Amanda Palmer, Bruce Springsteen, Otherkin & Eddie Vedder star in Free Music Friday

We're coming to the end of a thoroughly Broooocetastic week, which has brought us two sold-out Croke Park shows, confirmation that there's a solo album in the can and the equally welcome news that his Born To Run autobiography will be hitting shelves in September. To celebrate we've some Springsteen-y treats to go with our usual top notch collection of downloads, streams, vids and trailers. Let the good times rock 'n' roll...

Amanda Palmer and Jherek Bischoff do the Thin White Duke proud with Strung Out In Heaven: A Bowie Tribute. The string-driven versions of 'Blackstar', 'Space Oddity', 'Ashes To Ashes', 'Heroes', 'Helden' and 'Life On Mars?' include guest turns from Anna Calvi, Neil Gaiman and John Cameron Mitchell. The minimum asking price is $1 with all profits going to the cancer research wing of Tufts Medical Center, in memory of Mr. B.

Another of our favourite Free Music Friday things this week is the 10-track City And Colour: A Retrospective, which explains why we're such mega fans of the Artist Also Known As Dallas Green.

Also new, Noise Trade-y and worthy of your immediate attention is Marathon, a full-length offering from Swedish outfit Francis who bridge the gap between Fleetwood Mac and The War On Drugs.

This week's hot streaming action starts with the seriously hard rocking Wolfmother who sound like Ozzy Osbourne fronting Royal Blood; the cosmic disco of Prins Thomas; Windy City soul man BJ The Chicago Kid; his secular gospel neighbours Birds Of Chicago and Africaine 808, a genre-defying Berlin dance crew.

Hit [link]theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/feb/01/listen-to-field-music-new-album-pre-prelease-commontime-exclusive-album-stream[/link] up for an upfront listen to Field Music's sensational Commontime, and [link]consequenceofsound.net/2016/02/stream-mint-juleps-sophomore-album-broken-devotion[/link] to discover how wonderful the latest from husband and wife duo, Mint Julep, is.

Video of the Week by a country mile is the clip for Lana Del Rey's 'Freak', which co-stars Father John Misty and makes us love them both just that little bit more.

Actually, no, strike that. Hot Press doffs its headphones again to OK Go who've conjured up a magic video for 'Upside Down & Inside Out'. Having previously wowed us with their treadmill choreography, the chaps have shot their new promo "in zero gravity, in an actual plane, in the sky. There are no wires or green screen." Brilliant as yours is Lana and Father John, you've just been pipped...

We're loving the first taster from the Rick Rubin curated Star Wars Headspace, which got its worldwide premiere courtesy of Zane Lowe and Apple Music. Röyksopp's 'Bounty Hunters' is a facemelter of a dance tune that bodes well for the parent album, which drops on February 19. The Norwegians got to run sonic riot with samples from the films, as did Kaskade, GTA, TroyBoi, Baauer, Shag Kava, Claude Von Stroke, Bonobo, Flying Lotus, Shlomo, Rustie, Gallants, Breakbot and the bearded maestro himself. Find out more at [link]starwarsheadspace.com[/link]

All sorts of wonderful the other night when they rocked the latest Bow St. Session in the Old Jameson Distillery, Otherkin are giving away 'Love's A Liability' in return for giving [link]otherkinok.com/freetrack[/link] your email address.

Netflix have announced details of Beat Bugs, an original animated kids' series featuring over 50 songs made famous by The Beatles. The contemporary artists performing them include Eddie Vedder ('Magical Mystery Tour'),
P!nk ('Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'), Chris Cornell ('Drive My Car') and SIA ('Blackbird'). Premiering in August, there will also be tuneage from James Bay, The Shins, Of Monsters And Men, Regina Spektor,  James Corden and Birdy.

We are loving this super-slinky collaboration between electronic producer Bantum and Irish-Sierra Leonean soul singer Loah. The accompanying Peter O'Brien-directed video features dancer Laura Sarah Dowdall. You can catch Bantum, Slow Moving Clouds and Cloud Castle Lake - 'Cloud' is the new 'Empire' in terms of how frequently it's cropping up in band names! - on February 20 when they played the Dublin Food Co-Op.
Bag yourself a ticket at [link]ensemble.ie/homebeatensemble[/link]
Loah, who's been on the Hot Press radar for a couple of years now, releases her debut EP recorded and ready to go.

We promised you some Springsteen-y treats earlier and, well, we're an internet blog of our word!

And with that burst of Bruce goodness, Free Music Friday bids you another fond adieu. Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66