"Shake your tamberella"

Everyone hates Mark Ronson. We get it, don't get it twisted; it's that ubiquity, that smirk, those horns, the fact that he's a good-looking chap with some nice threads. But at the same time, it's weird because he's made some pretty great songs - the majority of Back To Black, for example - and he clearly knows his stuff, but at the same time he's easy to dismiss.

Whether you like him or not, his new album, Record Collection, is shaping up to be pretty interesting. Featuring a host of guest vocalists - including Boy George, The Drums' Jonathan Pearce, Santigold, Miike Snow and many others - it also features vocals from Ronson himself and no cover versions. A few weeks ago the first taster was released in the shape of 'Circuit Breaker', which as the title and the video suggests, is heavily influenced by the music to all those old console computer games.



OK, so it sounds exactly like the music from an old computer game and that's not exactly a good thing, but it's not the official first single so calm down. 'Bang Bang Bang' features a guest rap from Q-Tip and vocals from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' touring keyboardist (the glamour!), MNDR, and it's a stuttering, synth heavy little ditty that claws its way into your memory bank on the second listen. Not a horn in sight.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO IT PLEASE

A little bit like The Go Team you say? Yes, you're right. 'Bang Bang Bang' is released in July and the album is out in September.

We're guessing it's got some high notes...

A vast amount of people have been working away in some darkened studio somewhere in America, desperately trying to make people forget about Christina Aguilera's awful Motown-era makeover a few years back. We're talking Sia, Ladytron, Le Tigre, Linda Perry and rumoured collaborations with Santigold and M.I.A. Somewhere along the line the ghost of Michael Jackson may or may not have breezed in to record BVs. So, after all that build-up, this is the first single from what is now called Bionic. 

Was it worth all that effort?

No really, was it? We're at work and can't hear it.

EDIT: We've listened to it and we can exclusively reveal that it's...OK.

Carpet Byrne

David Byrne is basically the coolest man on the planet. His work with Talking Heads and Brian Eno alone mean he has honorary entry into the Musick Hall of Fame (due to open sometime in 2012, dates pending), alongside such luminaries as Michael Jackson, Prince and Fine Young Cannibals.



He's teamed up with, er, Fatboy Slim (minus points for that perhaps?) to create some kind of elaborate music project based around former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos. Nephew say what!? The set comes in a fancy box with two CDs, lots of lovely pictures and a DVD, and features guest spots from Santigold, Tori Amos, Cyndi Lauper and myriad other people with voices.

The track below features the not inconsiderable voice of one Florence Welch, who may have left her Machine at home for this one. It's called 'Here Lies Love' and it's a six-minute long, lushly-orchestrated vignette that takes a while to get to the chorus, but when it does it's quite something.



This is the Santigold track:



Intriguing.

Blank canvas

Who doesn't love it when music journalists describe a new act by saying x = a + b / c and then follow it with "in a blender"? Lord knows we do. So, this is Amanda Blank, who sounds like M.I.A + Santigold / Gwen Stefani "on acid". There you are, that's no reductive in anyway is it?



Amanda Blank is friends with all the cool producers who hang out in the all the coolest clubs and probably smoked behind the bike sheds at school. Blank's debut album, I Love You, features production by Diplo, Switch and XXXchange and despite this amazingly dreadful review is properly bangin' in a mindless, fun kind of way.

Here's the pretty terrible video for new single, 'Might Like You Better', which features the line "show you what I got in my sweater baby". Some oranges? A rolled up copy of Newsweek? A tiny bunny rabbit?



Altogether now: "Might like you better if we slept together"

Running up that hill

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Jay-Z's forthcoming new album, The Blueprint III, surely has no more secrets to reveal come release time? So far, we've had the one that mentioned Noel Gallagher, the one about Obama, that other one with Santigold on it and finally the one dissing Autotune. Well, none of these are the official first single, that comes in the shape of 'Run This Town', which features Rihanna on the chorus and Kanye West rapping sans Autotune.



It's alright. The beat has that marching-band motif that 'Jesus Walks' has, and hearing a guitar over the top is a nice surprise, but Jay-Z sounds a bit bored and Kanye West says the following; "she got an ass that will swallow up a g-string, and up top two bee stings". Rihanna is the real star of the show, delivering the chorus in that kind of dead-eyed way she's perfected.

There are more surprises on the album of course - MGMT also make an appearance!

New Musick Monday

There's very little need to rake over the trauma of the results of this week's chart positions. As has been widely reported both here and elsewhere, Michael Jackson's 'Man In The Mirror' was beaten to the number 1 spot by a track called 'Evacuate The Dancefloor' by Cascada. Investigations are currently underway and the chart police hope to have some answers soon. For the time being, all we ask is for your patience during these traumatic times. Elsewhere, La Roux's debut album shifted around 60,000 copies to enter at number 2, cementing her place at the top of the 'fingers-crossed-at-least-one-of-these-new-for-2009-acts-sells-some-records' league.

BUY THIS

Lungs by Florence & The Machine



We're going to be honest right here and say we had huge reservations about Florence & The Machine. 'Kiss With A Fist' felt a bit too studied and mannered, whilst the image and the interviews created a kind of caricature of 'kooky'. Luckily, we're usually very wrong about most things, and Lungs is a fantastic debut that gets better with repeated listens. From the lush, harp-drenched 'Rabbit Heart' to the vein-popping emotion of 'Girl With One Eye' to the pure pop of 'Hurricane Drunk', it's an album that will surprise, enthrall and annoy in equal measure. Plus, she's brilliant live.

BOGLE ALL THE WAY TO THE SHOP AND STEAL A COPY

Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do by Major Lazer



For those not familiar with the concept behind Major Lazer, allow us to enlighten. Major Lazer is a one-armed Jamaican commando who battles the forces of darkness in a zombie war, whilst also running a night club. Said night club specialises in fusing dancehall with electro, or reggae with surf guitars, R&B with house, etc, etc. It's an intoxicating listen. In reality, the album is the work of producers Diplo and Switch, who have previously worked with acts like M.I.A, Santigold, Spank Rock and Tricky. Unlike the recently released N.A.S.A album (another producer-lead enterprise complete with starry line-up), Major Lazer have created an album that doesn't take itself too seriously. It also features some beats Missy would giver her left arm for (soz Missy. Call me yeah, we need to talk about that money you owe me).

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'Shark In The Water' by V.V. Brown



Sometimes a simple, summery pop song is all it takes. 'Shark In The Water' is V.V. Brown's third single, and is the kind of three minutes that make you think, "wow, this would sound brilliant on the radio". Unfortunately, most radio stations seem to disagree, which given the bilge they do play is frankly astonishing. Brown has recently ranted at this mystery via Twitter, which at 140 characters only, somewhat inhibits her disbelief. Then again, "what the fuck" is only thirteen characters long and seems to sum it up.