Hmmm, this is a little late this week. As always with Flashlight though, there is of course a perfectly plausible excuse. Because it was a bank holiday weekend, I completely forgot it was my turn. And indeed that Flashlight existed. That may not make much sense, but just think about it. No? Ah, fuck you all. Anyway, forgetting to do it has given me a whole extra three and a bit days to listen to lots of 'great' 'new' 'music'. Here are my findings:

First off, here's some exceptionally uninspired New Wave from LR Rockets. It's their new single 'Renee Loves Losers'. When they listen to themselves they no doubt think they sound dead important. They don't; they sound like an unholy cross between SMASH, The Longpigs and some terrible band from the mid 1990s that I just can't place. Though, in fairness, I might just be thinking of The Longpigs again. Or SMASH.

Next is the first single from the mighty Jay Z's forthcoming Blueprint 3 LP. It's called 'Run This Town', and is, unfortunately, a bit shit. Rhianna's vocal is extremely annoying, and Jay-Z's verse is him in safe mode, operating well with in himself. Which is still a million times better than Kanye West's verse. You. Can't. Rap. I thought we already explained this to you? You mean you don't listen to crappy little indie sites? Well you won't mind if we once again call you a gay fish then...

As we reported last week, it's the end of an era for Flashlight's favourite source of funk, soul and hip hop, Fat City. In honour of that, here are a few records we've bought from them over the years (chosen at random via a cursory look at my record collection); all of them utter gems...don't get scared by one of them being by Xzibit, for it is an utter tune..

From looking at Fat City, we've just noticed that the first cut from Beastie Boys' forthcoming Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 is upon us. It's called 'Too Many Rappers', it features Nas, and it is utterly brilliant, a dark update on the guitar led Licensed to Ill days. I absolutely love it.

I have to just mention Oasis' demise quickly. They may have been mostly rubbish for the last twelve years, but their output between 1994 and 1997 is probably the main reason for Flashlight existing. We all wish they'd split at Knebworth, so they wouldn't have largely denigrated their back catalogue to the kind of people that don't like to throw urine over large crowds of people. Oh well. I'll leave you with my current Oasis favourites. Enjoy...