ou melhor..."
If I die... another one like me will be born, who is worse, or better...

"Se eu morrer eu vou descansar..."
If I die I will rest at least...

"Ah, sonhar! Nessa vida não dá pra sonhar não..."
Oh, to dream! This life doesn't give anything for dreams...

"Amanhã não sei nem se eu vou tá aí"
I don't even know if I'll be here tomorrow

President T - Large Way

Brass bands were probably the grime of the 1920s: strident, working class and home-grown. Yes indeed.

Which is why this track sounds so good, with the brassy hook trumpeting away and President T's off-kilter flow. The best bit is the last verse (1:37 onwards) - he disses someone for having a messy flat, and then hypes his association with refugees from repressive dictatorships (1:54). Archetypal grime.

In his verse on this, Skepta appears to be showing off that he knows what ASAP means. Whilst this is good news for him, it makes for really boring bars, although he does warm up a bit by 1:10. And you can't rinse him too hard, because I'm pretty sure he made this instrumental, and it's immense.

President T - Large Way by mantequilla

Calle 13 - Tocarte Toda

I'm not sure if I love this for the sweet violin sample, the tongue-in-cheek lyrics, or for the memories it brings me. I'm pretty sure it's amazing though. The video's a bit of a piss-take of your standard reggaeton tits-and-bits videos.

I could wax lyrical about how Calle 13 push out the boundaries of a genre that is its own worst enemy, but you can read Wikipedia. Suffice to say their lyrics are often hilarious, always on point, and their music is fresh to death.

Bob Marley ft. Lauryn Hill - Turn The Lights Down Low

I hate rap interludes. I grew up in the generation traumatised by Blue and Five, so I think my aversion to them is only natural. A rogue rap verse in almost any song basically makes me cringe so much my skin crawls.

But Lauryn kills it on this Bob Marley refit. It probably helps that she's one of the standout lyricists of the 90s, with a voice like sugared sandpaper.

Blackstreet - No Diggity (Wick-It Remix)

I'm going to learn to drive. Partly because it's pretty much a mandatory skill in my line of work, but also because my beloved Grandma has offered me her million-year-old Honda Civic (imagine the Flintstones' car, but rustier). And I want to put neons on it like this, and a couple of rosaries on the mirrors, and decals on the back window, and roll around town playing this song with the windows down.

This is a rework of a classic, one of the first songs I remember hearing (I was dancing on the cracked tiled floor at an upstairs barbershop while my little brother got his hair cut and I could see myself reflected a million times in all the mirrors, and I thought I looked so cool. I was ten years old, missing my front teeth and wearing floral leggings. I was tragically mistaken.).

It's a credit to Wick-it that I don't resent him messing with my beloved Blackstreet - this remix is lush, it's got a bit of a winterier feel to it than the original.

Blackstreet - No Diggity (Wick-it remix) by wick-it

Jean Grae - Love Thirst

This is most over-sexed song since Je T'aime: it has the same panting vocals and sleazy bassline. But Jean Grae's lyrics are incredible - the "tangible/tangled/tango" bars are so tightly-wound with all that consonance and assonance. (Thank you Ms Phoenix for ramming the English Lit GSCE syllabus down my throat until I could regurgitate poetry at will and define assonance with my eyes shut. It has finally served some purpose.)

The Dreaming Spires - Everything All Of The Time

Apologies for the slight hiatus in posting: I was out in the wild, doing field research. Equitruck was incredible - I went from being a duvet-bound pizza-gobbling hangover monster at 7pm to a dancing smiling human being by midnight (alcohol may have also played a role).

But credit is definitely due to The Dreaming Spires, who I have now seen twice, and accosted and salivated over once. They're awesome: they sound incredible live, and I love that instant-classic-transatlantic sound - it makes me want to sing and dance all at the same time.

Being both hyperactive and greedy, I also really like this particular chorus... More of their album is listenable here.

02 Everything All Of The Time by user8289150

Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster

Everyone has weaknesses, you know? Eating Pringles in the bath; hareem trousers; drumming on the steering wheel when you're stuck in traffic; wearing heels you can't walk in. All those stupid things you secretly love.

I have innumerable weaknesses, and this is the latest. The video's pseudo-Michael Jackson, the bassline is generic dub-pop, the vocals are audibly auto-tuned and the lyrics include the word "hereafter". It's terrible. But I love it.

Suburban Dream - They Start Out Using

There are some things, like PVC and pan-pipes, which I think are essentially disgusting. Panpipes especially. And here they are, puffing away, with their horrible breathy asthmatic tone, in the middle of this yummy little number by Suburban Dream. And I hate to admit it, but they sound... really good. Their gross breathy quality makes a nice contrast with all the pure tones and that ticking snare.

Also, I like the idea of someone stoned playing the panpipes and exhaling all the smoke into the panpipe. I'm sure someone could devise a really annoying noisy bong based on panpipes.

They Start Out Using by Suburban Dream

Mexicans With Guns - La Bambaclot

Do you have those nights when you come home drunk and try to make something to eat? Like pasta, or toast, or cereal with extra sugar. And it turns out to be the tastiest thing you have cooked in your whole bitter life. I think Mexicans with Guns have done the same thing. And I think I've worked out the recipe...

1. Take a classic latin tune (La Bamba - trust me, you know it).
2. Chop and screw it beyond almost all recognition.
3. Add laser sounds to taste.
4. Eat and enjoy: when the bass drops you can't help but smile.

La Bambaclot by mexicanswithguns

Blackstar ft. Common - Respiration

This is a love letter to youth and New York. And, as if that weren't enough, the intro is in Spanish, and the video is monochrome. Arty indeedy. The lyrics are so intricate: I think "hard knuckles on the second hands of working-class watches" might be my favourite line ever.

Common ft will.i.am - I Want You

The little jury that sits in my head and decides on my opinions is still out on this one.

I like the hook. Actually, who am I kidding? I love that hook like a fat kid loves cake. All that juicy three-note soul and the violin echoes are right up my street. (I would love to live on a street where violins echoed around. The girl next door plays the French Horn, but she only knows two notes.) And I do like the off-key electric bleeps on the outro - very 2010.

The video's more than a little creepy though.

Marvin Gaye vs Far East Project - Grapevine G6 (Jonny Black Mix)

Once upon a time, in a place not so far away, there was an old king. He was wise and talented and groovy and everyone loved him. One day he was out and about, and he met a girl who was much younger, and a bit trendy, and who had enormous fake boobs. And he fell in love. They went on to have a child. Contrary to everyone's expectations, that child was awesome: it's this song.

Marvin Gaye - Like A G6 mash up by Jonny Black

Fallulah - I Lay My Head

Never thought I'd credit the Arctic winter with anything other than giving me an excuse to hibernate, but it turns out that it's excellent for making music videos.

Check out the colours in this blue-red number: Northern Lights eat your heart out.

Musically, it pushes a lot of buttons (hand claps anyone?). It also has acerbic lyrics and a most stylish flailing dance.

Even if those aren't your buttons, give it a try: it's what a blues singer would sound like after an eight-espresso breakfast. In a playground.

All the way from the distant dark of Denmark, ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Fallulah.

Ice Kid - My Life

This is a rip off the No Hats No Hoods album mixed by DJ Magic, which came out in 2009, when Ice Kid was, literally, just a kid. You can hear his voice breaking on the "but it's a sin to take a life" bar. Amazing talent.

Wick-It - Afraid of The General

Gorgeous little slow burner of a mashup. Outkast's MC supreme (Big Boi) is introduced to folk-rock duo The Black Keys by DJ Mr. Wick-It and it turns out to be a match made in heaven. Everyone lives happily ever after. Now ain't that a nice story for a Sunday.

Somehow the mash-up sounds completely natural, in a tripped-out way, like Big Boi got in some pimped up Cadillac and drove out into the woods, and the wind whistled in tune and Black Keys were just lamenting in a clearing, and Big Boi just got out of the car and stood next to a day-glo Bambi and jammed with them. That's what it sounds like to me, anyway.

The original Black Keys song is absolutely killer too. Oh, and the whole mash-up album is downloadable from Wick-it's bandcamp. Love this.

Afraid of The General by wick-it

Be Be K'Roche - Alone

Bitter lyrics and a funky groove - what more could you ask from the 1970s? Also, for added lolz and hilarity, the vocalist is called Peggy Mitchell. The mind boggles.

This was sampled in the deliciously depressing Bloodstain by UNKLE, which is an excellent song to sulk to.

Freddie Gibbs - Playa (Mexicans With Guns Remix)

This little number combines some of my most favourite things: Freddie Gibbs, Mexicans with Guns, and cow bells.

I love the funky syncopated low-ride sound, (and the cow bells), but it took a couple of listens to get used to it, probably because MwG put Freddie on the off-beat, and that always sounds weird. That guitar melody is sweetness itself though. If you like MwG, check out their soundcloud for more juice.

Freddie Gibbs - Playa (Mexicans with Guns Remix) by Drewtewksbury

Loden - Gimme Gimme (ex-Abba)

If you listen carefully to this glitchy electro number, you can hear a secret.

Hidden among the bells and whistles there is a bassline that tugs at your memory... it's ABBA. Yes indeed - they have chopped and screwed the classic Gimme Gimme Gimme to produce this trendy little number.

This is part of the Pop Massacre project, fruit of the fertile Friends of Friends womb. The whole album is pop classics remixed beyond recognition. Think of it as extreme platic surgery. And it's free to download. Lush.

Loden - Gimme Gimme (Abba) by andreizato

Edith Piaf vs NWA - Fuck les regrettes (DJ Cut Killer)

This song was the anthem of the 1995 French film La Haine. The video is a clip from the film, and if you haven't seen it before, it'll be the best two minutes of your day.

Tego Calderón & DJ Voltio - Julito Maraña

If I told you this was a reggaeton reworking of a salsa classic, you would probably wince and not listen to it.

But this is incredible: it's a tiny saga, a slice of the Puerto Rican underworld. The lyrics are just slang-sodden poetry. The video is also pretty hot: sort of what Boyz N The Hood would be like if the hood had palm trees.

The original song, Juanito Alimaña, also tells the story of an unloved gangster. It's also tasty good. And it contains one of my favourite Spanglish words: "ratear", which is derived from "to rat someone out", the 1950s US term for grassing someone up. What a word.

Plastician feat Skepta - Intensive Snare

If there was an Oscars for homemade videos, this would win my vote. It's ancient, but fairly unequalled. Musicwise, there's Plastician on the buttons, and Skepta adding his own inimitable lyrics ("are you stupid in the face?" is one of my favourite lines ever. My New Year's resolution is to work it into conversation more often.)

I really like this pared-down dubstep, with those little bleeps and reverbs on top. And that snare really reminds me of So Fresh So Clean by Outkast. Which can only be a good thing.

Arthur Mafokate - Don't Call Me Kaffir

Finding this track has completely made my day (simple things for simple minds, I guess).

It's the track that made kwaito explode as a genre across South Africa. And it's a classic for at least two reasons. Firstly, given that it was released in 1995, just a year after the end of apartheid, the lyrics are pretty daring and inspiring. In fact, when the song was played on the radio last year in SA, it still caused controversy.

And secondly Mr Mafokate tied it to an infectious tune: that orchestral intro, seguing into what sounds like stripped-down tropical disco (are there steel drums in there?).

Seriously, what's not to love? There is an interview with Arthur Mafokate which is interesting, if you like kwaito and/or South Africa and/or wasting time.

Arthur Mafokate - Don't Call Me Kaffir by mantequilla

Tracy Chapman - Speak The Word

Slushy song tonight. It's been raining, and that makes me go all mushy. Like cardboard.

When I was a kid, I used to listen to Tracy Chapman so much that my mum felt she had to sit me down and ask if I was a lesbian. Apparently a predilection for female singer-songwriters is a dead give-away. I always thought it had more to do with fancying girls, but hey, I know better than to question my mum.

Very sweetly, she added that it would be OK if I was a lesbian, and that she quite liked the music anyway. So, here you go, a mum-friendly slow burner of a song. Just be careful not to over-repeat it, if you want to avoid a really really awkward conversation about your sexuality.

Quadron - Pressure

Danish equestrian-themed soulful RnB is incredible. Don't believe me? Try the video. You have never seen awkwardness displayed so artistically.

Seriously, is there anything the Scandinavians don't do well?

Mika vs Nelly Furtado - Relax & Say It Right (Robin Skouteris Remix)

OK, I'm not the best at making videos. Basically I lack both film footage and enthusiasm. So here's a nice little photo of some amazing people and the sun.

The song is pretty fit. It's Robin Skouteris' mash-up of Nelly Furtado's Say It Right and Mika's Relax.

For me, the Furtado track has amazing rhythm, but it verges on soulless robo-pop. And Mika, despite helping to prove my theory that all Lebanese boys are hot, is bit overly emotional on his track. But in gorgeous combination, all that balances out into poppy glory.

Check out Mr Skouteris' facebook for downloads.

Miriam Makeba - The Click Song

And now for something completely different. This is South African liberation heroine Miriam Makeba, singing in her native Xhosa, which incorporates a lot of click sounds. It sounds almost like beatboxing, but better.

I just love the way she sounds and moves in this performance.

Freddie Gibbs - From Tha G

I am pretty much all over this. The vocal sample on the instrumental is just... groovy? Yes, you could call this gangsta-groove. If you wanted to get shot. Anyway, it's got a real West Coast sound, despite coming straight out of the Midwest (Gary, Indiana).

Freddie always has more flow than the Hoover Dam, and this is no exception: those rhymes are pretty intricate for a straight gangsta track. And yes, the chorus is gash - nothing in life is perfect, I guess.

Four Tet - There Is love In You

There is both good news and bad news.

The good news: Four Tet have pre-released their new album, so you can listen to it online for zero money.

The bad news: the album is not embeddable, so you have to leave this little haven and go to a different corner of the internet in order to listen to it.

So, my dears, click here to be whisked away to a dreamy piano-world for 47 minutes. Just, you know, don't forget send me a postcard sometime when you're drifting on those fuffy electro clouds.

Foreign Beggars feat Skinnyman - Hold On

I love this even though the intro to the video looks like an out-take from The Life of Brian. Because the whiny little hook is catchier than Mark Boucher with superglue on his gloves. And the double-time rapping makes it all sound a bit DnB, but with better lyrics. (Yes, someone has actually typed out all million-words-a-minute. Not me.)

Idir, Féfé & Leeroy - Je viens de là où l'on m'aime

This song is unembeddable, so you'll have to get clicky with the link, but is so gorgeously hypnotic and uplifting that I had to put it up.

The chorus is sung by Idir in Kabyle, one of the indigenous languages of Algeria.

And Féfé and the ever-inventive Leeroy have put some golden-hearted lyrics on it.

The video is also beautiful.

Orishas - El Kilo

I am besotted with this song. The "kilo" of the title isn't a drugs reference, but Cuban slang for cents/pennies, and the whole song is about poverty, hardship and identity. Lyrics aside, that bassline gets me every time.

Zola - Mdlwembe

Want to hear a story?

As the day-glo 80s were finally burning out, house music arrived in the clubs of South Africa. It spilled slowly from the clubs onto the radio and into the streets. The music was slowed down to allow more complex rhythms, and lyrics were often in more than one of South Africa's official languages, or in the township mixed languages, called Tsotsitaal .

The new genre was called Kwaito , meaning "cool". It was, and largely remains, the sound of young urban South Africa. The Wikipedia article about Kwaito, and the one about Tsotsitaal are pretty interesting.

The energy of this song is incredible. But if you prefer something with a softer sound try this one.

Doc Brown - Nothing to Lose

Juicy Vivaldi sample and a skippy little beat. As Kanye once said, me likey.

There is a published conversation between Doc Brown, and the novelist Zadie Smith (his big sister), which is quite interesting.