Rukhsana Merrise - Money

Having held out on it for several years, just after Christmas I finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Spotify premium. For ages I'd barely even used Spotify, even at the cost of 0 per month, preferring iTunes/Apple for listening to music on the go and in the house, and YouTube as my go-to for tracks that I didn't own.

However, after several computer issues that left my iTunes virtually unable to be updated, I took the plunge and subscribed to the system, and I've barely looked back since. Being able to download playlists to listen to offline is brilliant (especially when on long walks far away from any access to the internet), and the playlists on offer to download are wonderfully diverse (although admittedly our first port of call is usually the 6music Playlist - it's barely let me down yet). As a consequence of moving over to Spotify, the amount of music that I've downloaded from iTunes has decreased exponentially, although that's a discussion for another time.

Perhaps my favourite feature of Spotify since I've started using it more often has been the Discover Weekly playlist. It looks at the music that you've listening to on Spotify and picks a playlist of 30 new tracks that it thinks you will like, in theory becoming more attuned to your musical taste the more you listen to. From personal experience, it's definitely got much more intuitive over time (in the first week I used it, 29 of the 30 tracks consisted of gospel music, which is a little bit too much for my liking), and I have discovered some genuinely fantastic songs that I would not have come across otherwise.

Which leads me, after three paragraphs of long and winding foreplay, into "Money", the latest single from London based artist Rukhsana Merrise. She isn't an artist who I would have heard about had her music not ended up on my Discover... playlist (her music appears to be very popular in Holland, if her Spotify stats are anything to go by), and I'm not entirely sure what songs I listened to that gained it admission to my list, but I'm very glad that it did. "Money" is a song that mixes elements, of pop, soul, trip-hop and Indian music into one brilliant, cosmopolitan package.

"Money" is out now.

The Dead Presidents - Can You Dig It? E.P

Of the artists playing at last year's Glasgowbury Festival, the one that really impressed me were Belfast based funk/soul brothers (and sister) The Dead Presidents. The band stood out from their local peers for their laid back style and funky jams, as well as through their distinctive frontman Matthew Wilson. After being on the boil for quite some time now, the band have just released their latest E.P, "Can You Dig It?"

The answer is yes, you can. The E.P is a great slice of laidback soul, one which eschews in-your-face hooks for a more groove based approach on tracks like "Dancing With the Devil" and "Fallin' In Love Again". Matthew's vocals are very similar to those of fellow city boy Van Morrison, something which is either a strength or a distraction depending on your viewpoint on such issues. It's a rather distinctive E.P, and one which will be very well received at their always enjoyable live shows.

"Can You Dig It?" is out now.

Various Cruelties - Great Unknown

Given that the new year hasn't even started yet, you might think that it is premature of me to declare an early favourite for best song of 2012. However, it is not often that a song like "Great Unknown" by Various Cruelties comes under my radar.

The group have had a meteoric rise, having only formed in the past 12 months, with a support slot for The Vaccines being one of their first gigs. "Great Unknown" is an upbeat anthemic song that somehow bridges the gap between indie and neo-soul, with a chorus that is just waiting to be chanted by thousands of drunken revellers at every festival in 2012.

"Great Unknown" will be released on 1st January on Hideout Recordings.