Sadly, 'I Will Break You' is nothing to do with Ivan Drago commencing a music career (and yes, I know it would be called 'I Must Break You' if it was). Happily, it's by Sparrow and the Workshop, who are really rather good. It's ethereal female fronted folk, but with a knowing sense of the modern to balance the Fairport Convention-isms. It's there in the funky drumming, and it marks them out as something potentially special. Unfortunately we don't have a youtube clip for this, so here's an older, more folking folk music affair..

There's only one place to go from a melodic folk act, and that's to the Wu. As you can imagine, we're all extremely excited about the impending release of Wu Massacre by Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. 'Our Dreams' features some slightly odd production, pitching an achingly poignant 1975 Michael Jackson vocal in the chorus with some seriously slinky verses. This has the potential to be what I believe is commonly known as a crossover hit. Here's a behind the scenes clip which made me laugh a lot more than was probably intended.

Next up is White Belt Yellow Tag with their Always and Echoes EP. The title track features definite echoes of Doves at their most grandiose, containing the direct Northern Soul drums so beloved of messrs Goodwin and co. It will be interesting to hear which way the album goes, as there's no escaping the fact that the vocals, while strong, have a potential to drift alarmingly into Chris Martin territory. However the messy shoegaze guitar sound ensures that it never veers into territory that shit for long. Promising.

Kerogen is fast becoming something of a favourite of mine. This new single came about when Alex from Echodub contacted Kerogen and asked him to be a part of their Echodub Loves Volume 01 compilation - an album from 'the deeper end of the dubstep, electronic and IDM genres.' 'Hope' is what we've come to expect from Kerogen: sophisticated and more than a little moving. What's more, the album can be downloaded for free here

Yes, Courtney Love is bonkers. And yes, she is generally a thoroughly dislikeable human being, and has been for many a year. But fuck it, I like her voice. 'Skinny Little Bitch' is utterly Hole-by-numbers: repetitive riff, angry, slightly sixth form lyrics. But still, I like her voice..

Bristolians The Chemists serve up a slice of big, brash, riffy rock 'n' roll of the Josh Homme variety, backed by some slightly odd remixes; including one by breakbeat specialist Adam Freeland that is more melodic, and indeed markedly better than one might expect.

Finally for this week, let's return to the Wu. Inspektah Deck is not the most feted member of the Clan. In fact, in commercial terms he's unquestionably among its least successful. Somehow though, that seems as much his own choice as the record buying public's, as both flow and lyrical prowess are firmly in place. It just seems like he prefers a low key style. Though the production to 'The Champion' is typically Alchemist (polished, with hooks aplenty), it is still as far away from the bombast of Ghostface Killah's similarly boxing themed 'The Champ' (from his classic Fishscale LP). Which isn't to say it's not good, as it quite clearly is. Here's both tracks, because we're nice like that..