Eoin Butler'sguide to singles, downloads and free audiostreams.

THE SHORTWAVE SET

Now 'Til 69

Wall of Sound

***

The second single from the South London trio's Replica Sun Machineis a likeable enough Roxy Music pastiche. But the concept for the video doesn't quite appear to have been hammered down: space travel, Morris dancers, cowboys eating ice-cream cones, glowing briefcases . . . What, no clifftop guitar solos?

ASHLEE SIMPSON

Little Miss Obsessive

Geffen

**

Overwrought pop/rock ballad featuring Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson on backing vocals. Not since bacon hooked up with cabbage has a big name pairing left me feeling so curiously unmoved.

SICK BOY

Taken Away In a Car EP

Slap In The Face Records

***

The Dublin-based trio describe this EP as a triple-A side, double-B side release. They've just embarked on a national tour.

DEVENDRA BANHART

Carmenistra

XL Recordings

**

I once interviewed Devendra Banhart. When I left the room to use the bathroom, he composed an impromptu song about me, about what I was wearing, and some of the questions I'd just asked, and sang it into my dictaphone. It might sound cute, but at the time I strongly suspected the man was mentally ill. Now he's dating Natalie Portman (who stars in the Bollywood-themed video for this Spanish-language song). The world is truly an unpredictable place.

THE PIGEON DETECTIVES

Everybody Wants Me

Dance to the Radio

**

"Everybody wants me now," reckons the Pigeon Detectives' Matt Bowman. Something tells me that everybody would beg to differ.

REM

Man-Sized Wreath

Warner

***

"Nature abhors a vacuum, but what's between your ears?" quips Michael Stipe, in what's been interpreted as a swipe at the media. Interestingly, another of Stipe's bêtes noires, US vice president Dick Cheney, is reported to keep a man-sized safe in his office. When he wants to take someone down a peg or two, he just shoots them in the face.

NOAH AND THE WHALE

5 Years Time

Young and Lost Club

**

Home Counties anti-folk from Laura Marling's ex-bandmates. Those allergic to kookiness may wish to avoid.