PICK OF THE WEEK

MIA
XXXO (XL)

At school we used to make each other say "X X X" over and over because it sounded like "sex sex sex" and that was rude. That's probably not what MIA is doing. Actually, she's taking on the haters with a massive pop song that sounds like standing in a packed pub and putting the jukebox and TV on full volume. And she doesn't spoil it with a political talky bit. As a bonus, in the remix, she makes Jay-Z freakishly rap the word "metrosexual", which is never not funny.

Kula Shaker
Peter Pan RIP (Strangefolk)

MIA might have attracted most of this year's moral uppityness for her cinematic study of ginger snuff, but YouTube has clearly not seen the video for this. The new Kula Shaker single – and those words are enough to put the fear of God in anyone – sees Crispian singing as demented peasant children dance around some shadowy trees and then some soldiers look dead or something. The message might be a chin-stroke about innocence and war, but there's a time and a place for this kind of experimentation. No, sorry, that's a lie, there isn't.

Daisy Dares You
Rosie (Jive)

Rosie is the anti-Don't Cha. Instead of committing the ultimate pop girl sin by pointing out that other girls are like total bitches who are not nearly as good or sexy as you are before slavering all over the nearest hunk of man flesh, Daisy is singing about her fellow floral friend Rosie, and how brilliant it is that they're mates. It also features the line "It's back to basics, you and me, a pig farm and a Jeep". On the other hand, it uses so much Auto-Tune that Finn from Glee would blush, and Taylor Momsen would totally have her in a fight.

Kelly Rowland Feat David Guetta
Commander (Universal Motown)

I'm doing a Gaga on Guetta, which is to say that, having previously decided that he was ruining R&B by turning all of my favourite ladies into Euro cheesemongers, I've changed my mind. This is mostly based on Kelis's Acapella being one of the best songs of the year, but now there's a bit more evidence, as evidenced here, with Kelly Rowland shrieking "commander" in something suspiciously close to a scouse accent.

Aeroplane
We Can't Fly (Wall Of Sound)

Not only did Aeroplane do one of the past few years' finest remixing jobs on Williams' Blood by Grace Jones, they also recently managed to shine up the almighty turd that was Robbie Williams's Bodies. But they don't just tweak and twist other people's songs. This is brilliant enough to warrant the suggestion that perhaps indie-favouring TV producers might want to rethink the xx as their default "cool" music. And if Aeroplane are up for getting it on to a car advert, this will reach your nearest dinner party quicker than a new recipe for chicken in Parma ham.