Switch presents his impressive flow on 'Cleopatra's Nose', with a helping voice from Killah Priest; plenty of Christmas songs, but Julia Jacklin's 'Baby Jesus Is Nobody's Baby Now' deserves a proper listen; similarly, Porridge Radio's 'The Last Time I Saw You (o Christmas)' is for those who don't really like the holidays; Lushlife delivers some spacey jazzy-rap on 'Hessdalen Lights'; Scottish folk singer James Yorkston shares a baroque pop single 'Ella Mary Leather'; Every Time I Die share their first new song in four years, a melodic metal-core 'Desperate Pleasures' with some math-core energy.

Paramore's front-lady Hayley Williams has a solo debut album coming out in May, and she announced it with 'Simmer', a subtle exercise in how to draw the line between wrath and mercy; Scottish folk, Hindustani classical music and jazz make great companions on 'The North Carr' by James Yorkston, Suhail Yusuf Khan and Jon Thorne; U.S. Girls does some almost-religious rock at 'Overtime'; 'I Can’t Read 97' is an acoustic version of David Bowie's 1980s song by his short-lived hard-rock band Tin Machine; Porridge Radio reinvent the Pixies’ loud-quiet-loud trademark on 'Sweet'.