Pixies, Kings Of Leon, Conor Oberst & The Weeknd star in Free Music Friday

Having had the temerity to go on holiday again – our fortnight in Sicily was great, thanks for asking – a bronzed, Adonis-like Free Music Friday is back with a bumper crop of downloads, streams, vids and trailers. Hell, it’s like we’ve never been away!

Pixies – there is no “the”! – are streaming their Head Carrier album, which drops today. It’s very much business as usual with big fuzzed to infinity riffs and killer pop hooks. What has changed is Black Francis’ voice, which is less guttural growl and more seasoned bluesman these days. A notable exception is ‘Baal’s Back’ on which he sounds like he’s fronting AC/DC. Now, there’s an idea… Cop an earful now before the stream disappears!

Completing this week’s NPR First Listen line-up are deliciously scuzzy American husband and wife duo Shovels & Rope; Conor Oberst who’s in acoustic troubadour mode; country hotshot Brent Cobb, and the successors to the Grateful Dead’s cult throne, Phish.

Generous boys and girls that they are, NPR also treat us to Tiny Desk Concerts from the Blue Man Group, Corinne Bailey Rae and King of the Neo Soulsters, Saul Williams.

The planet has woken up to another new tune from the Kings Of Leon’s much-anticipated WALLS album, which drops on October 14. ‘Around The World’ is a classic slice of Kings southern boogie with a hook that will be filling many an indie rock dancefloor over the coming months. We’ll have more – lots more! – on the quartet in a forthcoming issue of Hot Press.

Flying Lotus has released a free tune under his Captain Murphy alias, which can be bagged at [link]adultswim.com/music[/link]
Scroll back to find Vince Staples’ even more awesome ’06.

There’s a nice New Order-ish feel to this beaut from The Innocent Bystander, the new project from Mark Healy who started out as a member of The Josephs and along the way has collaborated with everyone from Jerry Fish to Irvine Welsh.

American superstar Ingrid Michaelson trails her upcoming US tour with a five-track EP that also includes support act AJR.

Americana fans should make an immediate beeline for the Drew Holcomb curated mixtape heralding Memphis’ Moon River festival. We’re particularly fond of the offerings from The Oh Hellos, Wade Bowen, Geldon Luke & The People and RY-LO, a Nashville songstress who’s making serious Music City waves.

The week’s other Noise Trade must-haves include an introduction to Brighton’s Jonny 8 Track who has a bit of a Lightning Seeds thing going on; a seriously funky 45 from London’s Bee Bakare and the sophomore EP from quality Minneapolis alt. merchants highchair kings.

White Lies are offering fans upfront listens to two of the songs from their Friends album, which is out on October 7 and sounds like it’s going to be a tunesome little fella. ‘Morning In LA’ is redolent of Talk Talk, the ‘80s new wave synth merchants who the chaps have namechecked and covered in the past. The trio kick off an extensive European tour on October 13 in Amsterdam – what could possibly go wrong? – but which is, as of yet, bereft of Irish dates (boo!)

We’re indebted to the Gigs Ireland crew for alerting us to this terrific tune and vid from 23 who’s trading ‘Sing It To Me’ for a mailing-list sign-up.

Our favourite Carlow bedroom electronica merchant, Auxiliary Phoenix, impresses (as usual!) with ‘Orange September’, which has a jazzy Indian vibe. Lest we forget, this is also the man who conjured up the wonderful ‘The Lost Socks Of Stuart Clark’.

Muscular Dublin rockers, New Valley Wolves, have unleashed this full-throttle live performance vid for ‘Silver Tongue’.

Those real gone kid…, er, middle-aged people Deacon Blue treated BBC Radio 2 listeners to this stunning cover of Dolly’s ‘Jolene’. There’s also a new album, Believers, to get excited about.

We’re liking the look of Landfill Harmonic, a documentary about how Paraguay’s rubbish tips are being mined for detritus that can be turned into musical instruments for favala kids.

Finally, Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman are giving away their new Lice album, which is one groooooovy muthafucka!

And that ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, is your Free Music Friday lot for another week. Make sure to keep them links coming to @stuartclark66