Caught in the Net: New Yorke, new Yorke

Thom Yorke's recent productivity is showing no signs of abating. Following on from two recent Radiohead songs, Yorke this week released a two-track 12" single through the band's website (tinyurl.com/ncsftg) with a wider digital release expected on 6 October. As explained by Yorke on Radiohead's blog earlier in the month (tinyurl.com/kwcu6n), the first track, "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses", is a "radical rework" of a song by Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from the start of the decade, while the second, "The Hollow Earth", is a glitches, beats and bass effort that recalls Yorke's 2006 solo record, 'The Eraser'. A video for "The Hollow Earth" has surfaced (tinyurl.com/knutn2), made by the visual artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon. It is an unofficial effort and its dizzying appropriation of Banksy artworks was unauthorised. Meanwhile, a video has also come out, officially this time, for Thom Yorke's contribution to the Mark Mulcahy tribute album. The video for the track "All for the Best" premiered on the website of 'Rolling Stone' – tinyurl.com/mhma35.

Bearded wonder

Devendra Banhart has long been the king of the sun-drenched, neo-hippy, freak-folk, beard, beads and bandana set. However, with the likes of Alex Ebert (frontman of the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros troupe) following hot on his heels, it's about time Banhart reasserted his credentials. Banhart's sixth solo LP and major label debut (for Warner Bros), 'What Will We Be', is released on 27 October. "Baby" is the first taster from the album and is streaming on his MySpace site. It finds Banhart in particularly laid-back and louche form, with a slight but quite lovely ode to taking the train with his lady friend; go to myspace.com/ devendrabanhart.

A stroke of genius?

With various members of The Strokes pursuing solo projects over the last few years, it was no surprise that frontman Julian Casablancas would try his hand eventually. His debut solo album, 'Phrazes for the Young', has been trailed for a while and arrives on 19 October. The first song to emerge is "11th Dimension" and it comes complete with Casablancas' trademark lazily slurred vocals, backed up with widescreen synths. Hear it at myspace.com/juliancasablancas.

Lo-fi leanings that scrub up nicely

Washed Out is the moniker of the young American Ernest Greene, who makes gorgeously hazy waves of lo-fi synth music. Two weeks ago his track "Feel it All Around" featured in the 'Arts & Books' Playlist. In August he digitally released his debut EP, 'Life of Leisure', on the Mexican Summer label (tinyurl.com/nbhd7k). More tracks are at myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods, while free downloads are at tinyurl.com/ldkjhv and tinyurl.com/lsxaoa.

Exotic flavours

Soulico Crew are a Tel-Aviv based fourman collective mixing hip-hop with Middle-Eastern sounds and inflections. Their debut album, 'Exotic on the Speaker', is available now on iTunes, with a physical release coming next month. The frenetic title track from the album is emblematic of their style and features vocals by the Baltimore rapper Rye Rye – it's streaming at myspace.com/soulicocrew and on Diplo's 'Mad Decent' blog (tinyurl.com/ nwc8rp). Others appearing on the album include Ghostface, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and a host of Middle-Eastern MCs, including Tomer Yosef and Axum. A promo mix tape with a taster of the album and other remixes is also free to download on their MySpace site.