Britney Spears is surprised by a smurf and other songs you may havemissed

It's time for the semi-regular round-up of songs that appeared on the internet this week, but didn't warrant a blog post of their own because I am lazy.

1) Britney Spears - Ooh La La
A not-particularly-good video for a not-particularly-good song from the Smurfs 2 Soundtrack. Britney's kids are cute, though, and her "surprised face" is priceless.



2) Justin Timberlake - Take Back The Night
Earlier this week, Justin's 20/20 Experience broke 2m sales in the US - so now it's time to launch phase II.  Take Back The Night is the first single from 20/20 Volume 2, which is due in September. Sounding like an Off The Wall bonus track, it's light on it's feet and heavy on the brass. 



3) Miguel ft Jessie Ware - Adorn (Remix)
Miguel's Adorn is the slow jam of the year. And now it has added Jessie Ware. What's not to love?

It was a total pleasure working with @MiguelUnlimited on his already perfect 'Adorn'. Feel like the luckiest girl in the world x

— Jessie Ware (@Jessie_Ware) July 10, 2013

4) The xx - Sunset (Jamie xx edit)
Jamie xx's remix of his own single is a masterpiece in (you guessed it) pared-down sadtronica. The video's cheap but lovely, syncing the song to an old French TV show. Anyone know who the artist in the original video is?


5) Regina Spektor - You've Got Time
Regina has recorded the theme song for the TV show Orange Is The New Black, which is the latest series from the team behind Weeds. Based on Piper Kerman's prison memoirs, the first 13-episode season was dumped onto Netflix yesterday. Creator Jenji Kohan says she "listened to Regina's albums obsessively while writing the series" and asked her to compose the theme tune. She did, and here it is.



6) Mr Hudson - Fred Astaire
After his Big Kids project failed to take off, Mr Hudson is back as a solo act, and his voice is as captivating as ever. Fred Astaire is a classic, stylish soul groove but, irritatingly, video director Rankin keeps interrupting it for snatches of dialogue. NB: Contains bottoms.


7) Rhye - The Fall (live on Jimmy Kimmel)
This is simply beautiful.

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James Blake is back! And five other songs you may have missed

Hello and welcome to a semi-regular round-up of the music I listened to, made note of, then ran out of time to write about over the last seven days. This week's all-star line-up includes...


1) James Blake - Retrograde
Strap on your dancing boots, because James Blake is BACK with a colossal, David Guetta-produced, arms aloft, handclaps ahoy, tequila-slamming, Ibiza sunrise, dance pop barnstormer.

Oh, alright then. It's a delicate and introspective electro whisper, which sets its tempo by the rise and fall of the tide. But it's so beautiful, we can forgive him anything. The song's called Retrograde, and the video premieres on YouTube this Sunday. Until then, here's Mr Blake introducing the track on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show last night.




2) Hurts - This Song Is Currently Unavailable In Your Territory
It's hard not to laugh at Hurts' comeback single, which is so studiously po-faced it might as well be a Jake Bugg promo photo. Still, the song's really grown on me since it debuted a couple of weeks ago. If you think of it as a good Depeche Mode album track around the Songs Of Faith And Devotion era, it's actually quite enjoyable.

The band uploaded the video to their YouTube account earlier this week, then inexplicably removed it 12 hours later. It's probably a statement about the transience of modern culture or something. But you can recreate the video by closing your eyes, listening to the song via this link, and imagining what it's like working the nightshift at Asda.

3) Josephine - Portrait
I went to see Jospehine play in London on Wednesday when everyone else was at Kraftwerk. I think I got the better deal. Possessed of a deep, gorgeous soul voice that's equal parts Dusty Springfield, Fela Kuti and Tracy Chapman, it's impossible to spot she's from Manchester... Until she talks to the audience, which she does at length, with the same brand of inclusive wit as fellow Mancunian Guy Garvey.

Her new single, Portrait, is currently on Radio 2's playlist, but she's been too busy touring with Paloma Faith to make a video. Instead, here's a Jools Holland performance from last year.



4) Blank Maps - Everything Ends
Blank Maps are a Newcastle band with aspirations to make your lip wobble in a Coldplay style. To be honest, they're not my cup of tea (it turns out cups of tea are my cup of tea) but I'm posting the video because it's the directorial debut of m'verygoodfriend and photographical genius Ms Briggsy. The silhouetted B&W section is one of the best set-ups I've seen in a music video this year.




5) Rhye - Open
Rhye are Canadian / Danish duo who've been described "Sade produced by The xx". This is the opening track to their debut album, Woman, which is out next month. A spacious, thoughtful ballad, it's punctuated by a muted brass phrase that could have been lifted straight from Dionne Warwick's Walk On By. Simply beautiful.




6) The Lumineers - Stubborn Love
It occurred to me last night that I don't know a single person with a Mumford And Sons record. Who buys this stuff? Is everyone secretly hiding their love of banjos? And is it going to lead to a terrifying 2014 revival for The Levellers?

Whatever the answer, The Lumineers have been riding Mumfords' slipstream straight into the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It's hard to begrudge them the success with songs as perfectly crafted as Stubborn Love. Fair warning, though: The video's a bit of a weepie.

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