Album: Tinariwen – Imidiwan: Companions

Surely one of the most unique and original ‘bands’ releasing music in the UK today, Tinariwen are a group of musicians out of Mali who came together in the 1970s to play traditional Touareg music. They formed around Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who spent his early life in a Malian refugee camp and made his first guitar as a young child after seeing a cowboy playing a guitar in a Western.

Album: The Rumblestrips – Welcome to the Walk Alone

Fans of The Rumble Strips will have been shocked when they heard the hornless first release from the new album Welcome to Walk Alone. Given the band have teamed up with producer Mark Ronson, you might be forgiven for expecting it to sound like Grimethorpe Colliery Band covering the back catalogue of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Instead it opens with the majestic ‘Welcome to the Walk Alone’ which is reminiscent of Scott Walker’s saturnine best.

Album Sampler: Lisa Mitchell

Nineteen year old Australian Lisa Mitchell has come along way since her breakthrough as a finalist in the 2006 Australian Idol. Even then as a little sixteen year old, she showed immense potential that is finally getting realised. Lisa has taken a hop, skip and a jump from Albury, New South Wales, all the way over to London to prepare her debut album Wonder.

Single: The Momeraths – Millipede Stomps

The debut single from The Momeraths has definitely been released at the right time of year, as Millipede Stomps is the perfect summer single. The male/female vocals complement each other fabulously and are bouncy and uplifting, oozing the excitement of youth. As well as having the feel good factor, it also delivers a chorus that will be sang all year round.