MS'F is on holiday — new videos from Ghostpoet, Jhameel, Taragana Pyjarama, Kurt Vile and Becoming Real.

I'm off for a week to one of the few places on earth where you can't access the internet. In musical terms, I'm on 'hiatus'. In the mean time I'll leave you with a few hot videos which I'm loving on this stifling April afternoon. They should keep you busy for a short while at least.


'Survive It' is the second single from Ghostpoet's Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam LP, which you can still stream over at The Guardian. Read more about him here.


I featured Jhameel way back in week #6 of 2011. I still adore his camp and excessive, jolly-Sufjan-Stevens-esque aesthetic. Download his new album for free here.


Spellbinding house-meets-chillwave from Denmark's Taragana Pyjarama.


Smoke Ring For My Halo by Kurt Vile is without a doubt one of the best records of 2011 (so far). Key track 'Jesus Fever' has been circling the blogs for quite a while now, but Kurt's just uploaded fab new video for it. Find out more here.


Finally, some chilling 'ghost-step' from LDN's Becoming Real. Check him out on myspace.

P.S. I might be able to upload an interview, or something cool sometime within the next week, but I don't know for sure.

Week #6: Jhameel / Jessica 6 / Lia Ices

San Fran-based Jhameel is a beguiling character. His sounds are fruitful and winsome, but his popularity unfortunately rather too depleted for my liking. There is something very wrong with this, you will probably agree. For this teen wunderkid is a master in the art of writing crooked odd-pop tunes, which are at the same time both melodious and a bit lopsided. 'The Human Condition' is my favourite: a mystical concotion harking back to Sufjan Stevens' earlier work, cross-faded into Dirty Projectors' wonky musical endeavours, with tinges of Mika's twisted pop. Like the sound of that? Well, you can download the whole friggin' album here. It's a corker.

Who cares if Hercules and Love Affair's second LP wasn't really up to scratch?... Because it seems their dark-disco spirit has been passed on as another idiosyncratic form, as Jessica 6, a trio based in Brooklyn who used to be a part of H&LA's live group. They're still purveying their own take on nu-disco, and their sounds are still clouded over with a rather macabre overtone - on paper this group seem to resemble their old posse almost preeningly. But just listen to 'White Horse' and you will discover something befuddlingly new altogether. We have lead singer Nomi Ruiz and her slightly alluring, slightly androgynous vox, some damn funky rhythms and a bewildering range of percussion twinks and synth swirls. It's fabulous stuff - expect great things from these dudes this year. Their full-length debut is out in May.

For fans of: anything old skool (Chic... Grace Jones...).

Like Joanna Newsom and Agnes Obel before her, Brooklyn's Lia Ices spook-infused folk is at once gentle, ethereal and illustrious. In fact, everything for which yours truly, Mane Shakin' Folk, stands for. The ability to captivate. The memorability. The geniality. Indeed, it's her saccharine vocals at the fore which really protrude and dominate, overshadowing the music. But with the added handclaps, the simplistic solo guitar chords and the mini string orchestra which enters as the song reaches its crescendo towards the end, this lovely musical backdrop only supports her marvellous vocal ability.