It didn’t seem possible a few weeks ago, but our usually permafrosted isle is gripped by a heatwave that promises to go on forever… well, Monday anyway! Nice weather needs some tunes to go with it, which is hopefully where we come in…

We're almost teary at the fact that Martin Stephenson & The Daintees are not only back, but also treating fans to a three-track ‘name your price’ EP, which is a burst of summer wonderfulness. Get the California Star EP and revel!

 
If you’re looking for a soundtrack to the gorgeous weather, look no further than Galway singer-songwriter Chris Haze and his backyard ‘Jammin’ In The Sun’ vid.
The 22-year-old also has a couple of free downloads that we can heartily recommend too.

The sunkissed goodies keep on coming with Floating Points’ Summer13At45 mix – a whopping hour-and-a-half of classic funk, soul and R’n’B.

There’s no shortage of streamable goodies with [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] home to new albums from Desto, Shining, Kelpe, Houndmouth. Femi Kuti, Hey Kid, British Electric Foundation, Spectrals, Frankie & The Heartstrings, Lucrecia Dalt, Big Deal, Kanine, Turboweekend, City & Colour and Baths; [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] pitches in with the amazing Jagwar Ma, Gold Panda, Fat Toby, Surfer Blood and Airhead and [link]pitchfork.com/advance[/link] really wants you to hear the latest from Zomby, Rodan, CSS, Lust For Youth, Sonny & The Sunsets, Stellar Om Source and Close.

Odd Future associate Hodgy has a well nifty seven-track EP available for free [link]www.oddfuture.com/collections/hodgy/products/hodgy-beats-untitled-ep-2[/link] download. Left Brain and Lee Spielman guest, and there are loads of big and clever swear words.

That old silver-tongued Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire rap devil shares a studio with Danny Brown, Flatbush Zombies and Raider Klan member Key-Nyata on his new Kismet mixtape, which can be found at [link]lifeispassion.com/post/52145011957/kismet[/link]
The cover artwork is, well, colourful!

If you’re suffering Black Keys withdrawal symptoms, Nashville’s Ben Spinks Supermelt have some seriously rockin’ blues to ease your pain.

Madonna’s fave Russian gypsy band Gogol Bordello are giving away a free track, ‘Malandrino’, as they embark on a gargantuan North American tour. What about us poor Europeans, eh?

 
White Lies are in top melancholic form on ‘Getting Even’, the first taster from their third album, Big TV.
Nothing particularly new, but if it ain’t broke etc. etc.

It’s welcome back too to Editors who seem to have morphed into an Echo & The Bunnymen tribute band. Nowt wrong with that!

Primavera may be over for another year, but you can still download the free [link]freemusicarchive.org/curator/Primavera_Sound/Primavera_Sound_2013_Preview[/link] festival mix that includes the likes of Dan Deacon, Daniel Johnston, Death Grips, Deer Hunter, Four Tet, Fuck Buttons and Fucked Up. Young people’s language nowadays, tsk!

One of our favourite things at Forbidden Fruit, ‘Queen Bitch 5th Element’ Mykki Blanco has an incendiary free mixtape that makes us long for his Irish return all the more.

Canadian indie label Arts & Crafts serve up the first taster from their collaborative X album. The moody ‘Nothing Good Comes To Those Who Wait’ is by Stars and Chilly Gonzalez and can be listened to at [link]www.spin.com/articles/hear-stars-and-chilly-gonzales-brooding-nothing-good-comes-to-those-who-wait[/link]
The new Croupier single awaits your listening pleasure at [link]soundcloud.com/squaredmanagement/croupier-power-up[/link];
the good people at Scion Audio/Visual treat us to a veritable free download orgy at [link]soundcloud.com/scionav[/link] with exclusives from Hot Lynch, Chromatics, White Hill, Poolside. Melvins and lots more; Montreal producer CFCF gifts us the shimmering ‘Camera’ at [link]www.stereogum.com/1373611/cfcf-camera/mp3s[/link] and Nine Inch Nails want you to check out their new electro throbber below.

This week’s name yer’ price Noise Trade offerings include a 5-tracker charting Charlotte Church’s wonderfully eccentric foray into rock ‘n’ roll; LA’s Todd Zero channels Muse, Flaming Lips and Foster The People on his Kid Heart album and Trevor Borden comes over all bedsit Brooooooce on Giants.




Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee, Neil Morrissey, Ross Noble, Kevin Eldon, Ricky Grover and Samuel West are just some of the top UK funny persons appearing in the video for the new Billy Bragg single, ‘Handyman Blues’.
The clip is directed by Johnny Vegas who’s married, fact fans, to RTÉ TV and radio presenter Maia Dunphy.
If a meteorite had hit the shoot, there would be no comedy left!

The xx have just premiered the video for their new ‘Fiction’ single, a gorgeous slice of film noir, which is lifted from their Coexist album.
The trio’s June 26 show in the Dublin O2 with Mount Kimbie and Jagwar Ma is now within touching distance!

Free Music Friday is liking the look of The Silk Road Of A Pop, a documentary devoted to the music scene in China’s remote Xinjiang province.

The Silk Road of Pop - Trailer from smokesignalprojects on Vimeo.

And with that Free Music Friday casts off the headphones, slathers itself in Factor 30 and heads to the seaside for some serious R&R. Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66