Weekender : not a tweecore blog, and never will be

FREE MUSIC: Where were we? Ah, Scandinavia. Stavanager, Norway, to be precise, where Jeremy is the unrepossessing name for a duo who take influence from Big Star, the Zombies and Simon & Garfunkel, all harmonies and just off-poppy arrangements. Make Love Not War bounces along like a sugarier version of Sondre Lerche loosely disguising lyrics about "the hippy mentality".

HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: Let's antifolk! Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences are a leading part of that scene now it seems to have been redefined from proper kooky singer-songwriters to refer to offbeat poets influenced by Daniel Johnston with a yen for something completely out of the ordinary. They'd have been on the first Stiff Records tour in 1977; instead they're plundering wonky garage and darker than dark fantasy lyrics. Apparently possessing a highly theatric, loud and prop-laden live show, they're playing at the Good Ship, Kilburn with Pagan Wanderer Lu and Gindrinker this Wednesday, which were we in range would be an unmissable night out.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION: "Himalayan under the tunnel!" A couple of varying clips of youth and young womanhood this week. You're almost certainly aware that Britney, Christina and Justin were all on the Mickey Mouse Club simultaneously, but what you don't see often is Spears and Timberlake together, well before they were, well, 'together', manfully facing up to a sketch about crazy golf. Clearly this is just what the producers of Alpha Dog had in mind. Somewhat slower paced and intelligent, if no more likely to make your head spin, is this undated but clearly Sugarcubes-era instructional electronics festive message from Bjork. Boom mic in shot, director!

VIRAL MARKETING: Jens Lekman's lovers' indie-rock continues to charm many and can only grow with next week's release of Night Falls Over Kotedala. There's a video for Sipping On The Sweet Nectar, but superior cuts include A Postcard To Nina and Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo.

FALLING OFF A BLOG: Back to the mp3s, and apparently put together by five people, Off The Record fields an understandably eclectic approach from Ewan Pearson to Blood Red Shoes.

EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Every so often you get forwarded a YouTube clip of something so quite extraordinary mere words feel insufficient. Case in point, Reg Kehoe And His Marimba Queens, a Pennsylvanian act filmed here in 1950. Ignore the one bloke, five girls and massed vibraphonic orchestra, watch the double bass player unencumbered by the lack of any bass on the soundtrack and frankly going for it.

IN OTHER NEWS: The Ladies Bras' chart success, which at least keeps the world in Trunk Records reissues of obscure film soundtracks and exotica for a few more years, is all Scott Mills' doing, is it, Radio 1? Even when Danny Baker's podcast was launching it to number 70 last month?