Singles

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

JANELLE MONÁE FT BIG BOI ****

Tightrope Bad Boy/ Wondaland Arts Society

There isn’t much left to say about 24-year-old Janelle Monáe. She’s undoubtedly one of the freshest and most talented artists to emerge in years, and her music encompasses a kaleidoscope of diverse influences and styles. It’s the spirit of the late James Brown that comes most unmistakably to the fore here. Tightrope is available this week as a free download from iTunes.

THE WANTED **

All Time Low Geffen

With the prefix “hot new” sellotaped to them like a free toothbrush on a tube of toothpaste, British boyband The Wanted are poised to crash the charts at the first time of asking. Their secret weapon? A strict non-dancing policy, which requires little more from the group’s members (Dublin model Siva Kaneswaren among them) than an ability to participate in occasional bursts of synchronised walking.

CATHY DAVEY ****

Army of Tears Hammer Toe Records

The second single from Davey’s chart-topping The Nameless album is another enchanting effort. Davey plays The Big Top with Josh Ritter and Damien Dempsey in Galway next Friday .

BEST COAST ****

Boyfriend Mexican Summer

The shoe-gazing revival continues apace with this wistful summer anthem from Bethany Cosentino’s Best Coast. According to one enthusiastic reviewer, the track contains “enough reverb to sink California.” That might be an exaggeration, but there’s no denying the magic in its melancholy undertow.

BRANDON FLOWERS ***

Crossfire Island

It’s not much of a departure from his work with The Killers, but this single from Brandon Flowers’s debut solo album Flamingo is a solid, slickly produced effort nonetheless. Look out for Charlize Theron in the video as a sexy, one- woman Ninja-killing machine. I’m not joking.