The Weekly Sweep

A Camp - Stronger Than Jesus [Myspace] (Return of Nina Persson's elegantly poised soul-pop side project]

Bon Iver - Blood Bank [live YouTube]

Brakes - Hey Hey (There may be a stream of this kicking about, but we certainly can't find anything legal to link to yet)

Casador - Story Of Damocles [Myspace] (Alessandro Raina, Argentinian born, Italian based, friends with A Classic Education and coming across as a folky, desolate version of their ambitions. This and another track on the same subject are downloadable from his blog)

Clowns - She Says I’m A Clown [Myspace] (Restlesslist's Matt Twaites and the omnipresent Tom White lurk in the rhythm section of this newly minted and appropriately attired swampily manaical garage rock. You wouldn't be surprised they're from the same locale as 80s Matchbox, let's put it that way)

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses [Myspace]

Hazel Winter - Midwich Sleep On [mp3 from The Devil Has The Best Tuna] (We got sent an intriguing mp3 of this track by a Bristolian singer-songwriter with Portishead connections, then a day later it came up for TLOBF review. There's cosmic jocularity. That review went up this week; in the meantime, try this unsettling folk-rock)

Joan As Police Woman - To America [Myspace]

Johnny Foreigner - Lea Room [Myspace]

Joy Of Sex - Cable Ties And Wire Cutters [Myspace]

Le Reno Amps - Send Me On My Way [Myspace] (This actually came out in December but we missed it at the time - like a collision between Squeeze and country mode Brakes, and on Drift Records to boot)

Matt Finucane - What Comes Next [Myspace] (As with Casador and Hazel Winter notification of this sparsely playing wry singer-songwriter arrived in the inbox in December, and he's got Superman Revenge Squad in his top friends which will do for us)

Meursault - The Furnace [Myspace]

Pagan Wanderer Lu - The Bridge Of Sighs [Myspace]

The Phantom Band - I Like My Hole [Myspace] (From that title you're now wondering exactly what sort of band this is, yes? They're on Chemikal Underground and they remind us of Dawn Of The Replicants meeting Bonnie Prince Billy via the Beta Band)

Picture Books In Winter - Open Heart Surgery [Myspace]

Sky Larkin - Beeline [YouTube]

Surf City - Headin' Inside [Myspace]

Swanton Bombs - Shock [Myspace]

TV On The Radio - Dancing Choose [YouTube]

This is just a selection mostly corralled from what we found and were sent over Christmas and new year - there's much further new stuff to come here next week. Meanwhile Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall has been with us for two days and is already looking near essential.