Mike Kelley, who died on or around 31 January, was an artist and musician who became a major figure in the US art world. His work involved found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance and video. He was found dead at his home in South Pasadena, near Los Angeles, and appeared to have taken his own life. A friend told investigators that Kelley had been depressed because he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, but no note was found.

What's hot on our playlist

Almost nine years ago the Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, using the monikers Soulwax and 2ManyDJs, helped bring the then nascent craze for "mash ups" to wider attention with their As Heard on Radio Soulwax Vol 2 mix album.

When it comes to Nas it's hard not to gaze back longingly to his stunning 1994 debut Illmatic; it can be hard to keep up the pace when you come out of the blocks so fast.

Gently wrought from strands of acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin and harp, encountering the genteel Demolished Thoughts after Thurston Moore's more abrasive work with Sonic Youth is akin to hearing Paris 1919 after John Cale's rampaging Velvet Underground period.

Mournful songs of place and imagination run wild, produced by Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley in some barn in the Catskills.

Last summer the leather-jacket toting sisters Colette and Hannah Thurlow, better known as 2:54 (see below), got attention for some roughly sketched demos of doom-laden fuzz rock.

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth (below) once authored a book celebrating the old-fashioned cassette mixtapes, so, appropriately enough, when his band put out a newfangled online mixtape, it was accompanied with the graphic of a cassette tape, its spools spinning as the music plays.

Near the end of last year, the French electro duo Discodeine (see what they did there?) knocked out a slinky track pairing Jarvis Cocker's vocals – in breathy/desperate/sleazy mode – with some minimal beats and addictive synth hooks.

Companies that have been founded by choreographers can fade when their creator dies, losing momentum and confidence. Merce Cunningham, the iconic American choreographer who died last year, made a will for his troupe: they'll tour for two years, then stop. The tour ends in 2011; worldwide, there is a dwindling number of chances to catch one of the great companies of dance.