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So, here's a fun thing you might like to try at home - randomising your music collection using nothing but Spotify and your subconscious. You probably do it anyway, but yesterday I spent a whole day doing it and ended up taking a bit of a musical journey.

Okay, here's how it started; I woke up with 'Happy Birthday Ralph' by Atom And His Package in my head. I can only assume this is because I have been trying to work out what to get my girlfriend for her birthday. Although her name is not Ralph and she is not (as the subject of the song is said to be) "fucking disgusting".

Listening to the song when I got to CMU HQ, I was suddenly reminded of King Missile. Not really sure why, but hey, let's listen to them next, I thought. The spoken word element of that particular branch of silliness made me think of the dark tones of 'Want' by Recoil, which in turn made me think of Curve. By this point, I'd hit upon an idea. Why not only listen to stuff that pops into my head while listening to something else?

The result was a daisy chain of music that sometimes connected through sonic similarities, sometimes through memories of other things (one album I listened to linked up in my head to a memory of driving around my friend's farm in the middle of the night with the headlights off). I ended up going through albums I haven't listened to since I was a teenager, and others that I'd just forgotten about (or thought I had).

So, there's something for you to do. And here's something else, because, look, I've gone an put together a whole new CMU Weekly for you. How good of me.

This week's edition contains, of course, all this week's big news, some reviews, quotes, tips, interviews and a hilarious joke. This week's competition gives you the chance to get yourself into this year's Beachdown Festival for absolutely nothing. Which is good for you, because it looks amazing. The food alone looks great (and has awards to prove it). And you know a festival that gets its food right is going to get the rest right, too.

Here ends my weekly ramble. On now with the important stuff.

Team CMU

		LES PAUL DIES Legendary guitarist Les Paul has died in New York, aged 94, from complications arising from pneumonia, it was announced yesterday. Credited with inventing the electric guitar as it is known today, the eight-track tape recorder and numerous recording techniques and effects, Les Paul - it could be argued - is the man responsible for almost all modern music. Born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on 9 Jun 1915, Les Paul began performing publicly at the age of 13, becoming known for his distinctive jazz and swing-inspired style in the 1940s. He built the first solid-wood guitar in 1941, affectionately known as 'The Log', paving the way for Rickenbacker, Fender and Gibson, the latter of which produced an iconic range of guitars that he lent his name to. He continued to perform at New York's Iridium Club every Monday night up until his death, despite crippling arthritis and, still devoted to advancing the possibilities of sound, had been attempting to build the perfect hearing aid.

		C-MURDER FOUND GUILTY Rapper C-Murder, real name Corey Miller, has been found guilty, for the second time, of shooting 16 year old fan Steve Thomas in a Louisiana nightclub in 2002. His first conviction for the crime was overturned after it was revealed prosecutors had withheld background information on three witnesses. The verdict in the retrial was actually submitted twice, after Judge Hans Liljeberg told the jury that it was invalid when they returned after just three hours of deliberation, because he suspected one juror had switched their vote simply so they could go home. The next day, after nearly nine hours of discussion, they came back with the same verdict, 10-2 in favour of guilty, the minimum required for a second degree murder conviction. Thomas' father George said he was "not rejoicing" because it would not bring his son back, while Miller's family said the verdict was wrong. Although no announcement has yet been made, it is expected that there will be an appeal.

		U2 GIG TO BROADCAST ACROSS 22 RADIO STATIONS Twenty two stations on the Bauer Radio network will broadcast a U2 concert live from Sheffield on 20 Aug, as part of five hours of programming dedicated to the band. They reckon 6.53 million people will tune in. I reckon all those people shouldn't be allowed radios if they can't use them properly. The concert at the city's Don Valley Stadium will account for two hours of the U2 360° Tour special, the rest of the torrent of awfulness filled up with an interview with the band and a live report from the venue. Surely this amount of promotion is completely disproportionate to U2's actual popularity? Why does this keep happening? In a sane world, they would now have been left to slip into the quietly-releasing-albums-merely-to-promote-tours phase of their existence. Like the Rolling Stones, only shit.

		JACKO FILM APPROVED AEG Live's documentary film of Jackon's rehearsals for his ill-fated O2 residency will be released on 30 Oct, with 90% of proceeds going to his family, following approval from LA's Probate Court. The deal between the Jackson estate, AEG Live and Sony's Columbia Pictures was one of various commercial agreements put before a judge this week by the executors of his estate - they were looking for court approval to enter into such deals before the late King Of Pop's affairs are fully wound up. Cut together from over 80 hours of footage and interspersed with interviews with the star's friends and collaborators, the film will apparently be called 'This Is It' (after the title of that O2 residency, of course, even though it has now taken on a very different meaning), and will also be shown partly in 3D for extra gruesomeness.

		ANDY BURROWS JOINS WE ARE SCIENTISTS Former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows has joined New Yorkers We Are Scientists, replacing Adam Aaronson, who in turn replaced original drummer Michael Tapper in 2007. The trio, completed by Chris Caine and Keith Murray, are now working on songs for the band's third album. Announcing the new band member, referring to him as an "honorary scientist", Murray told the NME: "We were thinking for this record that we'd collect all our drummer friends and have different guys do different songs. Andy was one of those guys but after he left Razorlight we got together, fell in love and decided to make a record". As well as his new role with We Are Scientists, Burrows also announced that he is working on a new solo album, following his lo-fi debut, 'Colours Of My Mind', which was released in aid of a Winchester charity.

		REVIEWS Once when I was younger, I saw a kid on the kids' version of 'Ready Steady Cook' say he hated music. I remember thinking what a weird thing to say that was. I mean, how can you hate music? We love it. Which is why we have reviews of brand new releases from Liam Finn and Theoretical Girl for you, right here.

Want more? Want daily in-depth music news? Want all this for free? Well, ha, you're in luck. Click here to subscribe to the CMU Daily. back to top

WIN TICKETS TO BEACHDOWN FESTIVAL
There are many reasons to love the Beachdown Festival. For one, it's set on the South Downs, near Brighton, which is officially an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Oh, and there's the line-up, which this year features the likes of Grace Jones, Super Furry Animals, Skream, Saint Etienne, The Fall, and High Contrast. Plus, there's a second stage showcasing some of Brighton's finest new bands, brilliant comedy and cabaret and award-winning food and drink to enjoy in between.

Nicest of all, the festival's organisers are hoping to break the world record for mass spooning. It currently stands at 395, and if more love than that can't be found in Brighton, then Brighton is not the place I thought it was.

We have two pairs of tickets to give away to this year's Beachdown Festival. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning them is to email [email protected] by 21 Aug.

For more information on Beachdown Festival, go to www.beachdownfestival.com

Look what they won...
Well done to Jonny Spencer for winning last week's Edge Festival competition in CMU Weekly!

Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell reveals that Elton John plays on one of the band's new songs: "I wrote Elton an email explaining what that song means to us - that it's a real, raw openhearted song for [deceased lead singer] Layne [Stayley]. We sent him the track and got a call shortly after saying he thought it was beautiful and that he wanted to play on it. We were blown away"

Doves may split, or at least never record again, says guitarist Jez Williams: "We almost split up after the last album. It was such hard work and it wasn't an easy ride for us, and it can't be like that again, so we're going to see what happens. I think if there is another Doves album, and we're not sure at this moment whether there will be - we won't be staring at a blank canvas"

Saul Milton, of UK drum n bass types Chase & Status discusses recent recording sessions with Rihanna: "Rihanna got in contact with us after hearing our track 'Saxon' and said she wanted a similar thing for her next record. We've spent the past few weeks working with her in an undisclosed location. The stuff she's doing now I would definitely go out and buy myself, it's a big change"

Calvin Harris has said he has no time for the London celebrity circuit: "I want to make music. I don't really party anyway, I don't drink any more either. I don't need to party and I've actually got too much to do all the time anyway. It's a subjective thing - one man's party is another man's fucking hellhole. There's a lot of them in London that I just don't want to be at, at all. Working is my partying"

Dizzee Rascal reveals that he didn't punch Prince Harry when he met him backstage at the Wireless festival in July: "Prince Harry came in and was joking around and being a bit cheeky, so I told him, 'If you weren't royalty I'd have punched you in the face by now', and he seemed to like that. He's a naughty boy, so he fits in. In fact, him and his mates are probably a bit wilder than us"

Ian Brown's kids have scuppered a Stone Roses reunion, of sorts, refusing to let their dad include a song by guitarist John Squire on his new solo album: "My sons turned round and said 'Dad, you can't work on that. He sold you out, didn't he?' John's manager asked if I liked the tune, and I said: 'I did, but my sons won't let me work on it'"

		New Radiohead song online? Honestly, you wait ages and then two come along at once. After the release of charity single 'Harry Patch (In Memory Of)' last week, another new Radiohead song has apparently surfaced online. An MP3 of a song called 'These Are My Twisted Words' was posted on fan site ateaseweb.com without explanation yesterday morning. It's also found its way onto YouTube - www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ztWvuyXeU

		The Big Pink. Consisting of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, who for several years separately made and promoted noise at various levels of extremity, The Big Pink is very much an extension of their noise-based past. But, they've switched off the much of the distortion, leaving melody and even pop sensibilities exposed. This is filled out with swirling guitars to up the epicness - www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink

		Calvin Harris premieres the Humanthesizer. Calvin Harris has come up with a novel way to promote his new single, 'Ready For The Weekend'. Getting himself a singer, sixteen underwear-clad models, a pot of electric ink and someone with a camera into a room, he's recorded a video of himself performing the song on the Humanthesizer - www.youtube.com/watch?v=IObPkUFq0hg

		Pony Pony Run Run. Laid back French electro-pop with often silly lyrics has, of course, been recently monopolised by The Teenagers' infuriatingly bland spoken-word to track approach. Pony Pony Run Run take their mantle, jazz it up a bit and end up sounding closer to A-ha and fellow Francophones Pheonix. Essentially electro-pop for the teen crowd - and I mean that in the nicest way possible - www.myspace.com/ponyponyrunrun

		Kissy Sell Out tour DJ competition. Kissy Sell Out will be heading out on tour next month, with a fantastic line-up of support acts. Fans will also get a chance to play a DJ set at a selection of the gigs, through a mixtape competition. All you need to do is create a 15 minute mix and send it to Kissy via his MySpace page. The competition opens on 19 Aug and closes on 1 Sep - www.myspace.com/kissysellout

		Bats. 'Credulous! Credulous!' is a monster of a song, fusing the arrhythmic math rock of Battles with the punk aggression of Liars and the melodic nous of At The Drive In. Beginning with a filthy deep bassline, you're welcomed with a sharp hiss before the tense, climbing and falling guitars tie the song down. It's so taut and precise that it's difficult to believe humans forged it - www.myspace.com/leatherbeatsfeather

		Q1 How did you start out making music? MIIKE SNOW: "I started by writing little songs on the piano when I was eight. We had a piano and my dad listened to a lot of Thelonious Monk, so I would try to come up with weird little melodies like him. I truly loved his music even as a child. Christian started out in Swedish punk bands, and listening to a lot of Misfits and Danzig, while Pontus grew up in a musical family and so had a lot of classical music floating around, as well as DJing and booking raver clubs in high school" Read more of Miike Snow answers

		Q2 What inspired your latest album? QUAD THROW SALCHOW: "Our lives. There are three of them, that makes up one deep rich bag to plunge in for inspiration!" Read more of Quad Throw Salchow's answers

		Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track? SET YOUR GOALS: "Typically Jordan will present a 'skeleton' to a song and he and Mikey will structure it by piecing together drum parts. From there, Jordan and I write the vocal melodies then put lyrics to them that we've written independently using a central thesis. Somewhere in there, Joe writes bass parts. Then, for this record, we did the leads and all the minor tweaking of the song last" Read more of Set Your Goals' answers

		Q4 Which artists influence your work? GHOSTCAT: "Within the band there are wildly differing musical tastes, so I can't speak for anyone else. But I grew up worshipping at the altar of Madonna, definitely. And any other fiercely strong woman with a voice" Read more of Ghostcat's answers

		Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time? THURSDAY: "It takes a while to get used to. Give it some time and repeated listens... We're not an instant gratification type of band" Read more of Thursday's answers

		Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future? DEASTRO: "To make enough money out of it to fund a not-for-profit all ages art centre in Detroit" Read more of Deastro's answers

Q. Why does Robbie Williams fly south in the winter?

A. It's too far to walk.

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