The Bonus Track: Hurray For the Riff Raff, Jungle, Anais Mitchell, the Danielson Famile, Pharrell Williams

Band to watch #1

“The voice of a regeneration,” proclaimed the music-biz magazine Billboard. The act in ­question? The New Orleans-based Hurray For the Riff Raff, fronted by the Bronx-raised Puerta Rican ex punk-rocker Alynda Lee Segarra. Small Town Heroes, the band’s first album to be released in the UK, is out next month. Watch the video for “St Roch Blues” here:

Band to watch #2

Nothing says “to be taken seriously” in the music world these days quite like signing a contract with “home to Adele” XL Recordings. So congratulations to the London-based collective Jungle, whose video for “Platoon” notched up about half-a-million YouTube hits without the support of a major. Might have something to do with the too-cute six-year-old girl ­breakdancing...

For folk’s sake

While the eyes of pop lovers were turned towards the Brits last week, the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards barely got a look in. Sure, the jokes about drug dealers might not have been quite as ­prevalent, but Anais Mitchell did play live. Watch her and Jefferson Hamer’s performance of the award-winning “Willie of ­Winsbury” below

Family values

Sometimes, the originators get left behind. To celebrate 20 years since the Danielson Famile’s first show, the group’s three early albums are being rereleased in April. Fans of indie-music-as-­holy-communion (see Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes etc) take note. Watch a clip from Danielson: A Family Movie here

Next week’s biggie…

Kevin Harley reviews ­Pharrell Williams’ Girl. The perfect excuse to put a smile on your face by watching the “Happy” video again. It's here: