Bat For Lashes covers Rihanna and five other songs you might have missed

A semi-regular round-up of songs I haven't blogged about this week because time is precious and some of us have proper jobs to do, ok?

This week's line-up starts here.


1) Bat For Lashes - We Found Love

In which Natasha Khan takes Rihanna's global smash hit and gives it a makeover. A fucking miserable makeover. Crikey, love, cheer up.





2) Rudimental - Not Giving In

"I'm not giving in," sings John Newman on the follow-up to Feel The Love. Which is odd, because he's apparently caved in to the demand to feature every musical instrument and genre on planet earth in this four minute gospel-soul-dance-dubstep-reggae-rave bangathon. If it doesn't go straight into the top 10, I'll eat my trombone.

Apologies for the presence of Zane Lowe at the start of this clip.




3) Misha B - Do You Think Of Me?

Dungarees, Misha? Really?

Also this is excellent, in a rave Alicia Keys kind of way.




4) I Am Kloot - Hold Back The Night

A beautiful lullaby from Manchester's I Am Kloot, produced by Elbow's Guy Garvey and Craig Potter. "Fill up your day, and your pockets, with plenty, 'cos soon they'll be empty," emotes Johnny Bramwell over swooshing string flourishes lifted straight from I Am The Walrus. Lovely stuff.




5) Lana Del Rey - Ride

After that "clipmix" video for Yayo earlier this week, this is a proper big-budget video for Lana's proper big-budget new single, Ride. A rootin'-tootin' country ballad, it comes with gracefully forlorn Rick Rubin production, which turns out to be a perfect foil for Lana's sombre vocal.

Shame the video is such a pretentious mess, then. Seriously, has any three-minute spoken-word prelude ever been worth sitting through? This is the usual diaphanous guff parading as highbrow philosophy. "My dreams were dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished upon" - that sort of thing.

Skip forward to 3'36" and you'll be fine.




6) Arthur Beatrice - Charity

Imagine Mumford and Sons without the banjos, and this is what you get. Slow-burning verses that spiral into joyous, open choruses.

I am informed that the band are comprised of the fantastically-monikered Orlando Leopard (!!) and his cohorts Ella Girardot, Hamish Barnes and Elliot Barnes - surely making them the poshest pop line-up since Kula Shaker?

Incidentally, the band insist they were unaware of Golden Girls star Bea Arthur until after they got their recording contract. Shame on them.

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