Aluna Francis and George Reid offer a blend of warmth and innocence which in places recalls trip-hop pioneers Sneaker Pimps as well as more modern comparisons with the voguish pop alienation of Lana Del Rey. Reid's sparse backing tracks, with their blend of brittle, skittish beats, deep synth bass pulses and woozy keyboard chordings, nod to the synthetic variety of contemporary British modes from bashment to dubstep, while Francis employs a distinctive childlike Estuary English delivery that's equal parts Lily Allen and (the younger) Bonnie Langford.

It’s a long road to anywhere from the Essex Delta. The good thing about Boulter – whose second solo album away from the Lucky Strikes this is – is that he’s intent on the events of the journey rather than on what awaits at the end of the A13.

'Daniel Lanois brings magic to any song he touches'

She won a Grammy in 2010 for her last collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. You get Grammys for uplift. But One True Vine tells a slightly different story, one of spiritual inquiry and trial. Well, almost. This is not Mavis Staples the hearty belter of gospel platitude but the quiet examiner of religious premise – there isn’t a shadow of doubt expressed here about where Mavis is going, but there is plenty of feeling that the journey, like all journeys, is bordered with darkness. It’s in the sound of the music and, even more so, in the recessiveness of Staples’ own performances. The gospel interior.

'I’ll manage them. But I’m taking 30 per cent'

Kveikur finds Sigur Rós in more forceful and declamatory mood than usual, a shift heralded by the explosion that ushers in the heavy guitar riff and juddering bass of “Brennisteinn”.

Like track one of Black Sabbath's debut, this starts with big, sludgy Tony Iommi doom-chords and Ozzy Osbourne mournfully wailing a rhetorical question ("Is this the end of the beginning?").

The family of murdered Drummer Lee Rigby fought back tears as they paid tribute to him today.

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that the soldier killed in yesterday's incident in Woolwich, South East London, is believed to be Drummer Lee Rigby, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (attached to the Regimental Recruiting Team in London).

Since the 1980s, John Zorn has composed 500 songs inspired by traditional Jewish music, a series known as the Masada Book, variously recorded by adventurous musicians such as Marc Ribot and now Pat Metheny.

This double CD plus DVD and book combo offers a fascinating glimpse into pan-Caribbean music and culture from the 1920s to the 1970s, with the archive collection of original Pathé newsreels on the DVD particularly resonant, but there’s a seeming randomness to the project that irks.

Widely tipped for success, Anglo-American duo MS MR deal in a similar kind of blandly alienated, metrosexual pop to Hurts, with Lizzy Plapinger's sultry-soulful vocals allied to Max Hershenow's electronic pop arrangements.

James McNair talks to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's latest inductees

Hubcap Music – so titled because one of the guitars he uses was made from “two hubcaps and a garden hoe” – finds Seasick Steve back on form, with an album steeped in gritty boogie and even grittier attitude.