Larry Ryan - Caught in the Net

The introductory quote on the MySpace page of London-based production/DJ team Radioclit reads, "The Very Best" (http://www.myspace. com/radioclit). This, though, is not some empty boast but a reference to the name of their collaboration with Esau Mwamwaya. I'm a bit behind the curve with this one but when the music is good it's always worth throwing a light on it. Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best is a preview album/mixtape showcasing their collaboration and is available as a free download from the record label Green Owl – http://tinyurl.com/5o7das – complete with fittingly tongue-in-cheek Lion King-like artwork.

Mwamwaya was born in Malawi and grew up playing drums for various bands there. According to Green Owl, he moved to London in 1999, running a second-hand furniture shop in Clapton. Radioclit had a studio on the same street as the shop, and after the pair bought a bike from Mwamwaya two years ago, they invited him to a party and soon started making music together. The Very Best is the first fruits of their endeavour.

The music is a joyful and wide-eyed encapsulation of a variety of sounds. It riffs on traditional Malawian music, various other African styles and on source material from the likes of Architecture in Helsinki, Vampire Weekend, Cannibal Ox, MIA, Santogold and even Hans Zimmer's True Romance theme tune (Zimmer also composed the score for The Lion King, but that's a whole other story). Rather than merely a crude piling-on of Western and African music, all the divergent elements mesh together to form something fresh and new.

They even have the temerity to provide an extended airing of Michael Jackson's over-cooked anthem "Will You Be There" (yes, the theme tune from Free Willy) before it becomes an infomercial for The Very Best. Mwamwaya butts in to declare, "Thank you so much for buying our mix tape; oh sorry, shit, I forgot, you never bought it, you got it for free. Watch out for the album, it's coming out soon." One can only hope the new record will be as enjoyable as this early marker. Keep up to date with new developments at http://www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace.

Another band on The Very Best's record are Johannesburg art-rockers Blk Jks, a group very much of these genre-melding times. Earlier this year, they recorded the Mystery EP in New York's famed Electric Lady Studios with Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines. Recently they signed with the label Secretly Canadian (http://www.secretlycanadian.com). To mark this, the Mystery EP has been re-released as a free download, available at http:// tinyurl.com/69nd8s. Also playing on the site http://www.digforfire. tv is a short film about the band.

Antony and the Johnsons are also on Secretly Canadian. The group's new album, The Crying Light, will be released in January. In late October, lead-off single "Another World" was released. Antony Hegarty's voice remains something of an acquired taste, but the music is brilliantly haunting. Downloaded it for free at http://tinyurl.com/5bq7cq.

Hegarty is no stranger to the odd collaboration or two. His latest such effort sees him sharing vocal duties with Kria Brekkan (formerly of Mum) on a track by Reverend Green. The strange-sounding song, which seems like it's being played on a gramophone in the background of an old film, can be heard at http://tinyurl.com/64rk6o.

Another unusual pairing is DJ Earworm's mashing of Beyoncé's single "If I Were a Boy" and Tom Petty's singalong favourite "Free Fallin'". Hear "If I Were a Free Fallin' Boy" at http://tinyurl.com/682cz9. Despite the best efforts of Beyoncé, however, it remains difficult to separate "Free Fallin'" from Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.

PICK OF THE WEEK

Nick Thinks

The premise for this "father and son" music blog is curious: "Every day, I play my dad a record and he tells me what he thinks of it." Ruan, a "26-year-old Irish boy", transcribes the ensuing discussion and posts it daily on the site, with the emphasis on the opinions of his father, Nick, a "70-year-old Dutchman". Ruan has been playing Nick his top 25 records of 2008. Included is Gang Gang Dance's album 'Saint Dymphna', though Nick wasn't so impressed: "Eclecticism gone wild, isn't it?"

nickthinks.wordpress.com