Maybe the public should be trusted over A&R men. As the man who signed An Emotional Fish, I should know...

Band offer fans a free track from their forthcoming album Only by the Night

A song about the apocalypse. And, er, drinking carrot juice

PLEASE NOTE: The rights for these tracks have expired and they are therefore no longer available to download

CSS - The Rat Is Dead

As the Black Ghosts, ex-Simian frontman Simon Lord and former Wiseguy Theo Keating are better associated with blaring, boisterous techno than softly strummed acoustic music. But that's exactly what we have here; delicate little unplugged versions of three selected album tracks from the duo's self-titled debut album. A world away from their usual ear-splitting stuff, we think you'll agree.

The flower punks take on rock and roll's pioneer

Sony launches its latest assault on the hegemony of the iPod, and this time it's egg-shaped

We've picked out some ditties for you to download or stream for nothing. Show your love in the comments section and we might do it again

New novel Kill Your Friends is an hilarious indictment of the industry in the late 90s. Will we look back in a decade and feel the same derision for the late noughties?

Qtrax might be the first major P2P to go legitimate, but it won't close the gap between legal and illegal downloading

Plus, Obama compares Hillary to Celine Dion, Boy George now and then, and Ghostface Killah's realisation

The Beatles, the Smiths and Nicolas Sarkozy's cherie all know how to finish off an album. What are your favourite closing songs?

The post-punk trancers talk to us about fashion houses and zoos. Plus, the dongle reviews and a visit to Mali's Festival au Desert