It’s a pretty damn good end to the week with U2 getting an Oscar nod; James Vincent McMorrow number two here and likely to go top 15 in the UK with Post Tropical; three-and-a-half hours of American hair metal tonight on BBC4 and another quality Free Music Friday selection of tunes that won’t cost you a brass cent.

The eponymous debut album from trad supergroup The Gloaming is streaming at
[link]www.npr.org/2014/01/12/261121018/first-listen-the-gloaming-the-gloaming[/link] – and quality fare it is too!
Irish players Iarla Ó Lionaird, Martin Hayes and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh are joined in the line-up by Americans Denis Cahill and Thomas Bartlett, AKA Doveman, who’s collaborated in the past with the likes of The National and Antony & The Johnsons.
On the live front, the quintet have a massive National Concert Hall show on January 26 before journeying to Derry on February 9 for the latest northern edition of Other Voices.

The hot streaming action doesn’t end there with Warpaint, Tom Brosseau, Gem Club and Damien Jurado all hanging out at [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link]; [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] treating us to newbies from The Big Ups, The Hypnotic Eye and Young The Giant, and depending on where you and your computer reside [link]albumstreams.com[/link] has advance plays of ASTR, Real Estate, The Valient, Neneh Cherry, Mogwai, Elizabeth & The Catapults, Jeremy Jay, Girl Trouble, Nir Felder, I Break Horses, Graveborne, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Menace Beach, Foster The People, The Hidden Cameras, Alcest, Doug Paisley, Willow Smith, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Blitz Kids, Dum Dum Girls, Tokyo Police Club, Buzzherd, Sun Club and Shakira who gets pally with Rihanna in 2014’s first big superstar hook-up.

Team FMF was very taken with Overhead, The Albatross last Saturday when they headlined the final night of the Whelan’s ‘Ones To Watch’ showcase festival. The Dubliners’ debut album isn’t due ’til the summer but they’ve a load of free stuff to tide you over till then.

There’s a fabulous download set from Afro Blue, a Washington DC vocal jazz ensemble who make the most heavenly noise this side of the Gladwys Street end at Goodison Park.

J. Roddy Walston & The Business do much to excite Kings Of Leon and classic Led Zep fans with their aptly-titled Noise Trade sampler, The Business.

Also new from our friends at Noise Trade is Way With Words, a Florence-esque confection from Anglophile Utah/North Carolina twosome Mideau.

Low provide us with a sneak [link]wxrt.cbslocal.com/2014/01/10/free-new-music-from-low-just-make-it-stop[/link] preview of the album, The Invisible Way, they’ve been recording with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. We were hoping for something a bit special and the track doesn’t disappoint.

Sign up to [link]ilovestvincent.com[/link] and get a fabulous free track from the lady in question’s self-titled stunner, which drops here on February 21.

Our Mixtape of the Week accolade goes to Get Pumped Vol. 2, the latest offering from Baltimore’s DJ Angelbaby who makes Azealia Banks seem positively subdued in comparison.

On the indie front, [link]hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/3/a/4/3a476b009e625573/Record_Labels_Mix.mp3?c_id=6675374&expiration=1389885427&hwt=949ceb289495192ec6dfba6ab59f17f7[/link] has 15 San Fran acts who are making Bay Area hipsters all sticky at the moment.

If it’s grim but compelling viewing you’re after, look no further than The Field: Violence, Hip-Hop, And Hope In Chicago, a new documentary, which underlines just how cheap and segregated African-American life has become in the Windy City. “You'll see firearms pointed at the camera,” reads the press blurb. “Firearms stuffed into sagging pastel-colored, Louie V-belted jeans. Firearms wielded as totems of respect, authority, domination—tons of guns.” Depressingly it delivers – and then some.

We were somewhat dubious when we heard that an album of unreleased Johnny Cash tunes was coming out in March, but ‘She Used To Love Me’ has allayed our fears somewhat.
“I really love this song,” says John Carter Cash, who rediscovered the lost early ‘80s masters. “The depth that’s there reminds me of the real serious stuff that Dad did later in his life.”
The first taster from Out Among The Stars, it finds the Man In Black in top vocal form and can be streamed at [link]www.rollingstone.com/music/news/johnny-cashs-lost-love-song-20140113[/link]

Sticking with America’s music bible and [link]www.rollingstone.com/music/daily-download[/link] wants you to meet The Tower Of Light and Maggie Chapman, the Clearwater, Florida songstress who’s shaping up to have a massive 2014.

Last week found Gavin James testing the rather nifty iTrack Dock with a gorgeous rendition of ‘Remember Me’. If the song doesn’t get you, the tekky porn will!

Jake Bugg has premiered the video for new single, ‘A Song About Love’, which was shot in Paris and finds our favourite Notts County fan walking around the city pining for his blonde amour. The latest tune to be lifted from Mr. B’s Shangri La album, it’s co-authored by our old northern pal Iain Archer.

Loathe as we are to leave Jake in a state of emotional turmoil, that’s where Free Music Friday must sail into the sunset for another weeks. Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66 and have a great weekend!