EOIN BUTLER's guide to downloads, singles and free audiostreams

BILL CALLAHAN

Heaven Help the ChildDrag City ****

Ex-Smog man Bill Callahan is one of few singers for whom the cliché about being able to sing the phone book might actually apply. He has stronger material to work with here than the residential listings. This cover of an old song by country music legend Mickey Newbury is sublime.

FLAMING LIPS ft BON IVER

Ashes in the AirWarner ***

Apparently, if Bon Iver stops collaborating with other artists for one week, a bus is going to explode.

DIRTY PROJECTORS

Gun Has No TriggerDomino ****

“The safety’s off, but the gun has no trigger.” That detail notwithstanding, this is a killer return by Dirty Projectors, three years after the success of their Bitta Orca album. The band’s sixth album, Swing Low Magellan, is due out on July 10th.

ALABAMA SHAKES

Hold OnRough Trade ****

Badass blues rock performed by a woman who looks like she works in a credit union. Alabama Shakes debut album, Boys Girls, is out next week. They play Dublin and Kilkenny on May 5th and 6th.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE ft JOSH HOMME

Jackson ***

This 1967 Jerry Leiber/Billy Ed Wheeler composition was made famous by Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra and played for laughs by Johnny Cash and June Carter. It gets a po-faced makeover by Florence Welch and Josh Homme (“the two greatest gingers of all time,” is how the top YouTube comment describes them.) Welch’s MTV Unplugged album is out April 9th.

FUN ft JANELLE MONAE

We Are YoungWarner **

The good news is that the insanely brilliant (but hitherto commercially underachieving) Janelle Monae has just spent five weeks at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100. The bad news is that she did so by contributing barely audible backing vocals to an otherwise execrable indie/teen pop party anthem.