With the international break leaving us with no Premier League football this weekend and nothing but an inevitably drab set of international performances to endure, why not fill that excitement void with some new music?

Here are a couple of playlists that might help you get through what will probably be the last remotely warm weekend of the year.

If you know of something that you would like to be featured in a future post then please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or on twitter @monkeyhotel

Music Week have very kindly put together a SoundCloud set focusing around new Irish talent. There is some very good stuff on here, my highlights being the opening song from Cathy Davey and the seventh song from the wonderfully named Electric Penguins, a band well worth investing some time in, should you have the spare time.

Music Week Presents…Irish Talent by Music Week

David Kirk is a singer/songwriter from London who has already received a decent amount of attention from various authorities in ‘new music’, not least of all from 6 Music who have given tracks from his most recent E.P Fortune Green several plays. If you’re a fan of strummy little dittys and a nice voice then there’s a good chance you’ll like this. I must confess that the E.P isn’t exactly my thing, but David Kirk seems like a nice enough man who just wants to share his music with the world, you could give him at least that, couldn’t you? Listen to the entire E.P below and if you like it you can buy if from his BandCamp page for £2.

And with that, I wish you a fine weekend!