The release of a haunting new track by Damon Albarn proves to be perfect timing and the world's leading rapper has ditched that silly retirement idea and recorded a new album...

TRACK OF THE WEEK

The Good, the Bad and the Queen - Herculean
Damon Albarn puts this haunting new track into download stores just in time for the debut live performance by his latest project, at the Roundhouse next Thursday. Featuring members of The Clash, The Verve and Gnarls Barkley, plus Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, it's definitely not lacking in ambition.

IN THE NEWS

Record company download stores
Alternatives to the market-leading iTunes store are springing up at pace, but it's the familiar brands which stand the best chance of success. Ministry of Sound's store recently started trading and is a handy source for dance music, while indie experts Rough Trade will launch Rough Trade Digital on 14 November.

www.mosdownload.com www.roughtrade.com

THE BUZZ

Jay-Z
The world's leading rapper has ditched that silly retirement idea and recorded a new album, Kingdom Come, for release on 20 November. His record company doesn't want the new music heard in advance, but a simple search for Show Me What You Got on wondrous blog trawler, the Hype Machine will reveal the lead single in all its horn-packed glory. http://hype.non-standard.net

THE SITE

The Downloader
A useful portal to direct you to enough new legal downloads to burst your iPod; the Downloader also does some editorial filtering to make this daunting new world a bit more manageable. Plenty of free stuff too. www.thedownloader.co.uk