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2. Alpinekat, "The Large Hadron Rap"
For reasons unknown, Alpinekat (a.k.a. science writer Katherine McAlpine) raps about the world's largest particle accelerator, currently under construction in Switzerland. [Fong Songs]

3. Beck feat. Jay Reatard, "Gamma Ray (Pocket Mix)"
Pocket mashes up Beck's original (off his new full-length) with a cover version by his rock-moppet successor, Jay Reatard. With pleasant results. [Stereogum]

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2. Dido, "Look No Further"
Dido returns with this courageous tale of how she gave up her dreams of becoming a scientist and settled with just becoming a rich pop star. [Punkreas]

3. Lee "Scratch" Perry, "Santa Claus"
You know you're eccentric when you need Andrew W.K. (who produced Perry's new album) to help rein in the craziness of your songs. [Winnie Cooper]

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2. The Streets, "Everything Is Borrowed"
Mike Skinner releases the title track off his upcoming record, a wistful one that could be about the music industry: "I came to this world with nothing, and I leave with nothing but love. Everything is borrowed." [Punkreas]

3. Chromeo, "Family Man" (Hall & Oates cover)
Chromeo up the yacht-rock ante on this reworking of the H&O classic, adding some nice vocoder. [Hero Hill]

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2. Vampire Weekend, "Everywhere" (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Vampire Weekend do a live cover of Fleetwood Mac in the style of Paul Simon's ska band. [Hypeful]

3. TV on the Radio, "Golden Age"
Like the "blown-up … ghetto blaster" in the lyrics, this track (from next month's Dear Science) is both heavily retro and totally on fire. [Pitchfork]

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2. The National, "A Thousand Black Cities"
Ever the Olympics fan, Matt Berninger sings of a "ridiculous country" and "a thousand black cities" on this awesome new track, possibly referring to the ridiculously smoggy city of Beijing. [Fuel Friends]

3. Porno Mathematics, "Zelda Bitches"
This track by Porno Mathematics (whose members are listed as Jean, Claude and Van Damme) starts as a gamer's dream and ends up somewhere near Bikini Kill territory. [Penned Madness]

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2. Los Campesinos!, "How I Taught Myself to Scream"
What Los Campesinos! learned to scream on this unreleased track from the sessions from their spring release was "We don't get tired, only tired of you." We certainly aren't tired of them, which is a good thing, because they have another record coming out in October. [Stereogum]

3. Ice Cube feat. Young Jeezy, "I Got My Locs on"
Given Cube's recent proclivity for cheesy family comedies, we thought the title was "I Got My Crocs on" when we first saw it. Fortunately, this blunted new track is more street than that, but only just barely. [Sit Down Stand Up]

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2. James Lavino feat. Colin Greenwood, Lee Seargent, and Tyler Sergeant, "How to Look at a Bird"
The Seargent brothers (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!) and Radiohead's Greenwood helped James Lavino score an indie film called Woodpecker. The results are predictably excellent. [ Pitchfork]

3. Franz Ferdinand, "Lucid Dreams"
"There is no nation of you, there is no nation of me, our only nation lies in lucid dreams," sings Alex Kapranos on this great new single, but he doesn't say how his dream nation is doing in the medal count. [Pretty Much Amazing]

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2. I'm From Barcelona, "Music Killed Me"
On this new song from the decidedly non-Spaniards of IFB, singer Emanuel Lundgren sings "you have to take some chances I suppose." And they do, turning in a rare downbeat track that works extremely well. [Band Website]

3. The Juan MacLean, "The Simple Life (Marcus Worgull Remix)"
On this recently released B-side, MacLean coaxes a sweet melody out of a giant electronic soup. [Pitchfork]

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2. Hope Sandoval, "Wild Roses"
We're not sure which is more unbelievable: that Hope Sandoval (of Mazzy Star) is 42 years old, or that she's decided to debut her first new song in nearly a decade on a compilation record put out by a French airline. [Brooklyn Vegan]

3. Late of the Pier, "Heartbeat" (Hot Chip Remix)
HC add more cowbell to this song from Late of the Pier's much-anticipated new record. [VoulesRandom]

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1. Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire"
The idea of having sex while on fire sounds like it would at least be really exciting for a couple of minutes, if not exactly the most pleasurable way to spend some time. This song is pretty good, if you apply copious salves and unguents afterward. [Covert Curiosity]

2. She + Him feat. Jim James, "Magic Trick"
She (Zooey Deschanel) and Him (M. Ward) perform the nifty "magic trick" of getting into a threesome with Jim James (My Morning Jacket) at the Newport Folk Festival this weekend. [Aquarium Drunkard]

3. Bat for Lashes, "A Forest" (Cure cover)
We'll listen to this Cure classic "again and again and again," especially when it's covered in such a shimmery way by Bat for Lashes, for the upcoming Perfect As Cats: A Tribute to the Cure. [Punkreas]