Fatboy Slim feat. Bootsy Collins - Weapon Of Choice

The Spike Jonze-directed "Weapon Of Choice" is one of the funniest videos ever made, set to the music of Fatboy Slim. The video features brilliant actor Christopher Walken dancing -and flying - around an empty hotel lobby and is unlike anything you have seen before or since. As for the song itself, it's pretty good as well, featuring Parliament/Funkadelic bass legend Bootsy Collins on lead vocals, but it's still completely overshadowed by its video. But by all means, it works great on its own. The song is taken from Fatboy Slim's 2000 album Halfway Between The Gutters And The Stars and was released as a double A-side single along with "Star 69".

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First listen: Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle

The release of Bob Dylan's new album Tempest is fast approaching. It's due in a little over a week, and today the song "Duquesne Whistle" was released for online streaming. It was co-written by Dylan's old friend and cohort Robert Hunter, lyricist of Grateful Dead. Read NPR's coverage about it and listen by going here. Fabulous song!

Ms Mr - Hurricane

And one more... Ms Mr is a duo that I know next to nothing about, but I was told by someone I trust to listen to their single "Hurricane", which I immediately found to be an excellent piece of advice. Electronic pop music that's just a little bit quirky, with a fabulous female singer in the alias "Ms" whereas "Mr" is credited with providing the music. The video is also a mysterious-looking collage of pop-cultural references. These two can become pop stars before you know it.

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Patrick Wolf - Time Of My Life

Right... I am 46 years old at present, have loved pop music for around 36 of these years, and I still LOVE discovering new music. Today I was made aware of Patrick Wolf, a South Londoner who's released five albums (his sixth is underway) that has completely escaped me. "Time Of My Life" is a wonderful pop song that sounds like a cross between Dexys, The Divine Comedy and Tears For Fears, released in late 2010 as a preview of his 2011 album Lupercalia. I love it, and I'm sure Mr. Wolf has more in store for me.

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Another new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album due this autumn

Sometime in October, Neil Young & Crazy Horse will release their second album of 2012. Americana, their collection of old American songs, was released in June, and less than half a year later Young and his legendary backing band returns with Psychedelic Pill, a double disc's worth of brand new material. Read the full report on Rolling Stone.com.

Eric Church - Springsteen

American country singer Eric Church is now officially on Bruce Springsteen's fan list, as "The Boss" has written Church a personal note on back of one of his set lists and given it to Church's road manager Wayne LeBeaux. In the note Springsteen states how much he loves the song Church has named "Springsteen". It's the third single off Chief, Church's third successful album in a row, following debut album Sinners Like Me (2006) and Carolina (2009). You can read the full news report about the note on Billboard.com where Church is interviewed as well. "Springsteen" is a very nice song, a little bit of country music, a little bit of pop music, where Bruce Springsteen's songs are a reference point for the estranged couple in the song. Church sings "funny how a melody sounds like a memory", being absolutely right of course. Feelgood song of the day.

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The Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon

"I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands". Thus begins "The Whole Of The Moon", the song that just may be The Waterboys' most joyful, wonderful and lively song, five minutes worth of "big music" as Mike Scott called it, with a melody to die for and lyrics to swoon over. This is simply a perfect song in every respect. If for some mysterious reason you do not know it, look it up on the album This Is The Sea, the 1985 album that marked the end of the band's first trilogy of albums, signaling the end of their big music period.

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Buzzin' Cousins - Sweet Suzanne

Falling From Grace is the title of a 1992 film directed by rock star and singer/songwriter John Mellencamp from a script by celebrated American author Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove and Terms Of Endearment fame. The film got a very limited release, but the soundtrack album, released in 1991, half a year prior to the film, got all the more attention. It's a good collection of songs by the likes of Mellencamp himself, John Prine, Dwight Yoakam and Nanci Griffith, but one track shines above all the rest. "Sweet Suzanne" is credited to Buzzin' Cousins, a super group that unfortunately only recorded this one song, but then again that one song is better than what lots of bands do during an entire career. The "band" consists of John Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, Joe Ely and James McMurtry, all of them trading lines throughout the song. Amazing!

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The Raconteurs - Steady, As She Goes

"Steady, As She Goes", The Raconteurs' 2006 debut single, is perfect riff rock and sounds like a cross between Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Queens Of The Stone Age. The band, whose most famous members are Jack White and Brendan Benson, has released two albums, Broken Boy Soldiers (2006) and Consolers Of The Lonely (2008). As the members are busy with all kinds of other stuff, it's unlikely that they will reunite for a third album, but you never know. It doesn't really matter that much though. Even if this single was their only output, it alone would secure their legacy and a place in the history of rock music. The video, by the way, is released by film director Jim Jarmusch.

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First listen: New Dwight Yoakam song with a little help from Beck!

3 Pears is the title of Dwight Yoakam's forthcoming album, the prolific country singer's first in seven years. It's due in the middle of September, and Yoakam has surprisingly received a little help from Beck. Although it may seem like an odd coupling, Beck has released his share of country-influenced music, and the new song "A Heart Like Mine" that is avaliable for streaming as the first track from the album, sounds great in every way. As Yoakam puts it, "when you sit there with a guy who channels David Bowie meets David Gates meets Jim Morrison, you say, 'OK, Beck, if that's your opinion of my electric guitar playing then we'll stay with it'".

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