Steve Earle, Prince, Lisa Hannigan, Sam Beam & Radiohead star in Free Music Friday

Having flitted off for a week of Catalonian sunshine – it was actually as schorchio here as it was in Barca – Free Music Friday is back with a bumper Euro 2016-flavoured collection of downloads, streams, vids and trailers that the keeper of the Ireland boombox, David Meyler, is welcome to plunder.

Our favourite Free Music Friday thing this week is the gorgeous Tiny Desk Concert from Sam Beam and his current partner in musical gorgeousness, Jesca Loop. Also pitching up recently in this corner of the American NPR office were Irish pianist Barry Douglas who performed some parlour favourites and that inspired miner of the jazz and blues traditions, Andrew Bird.

The weekly series of free Adult Swim downloads continues with VHOL’s ‘Dispatch’, which sounds like Queens Of The Stone Age having a mass brawl with Sleaford Mods and Dead Kennedys, and slinky Dawn groover, 'Serpentine Fire'. Get them while they’re hot from [link]adultswim.com/music/singles-2016[/link]

Our week’s been made even sunnier by the news that the new Lisa Hannigan album, At Swim, will be with us on August 19 through Play It Again Sam. The first taster, ‘Prayer For The Dying’, has a deliciously laid-back retro feel redolent of the wonderful Patsy Cline.

Meanwhile, there's more revision to be done before the Marlay Park appointment with The Stone Roses, thanks to their new cut 'Beautiful Thing', which we dare say sounds like the boys near the peak of their powers!

Team Hot Press is love, love, love-ing this brilliant oral history of Finbarr Donnelly, the Belfast-born driving force behind such legendary Cork outfits as Nun Attax, Five Go Down To The Sea? and Beethoven. Available for your [link]medium.com/@learnandsing/get-that-monster-off-the-stage-part-1-cef4030eba65#.fx85wb803[/link] perusal, it’s a companion to the equally essential Get That Monster Off The Stage documentary, which aired in the Real Capital three years ago and is archived here.

Neon Wolf are very kindly giving away the electro-tinged power pop belter, All Of It’s Yours, which was a recently Dave & Dermot’s Today FM Track of the Week. Catch the Hot Press faves on June 11 in Whelan’s, Dublin.

A posthumous collection from New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint; the final installment of hotshot Brooklyn DJ Kitty Cash’s mixtape series; a cracking sophomore collection from country star Brandy Clark; another headscratcher from the genre-bending Diarrhea Planet, and a collaborative cracker from Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle are all available for your streaming pleasure.

Amanda Palmer and Jherek Bischoff weave their magic again on this impossibly beautiful version of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’. Your minimum donation of $1 goes to the Elevate Hope Foundation, a non-profit organisations that provides music therapy for abused and abandoned kids. Ms. P’s ability to inhabit other people’s songs is quite staggering.

Meanwhile, PETA mark what would have been His Royal Purpleness’ 58th birthday with a name-yer-price download of his funky vegan anthem, ‘Animal Kingdom’. Bag yourself a copy at [link]peta.org/features/princes-musical-gift-to-peta[/link]

In generous mood are Longitude-rs Major Lazer who are gifting fans a Peace Is The Mission remix album at [link]toneden.io/majorlazer/post/peace-is-the-mission-remixes/b2csor[/link]

Carlow electronica wiz Auxiliary Phoenix is in the running to win $500 for the best mix using samples of Snarky Puppy’s ‘Tarova’. Check it out and then vote for the little beaut at [link]indabamusic.com/opportunities/snarky-puppy-culcha-vulcha-album-sampler/submissions/a2e0aed8-2d17-11e6-b3aa-0e23ec8b8f61[/link]

Mixtape of the Week honours go to Troy Ave’s Free Troy Ave, which gives his side of the recent T.I. concert shooting. The Brooklyn spitter pleaded not guilty last week to charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, but was remanded in custody until the trial begins.

True, there’s a degree of bias involved in this corner of HP Towers, but we reckon Shaun Ryder, Goldie, Kermit and Paul Oakenfold’s unofficial Euro 2016 anthem, ‘We Are England’, totally nutmegs any of the Irish offerings. It’s certainly several light years ahead of France’s ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You (My Team)’, which has caused a major puanteur at home on account of it, spit, being in English.
Beating all-comers is the Manics Street Preachers’ belting ‘Together Stronger (C’Mon Wales)’, which as is only proper features the entire squad on backing vocals.
Also cheering the Boys In Red On is ‘Let The Good Times A Roll’, a fine Oasis-y effort from Cardiff guitarslinger Chris Phillips who like the Manics gives Gary Speed the props he deserves.

The cream of North Carolina’s alt. rock scene join forces on the excellent Summer Essentials mixtape. Standouts include ‘Plastic Skateboard’, a psych-rocker from Brave Baby who channel Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’, which is no bad thing!

The Electric Picnic-bound Bat For Lashes shares ‘Joe’s Dream’, another delectable tune from her upcoming The Bride album.

If you were unable to make Radiohead’s super sold-out Primavera show, fear not, because someone down the front had their camcorder out. You can also feast on sizable chunks of Sigur Rós and Brian Wilson’s Barcelona sets.

And that is where we bid a fond Free Music Friday farewell to you for another week. Whoever you’re shouting for, we hope your first Euro 2016 outing is a winning one and keep those links coming to @stuartclark66