Nice one by Motörhead. And now for something completely different, some French pop: Loane, Jamais Seule; Lilly Wood & the Prick, Hey It's OK, I Shall Be Released

I see Italy and Austria are making a comeback in the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf this May, good This time Norway is represented by the African immigrant Stella Mwangi. The music is simple, but nice African rytms combined with her broad smile and happy dance show got me in the groove. The lyrics are about improving life little by little. Stella Mwangi - Haba Haba Nice TV entertainment anyway.

As for The White Stripes, the more I listen to their music the more I like them.

The Austrian Song Contest participant will be determined next week. I'd like to see rock band Alkbottle win, although their type of humour probably won't be understood by an international audience. My original favourites, the Mary Broadcast Band, didn't make it to the qualification final - they did well in the public vote, but were eliminated by an expert (?) jury who preferred a casting show candidate instead.

A good warm-up for Eurovision is the Sanremo music festival taking place this week. Sounds kind of like Eurovision in the 80s with lots of conventional ballads, but at least less trash pop. The most interesting entries this year: Davide Van De Sfroos (inspired by Bob Dylan circa 1976?), Nathalie (Italian Tori Amos wannabe?), Giusy Ferreri (best of the conventional ballads)

Eurovision update: Austria made the most boring possible choice by selecting the casting show candidate, Nadine Beiler. Rather generic ballad, but at least she can actually sing.

Italy is sending the winner of the Sanremo youth section, Raphael Gualazzi. Kind of a jazzy ballad, at least something different from all the plastic pop. Nice catchy folk-pop from Switzerland with Anna Rossinelli, although she should practice her singing some more until the contest.

Btw, this Van de Sfroos guy is good, got one of his albums now and like it very much. Sort of Italian dialect country-rock. Here's some more: La Ballata Del Cimino, New Orleans, Viva l'Italia (originally by another great Italian singer/songwriter, Francesco De Gregori)

Yes, Nadine Beiler can sing. Sounds like a black song diva. The melody is somewhat lacking, but a decent act from Austria.

The latest album from PJ Harvey "Let England Shake" is hyped by the music critics. So I do a check. The Last Living Rose , The Words That Maketh Murder Good, but not great.

Random video of the day: Jewel, Intuition (I had to think of this for the line "You learned cool from magazines, you learned love from Charlie Sheen"). Still funny to see Jewel do her Britney Spears act.

Eurovision update 2: The line-up is now complete, all videos are available on the official YouTube channel. Seems like the musical quality has slightly gone up compared to last year, not that that was too difficult. Highly professional pop-rock from Georgia and Bulgaria (although the latter suffers somewhat from being sung in Bulgarian). Pleasant soul pop from San Marino. Charming little song from Finland. Daring decision from Germany to go with dark electro pop - could be great with a real singer, but unfortunately that type of song makes Lena's lack of voice and charisma even more obvious. A welcome return by Moldova's Zdob si Zdub, who delivered possibly the coolest ever Eurovision performance in 2005.

Overall I'll stick with my initial favourites Switzerland (ridiculously catchy) and Italy (kind of classy and stylish, plus the video features Monica Bellucci), followed by Georgia and San Marino.

Yes, Switzerland and Italy among the better entries. Bookmakers have Estonia and France as the biggest faves as for now.

I want to upgrade PJ Harvey latest album "Let England Shake" from good to very good, as I have been playing it a lot. Listening to the album as a whole gives better enjoyment than random youtube videos. Art.

Slightly off topic, the norhtern light has been unusually pretty last week, here a northern lights experience from the north of Norway, close to the border of Russia.

I've been thinking about getting a PJ Harvey album for some time, but somehow always found her music a little too arty for my taste. Maybe I should give it a try, though.