New Musick Monday

Last week was a bit of a mixed bag, but on the whole music was the real winner. The Flaming Lips seem to have scared the majority of their fanbase with the sprawling, maddening Embryonic, whilst Shakira has won some new converts with her uncanny wolf impressions (her album crashed in at no.4). The real winner of course was Alexandra Burke whose 'Bad Boys' sold nearly 200,000 copies in a week and is the fastest selling single of the year so far. Who thinks Jonathan & Edward will be doing similar business this time next year?

This week is jam-packed with amazing new albums so we've scrapped the download single bit to squeeze everything in. There's also a theme, see if you can spot it.

BUY THIS WITH YOUR BIRTHDAY VOUCHERS

Don't Stop by Annie



This album's gestation has been as protracted as a 48 hour labour only with less mess. Originally due for release in 2008 it was then put on the shelf whilst Annie looked for a new record label. She then recorded three amazing new songs to go with the other amazing ones and finally Don't Stop is available to one and all. Featuring production by Paul Epworth, Richard X, Xenomania and Timo Kaukolampi, it's a forward-thinking pop gem with at least ten singles and a personality all of its own despite the ubiquity of it's co-creators. Plus, there's a special version of it that features a five track EP, which is better than 90% of all pop albums released last year.

BUY THIS WITH YOUR BIRTHDAY VOUCHERS

Declaration of Dependence by Kings of Convenience



It's been 5 long years since their last album, but finally Norway's answer to Simon & Garfunkel are back with this lovely collection of acoustic-lead singalongs. With no drums or percussion, the focus is solely on their harmonies, the twang of the guitar and the odd flutter of a violin here and there. Luckily they've not lost their ability to craft memorable melodies, even if 'Me Inside You' is impossible to listen to without thinking of a parody from Flight of The Conchords (yeah, cheers, Maddy Costa from the Guardian!).

BUY THIS WITH YOUR BIRTHDAY VOUCHERS (plus £4.97 of you're own money)

Logos by Atlas Sound



Atlas Sound is the pseudonym used by Bradford Cox - the lead singer with Deerhunter - for all his solo work. Logos is his second album in as many years and is as intimate, experimental and downright lovely as anything Animal Collective have done in recent years. Featuring guest vocals from Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier and Animal Collective's very own Noah Lennox, as well as Cox's own hushed tones, Logos rewards repeated listens, revealing itself slowly over time...a bit like that fat kid at school that you thought was a bit boring but was just shy and actually had some amazing opinions but then died of high cholesterol.

New Musick Monday

Woah, last week was a bit of a disaster. Due to an unforeseen administrative error (which is ironic considering), we said that the new Fuck Buttons album was out last Monday when every single fool with a computer nearby knows that it's actually out today. So, this means you've had a week to think about buying it and if you've not made your mind up by now then we can safely assume it's not going to happen. The Air album, incidentally, charted just inside the top 40, whilst The Drums single missed out altogether but who cares because their new EP, Summertime!, is amazing (that's out today too, but it's not really an album or a single so it misses out...*pauses to listen to the tears of their record label*).

BUY THIS

She Wolf by Shakira



Shakira!? Shakira!? Are you out of your mind, etc. Look, we know she's madder than a cage full of mildly psychotic tarantulas, but this Neptunes-assisted collection is up there with the best of 'em when it comes to R&B bangers about sex. There's a run of 5 songs at the beginning of the album that immediately sets it apart from similar fare by Nelly Furtardo or Gwen Stefani, with Shakira's mildly terrifying lyrics ("Every night I pray that you don't knock her up/ Because I still want to be the mother of your child... I really hope you have a horrible vacation") reminding you that this woman is as unique as she is predatory. It also sees a return to form for the Neptunes who deliver four expertly produced examples of why we loved them in the first place. Aaaawwhhhooooo!

LISTEN TO AT LEAST HALF OF THIS

Embryonic by The Flaming Lips



Double albums are always criticised for being overly long, which is kind of an obvious thing to say. No-one makes a double album because they want to be concise or because the recording process has gone ever so smoothly, and this is the case with The Flaming Lips. Struggling to follow-up their run of relatively accessible recent albums, they've decided to shred the rule book, including the chapters on 'song structures' and 'tunes'. A lot of it is a mess, but sometimes the mess sounds exciting, daring and a little frightening. Guests include MGMT, some German mathematician and Karen O pretending to be an animal.

DOWNLOAD THIS

'Bad Boys' by Alexandra Burke



Shakira AND Alexandra!? Have you gone mad, etc. We know this song is essentially not very good - the verses don't fit with the chorus, Flo Rida's on it - but there's something about it we can't quite shake. We almost love it's precision-tooled-ness, the way it has been laboriously worked on by a crack team of producers who Simon Cowell keeps locked in a basement somewhere. "If this single isn't number 1 in the UK you will all be mutilated and/or forced to listen to Robson & Jerome on repeat until your bowels give in. The choice is yours" he probably says. Alexandra meanwhile, knows how to deliver a song as this performance clearly shows.

Clips don't lie

"Shakira, Shakira"

Let's be honest, Shakira is as mad as a box of frogs who've been force fed Ecstasy tablets by a clown on roller skates. She's been away for too long, leaving the pop world a barren and less ridiculous place in her absence. Well, she's back now, with a video so awful that it's somehow one of the best things we've seen in the last decade.



First things first, that cave resembles a scene from Inner Space mixed with a '70s softcore porn film. The dancing is hilarious, like a strange mix of yoga and an anaphylactic shock. The bits on top of the building either represent the point where the money ran out (what did they spend it on!?), or it's some kind of statement on cheap horror films. Don't even get us started on what the shoulder popping malarkey is all about.

Nice to have you back Shakira (Shakira).