A true summer electro-pop gem, with handclaps and all, just as the sun deserts us

It’s hard to tell if summer is still upon us, or if it buggered off a few weeks ago having allowed us three whole days of sunshine. Either way, Seattle-based duo Beat Connection have managed to bottle some of it up and actually stitch it into the fabric of In The Water. Seagulls squawk melodiously during the intro and there’s much talk about water before the whole thing bursts into life, like the sun suddenly breaking through a grey cloud. There’s a great bit around the 1:50 mark where the handclaps (of course it’s got handclaps in it!) reach a crescendo and the chorus drops and you want to put on some Speedos, run out into the sea and frolic like you’ve never frolicked before. Naturally, it all ends with some steel drums, making this a shoe-in for the next Lilt commercial.

You can not only download In The Water but an entire 8-track EP is available for free from their Band Camp site.

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Is this leaked song an old unreleased track or a hint that the singer will finally release a follow up to her 1998 solo album?

Lauryn Hill has been away from music for far too long, so you can’t blame fans for getting excited about the unexpected arrival of a new song. The question is, is the track actually new or an unreleased recording from the late 1990s? Repercussion is a languid, introspective account of Hill’s life with lyrics recalling those on her 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: “I was born into this world, a little ditty baby girl … a racist world, now it’s a difficult process – the matter is of perception.” As it bears the hallmarks of her earlier work, fans are already speculating that it was a reject from The Miseducation … LP, while others suggest the recent confirmation that the singer will play the Rock the Bells tour in the US is a sign she’s about to release new material. Maybe our blog convinced her to up the work rate!

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Depech Mode played through a duvet? That’ll be Coolrunnings

“You want to kiss my egg?” Who doesn’t love the 1993 comedy about a Jamaican bobsleigh team who overcome prejudice to compete in the Winter Olympics? It’s a seminal movie, like Raging Bull. We can only assume that this eight-piece from Knoxville, Tennessee agree, and they didn’t just choose the name because it sounds good. I Am You is a bit like hearing 1980s-era Depeche Mode through the wall of an adjacent room, its muffled synths and fuzzy beats seemingly recorded through a 12 tog duvet. In spite of their shyness, melodies fight their way through the fog and by the end you’ll be shuffling about despite yourself.

If you like this, head over to Band Camp where you can download I Am You for free, plus two EPs, one of which comes with artwork featuring nude female skateboarders.

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A summer jam from a man whose real name trumps his stage one

So, what do we know about Chad Valley? Well, we know from his MySpace that he’s from Oxford, that his – much more exotic – real name is Hugo Manuel and that he’s one sixth of the band, Jonquil. Now, this is all very well in a This Is Your Life kind of way, but what’s the music like? Up and Down is a slinky Hot Chip on downers, a disco-infused summer “joint” featuring some shimmering synths, padded drum beats and Manuel’s impressive croon. You know when Big Brother contestants say, “it was like some mad rollercoaster ride in that house, Davina”? Well, this song sums that sentiment up perfectly.

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Listen to the London club duo unleash the Jets’ inner party animal

Because it’s sunny right now, here’s a bongo-bashing summer party anthem. We’ll give you a day to learn those dance moves, but you can start singing “Ooooooooh, yeah!” right away.

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After all the hype, is Tom Jones’s new album really such a departure? Listen for yourselves and let us know

It was the album that “horrified” the label releasing it, although let’s face it, that was clearly a PR stunt. More significant are the murmurings that Praise and Blame may well be the Welsh crooner’s “Johnny Cash moment”. So what do you hear? The sound of a man stripping back his sound and baring his soul? The same old same old? Or a “sick joke” designed to infuriate the label? Have a listen on this widget brought to you by free music sharing service We7, and let us know your thoughts below.

Praise and Blame is released on 26 July

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The rapper talks us through the concept for the video to his new single, Upside, featuring Michelle Breeze

Taken from Kano’s forthcoming album, Method to the Maadness, Upside sees the rapper teaming up with Why Why Peaches vocalist Michelle Breeze. “One of the key lyrics from the track, and the one which inspired the whole video is from the first verse, is: ’If I lose my head, I lose my focus, but I’ll lose my dough before I lose my soul.’” explains Kano. The video, directed by Henry Schofield and shot in Canning Town, east London, sees the rapper playing a young boxer cornered by two fixers who want him to throw a fight. Method to the Maadness is out on 30 August and features contributions from Boys Noize, Hot Chip, Diplo, and Damon Albarn.

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Today in Film&Music we celebrate the lesser-known movers and shakers who shaped pop. Tell us who you think deserves a nod

Pop music is full of secret histories. It’s not just about the canon, the critically approved history that takes us from Elvis to the Beatles and the Stones, through the supposedly barren years of the early 70s, into punk and beyond, with diversions for soul and funk and hip-hop and house. Pop feeds off itself in strange and unexpected ways, and its story isn’t as straightforward as the canonical telling suggests.

In this week’s Film&Music we’ve tried to touch on that by taking 10 artists (well, strictly nine artists and one record company employee) and looking at the way each of them helped shaped pop. Some, like Earth Wind & Fire, are superstars who seemed only to be regarded as radio-friendly unit-shifters, even though that ubiquity gave them huge influence over generations of musicians. Others, such as Mick Green of the Pirates, mastered one specific thing that filtered through music to the extent that his descendants probably don’t even realise the debt they owe. One, Ralph Peer, is a non-musician who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to inadvertently kickstart commercial country music. If it hadn’t been him, it would have been someone else, but that doesn’t negate his importance.

But we only had room for 10, though the original discussions among the writers produced dozens of names who could have been included. Ours isn’t a top 10; there’s no particular logic to the selections, they’re just people we felt have been underappreciated. So we want you to expand our list. Who are music’s other unsung heroes? And what did they do that echoed down the years? Make your cases here: we’re all ears.

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From Roxy Music to Wild Beasts, get ready for Lovebox festival with our special We7 playlist

This year’s Lovebox festival in east London will play host to Hot Chip, These New Puritans, Grandmaster Flash, and the Hackney Colliery Band, with headline performances from Dizzee Rascal, Roxy Music and Grace Jones. To get you in the mood, or offer some musical solace if you’re not going, We7 and Lovebox have created a gargantuan playlist featuring bands appearing at this year’s event.

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Is this sparkling album of lo-fi surf pop one of the best releases of 2010? Judge for yourself …

Yet another fuzzy, lo-fi, surf-pop band beamed in from Planet Blogosphere, right? Right, but also wrong. Because Best Coast (Californian duo Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno) stand out a mile from the pack, thanks to their sparkling melodies (not to mention some rather brilliant videos). On their debut album Crazy for You, we can hear the Beach Boys, Sonic Youth, Ramones, My Bloody Valentine, and the Shangri-Las. In fact, this love letter to LA is fast becoming one of our favourite albums of 2010. Let us know your thoughts below.

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