New Musick Monday

OK, so as expected Rose Elinor Dougall ended our run of two songs crashing into the UK top 15, with the otherwise stupendous 'Start/Stop/Synchro'. We forgive her all this of course because she's proper fit, and Lord knows that gets you a long way these days, as we know only too well. We did have success, however, on the album charts where Little Boots' Hands entered at number 5, silencing the small group of naysayers who were all ready to write her off. Come on, save something for the follow-up album guys.

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Varshons by The Lemonheads



So we don't get accused of sexism by someone from The Guardian's Woman section, we'd like to state for the record that The Lemonheads' Evan Dando is also proper fit. It's that lank mane of hair, those laconic blue eyes, that voice. This is an album of cover versions (or 'varshons') ranging from the obvious (Gram Parsons' 'I Just Can't Take It Anymore') to the wonderfully bizarre ('Beautiful' by Christina Aguilera). Unfortunately he also lets Kate Moss loose on the electro-tinged 'Dirty Robot', which is about as sexy as photographing genital warts for a sexual health magazine.

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Midlife: A Beginners Guide by Blur



We've failed to mention before the fact that Blur have reunited for a slew of gigs this summer. You've probably heard all about it by now of course, but if not, then that first sentence was an EXCLUSIVE. This is a brand new collection of their biggest singles and some of their best album tracks ('Blue Jeans', 'He Thought Of Cars', 'Trimm Trabb') and is all the better for not featuring 'Crazy Beat', the nadir not just for Blur (minus Graham) but all music.

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'Heavy Cross' by Gossip



We can't seem to stop listening to this song, so with that in mind we're ignoring the fact this actually came out to download two weeks ago and will instead focus on the release of a CD version. What was that? Everyone's stopped buying CDs now? Yeah, well we're rocking it old skool, hell, we might even buy it on MiniDisc, how about that? If, like some, you think producer Rick Rubin has polished all of the Gossip's rougher edges then why not watch this brilliant live version or the official video and hope the images distract you.