It seems that the death knell has been sounding for the beloved single as we know it for a while now, so we have decided that there's little point having a singles review section on Flashlight. Instead, what we intend to do is have a round up of everything that has excited us that week, be it singles, tracks, films, football, food...you get the idea. Each week we'll offer our opinions on all kinds of crazy crap....

Firstly, this week saw the Arctic Monkeys release the first track from their upcoming album, Humbug. Entitled 'Crying Lightning' (rolls nicely off the tongue, that one) it's a fairly standard Monkeys track with little of Josh Homme's influence coming through (no real surprise as he's only worked on half the album). It's a grower for sure and hopefully is a good pointer for what we can expect. Although certain associates of Flashlight think it's shit. So make your own mind up. You can buy it from iTunes or listen to a live version below...

Elsewhere, with the Ashes in full flow, I've been listening to the Duckworth Lewis Method album, the new offering from Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon. Expecting to think it was pretty awful (a concept album about cricket - WTF?) It's actually a work of bizarre genius that's quite hilarious. The stand out track has to be 'Jiggery Pokery', a piano led recreation of Shane Warne's 'ball of the century' to Mike Gatting. "If it had been a cheese roll, it would never have got past me' laments Hannon as Gatting. Brilliant. Sadly there's no Youtube footage of that, so here's a look at the equally awesome 'Meeting Mr Miandad'. The album's out now....

Jack White has managed to get another album out there, and once again it's pretty fucking ace. Horehound is it's name and The Dead Weather, his new project with a couple of his Raconteurs buddies and Alison Mosshart of The Kills is loud, intense and very shouty. Jack plays the drums this time, and the album's well worth checking out. Although I've only listened to it once. Because it hurt my ears...At a recent secret gig in Tufnell Park (they played tiny blues venue, The Dome) rumours abound that the Beastie Boys were there to check them out. Reports are unconfirmed about whether Mike D was seen enjoying a cheeky Carbonara at the Spaghetti House just opposite....

I just want to get in a quick mention of Amadou & Mariam who last week played at the Manchester International Festival with the Beating Wing Orchestra. Having seen them play at Glastonbury and Koko, it's fair to say that they're probably the happiest looking couple in history. Never have I seen a band enjoy themselves so much onstage - so this is a salute to them....Here's their lovely new video -

Other new releases for this week include Un, the debut album from Dan Black (haven't heard it, can't comment), something or other from Green Day (don't want to hear it but will have a listen later on), another update of Leonard Cohen's Greatest Hits (it has 'Hallelujah' on now, surprisingly) and the new album by Madness (no idea whether I want to hear it or not). Also, just arriving on my radar is the latest album from Ninjatune's Fink, or Fin Greenall as he's known to his Mum. He's a damn good songwriter, so I'm expecting to love this one...Oh, and The Stone Roses rerelease 'Made Of Stone'. Which is quite good I suppose. Let's relive one of the great TV appearances - "We're wastin' our time lads!!'

Finally, it seems appropriate to express some sort of sadness regarding the fact that folks just don't take the single seriously anymore. With the advent of downloading and the realization that 'kids these days' have the attention span of a gnat and only want to play songs on a crappy phone speaker at the back of a bus, nobody cares about great singles. Why just a few years ago, the likes of Oasis were putting better songs out on their B-Sides than they've managed on their recent glut of disappointing albums, not to mention the fact that one of their best singles, 'Whatever, wasn't even on an album. Take it back further and it's amazing to think of the power of the single in the 'olden days'. Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s singles regularly approached the 2 million sales mark. The Beatles released 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as a double A-Side with Penny Lane in 1967 under pressure from their label, maybe locking down the greatest single release of all time. and who can forget the pain of realising that Brian Adams had nailed another week at Number One on the way to sixteen consecutive weeks at the top of the charts? Hang on a minute, maybe the death of the single isn't such a bad thing after all.....

Thanks for listening and enjoy the following nostalgia trip...