Elbow - What Time Do You Call This?
Elbow's first original recording since The Take Off and Landing of Everything topped the charts last year is this song, from the soundtrack of Simon Pegg's new film Man Up. Over a gorgeous swirl of acoustic guitars, brushes, piano and strings, Guy Garvey repeats the banal phrase that is this song's title, over and over, until the creaks rise, the seas give up their dead, and language itself ceases to have any meaning.

The Darkness - Barbarian
Previewing this track from his band's Last of Our Kind album, Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins claimed Barbarian contains "not one but two dramatic monologues, a guitar solo that has been declared 'irresponsible', a riff that weakens lady-knees, and a chorus that makes grown men shit directly into their pants". The first part is true. But "Spinal Tap minus the jokes" might be a more accurate summation.

Mariah Carey - Infinity
"Close the door/Lose the key/ Leave my heart on the mat for me." Yikes. Worst house guest ever. Infinity is the sole new track on Carey's greatest hits album, Mariah Carey #1 to Infinity. Since 1990, the singer has had 18 Billboard No 1 singles. Off the top of my head, I probably couldn't hum a single one of them. Yet the flesh- coloured bikini set she wore in 1997's Honey video will remain imprinted in my adolescent consciousness until the day I die. Funny that.

Torres - Cowboy Guilt
When Nashvillian singer- songwriter Mackenzie Scott recruited Rob Ellis, Ian Ollivers (both of whom played on PJ Harvey's Dry) and Adrian Utley (Portishead) as her backing band for her new album (Sprinter), it was a pretty emphatic statement of intent. Muscular and obtuse, Cowboy Guilt is the first infectious cut from an album that we'll soon be hearing a whole lot more about.