Ciara - I Bet

Joe writes: I very much enjoyed this throwback to the She'kspere/Rodney Jerkins era of R&B. In fact I had to double check I wasn't listening to an old Ciara track by accident.



Here's She'kspere's greatest hit, No Scrubs by TLC. I heard this played as a feminist anthem recently. I'm not sure it is, but it is a classic pop record.

Chumbawamba - Ugh! Your Ugly Houses

Joe writes: This is the Chumbawamba track that should have been re-released as the follow-up to Tubthumping. It would have been huge. Chumbawamba instead elected to go with a track called Amnesia and were soon forgotten.

Ugh! Your Ugly Houses is a political song in the best kind of way and has shades of both Clean Bandit (in the string breakdown) and Blur's new anthem of overpopulation (in the lyrics, all seven of them).

Ainslie Wills - Drive

Joe writes: I've been listening to a lot of Ainslie Wills, who is from Melbourne. I really love her voice which (on other tracks, not so much this one) has shades of Tracey Thorn, and this song is infectious.

Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian At Best

Joe writes: My brother sent me a Pitchfork link to this in February and now it's everywhere (or it might seem that way if you listen to a lot of Radio 1 in the evenings, and 6 Music, which I do).

Deacon Blue - Win

Phil writes: This new Deacon Blue single is up there is almost on a par with their best work I think.  It reminds me a bit of the Tom Baxter song 'Better' which deserves to be much better-known:

These are the greatest Todd Terje edits of all-time

good list from Thump

but they forgot this one, the Diamonds Dub (Tangoterje Edit) of Paul Simon's Diamonds In The Soles Of Her Shoes: