FRAN HEALY: Sing Me To Sleep.The lead singer and main songwriter from Travis joins forces with US songstress Neko Case to send you off to Bo Bo Land in a metronome kind of way. It has the desired effect, but perhaps not quite in the way they intended.

BRUNO MARS: Grenades.This soft drum tumble leads the follow-up to his chart-topping Just The Way You Are, but tends to implode rather than having any real impact on jaded imaginations still hungover from the New Year.

NEVILLE SKELLY: He Looks A Lot Like Me.There’s a bleak midwinter shiver to Skelly’s voice as it emerges through the eerie mist of harrowing world weariness.

ROBORTOM (featuring AU REVOIR SIMONE): Paganini Rocks. The classical Paganini's 24th Caprice written in 1819 has been turned into a slow-building and ultimately big slice of piano-tinkling dance synth.The purists won't like it, but they're highly unlikely to be on a dancefloor anyway.

KARL PHILLIPS AND THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS: Karl Phillips And The Midnight Ramblers.Phillips sure can talk quickly, has a lot to say about being young in the UK today – especially the booze and violence – and pulls no punches so it’s a pity the band couldn’t have come up with a more innovative album title. It drags ska, punk, rock, grunge and hip hop into their potent brew while nodding furiously at influences as diverse as The Clash, The Specials and Mike Skinner. Put it this way, you wouldn’t want to take them home to meet your mum.

BEANS ON TOAST: Writing On The Wall.The folky songsmith’s witty, incisive and thought-provoking observations deal with everything from the dark Oil that paints a depressive picture of the world collapsing when the black stuff runs out through to the gritty Foolish, Wild and Forgetful to yarns about drugs, love and friendship. Normally it’s just Beans On Toast – known to his friends as Jay – and his acoustic guitar. This time he’s joined by a band, but he’s still a croaky, adult Jackanory storyteller at heart.