In the second installment of our occasional series of clichés in music videos, we find ourselves at potentially the biggest culprit of all - rain. Nothing says "I'm so troubled, hear me whine" quite like relentless drizzle. Here are some memorable examples. Post your own suggestions for rain-lashed clips below.

Guns N' Roses - November Rain
I don't know about you, but as soon as a sudden downpour starts, I get the sudden urge to jump through a wedding cake. Some primo, rain-soaked emoting from Axl Rose here, as he to kneels at his dead bride's grave looking pained, his wild mane dripping.

Read more...

Baby Monster have made a few appearances on this blog before. We posted their remix of Wolf Gang's 'Pieces Of You' last July and their own single 'Ultraviolence & Beethoven' the following October. If you can't remember it sounds like this and you can get it here.

Read more...

On February 24, Paul Weller will be named Godlike Genius at the Shockwaves NME Awards, before closing the show with a live performance.

In honour of the great man, here are a few classic clips of the Modfather in action, selected by NME's resident Weller obsessive, Hamish MacBain.

1. Good bit of smashing expensive sunglasses up and covering Lennon (2002).

Read more...

On the cover of this week's NME - on sale from Wednesday February 10 - are The Courteeners, who explain to Barry Nicolson how they're about to silence their doubters.

There's an update on The Strokes, including their UK summer plans.

We visit Local Natives in their native LA.

Yuck are this week's Radar stars.

And Ellie Goulding is reviewed live.

We were having a heated debate recently over an age-old corker: are balls grosser, or are vaginas? See, on one hand, balls are these puffed-out gelatinous creatures sprinkled with barbarian hair, and that’s pretty weird. On the other hand, though nuts can get saucy and develop their own curdles and whey, nothing comes from inside of them (unless something is seriously, seriously wrong). A vagina weeps. Uncontrollably. That’s a little nauseating to think about, isn’t it? Well, we couldn’t suss out an answer here so we decided to hit the streets and ask the people what they think. And the people have spoken…

Read more...

Pale goose-pimpled flesh spelling through a laddered tight, blood-red lipstick bleeding past a lip line, eyes that beg you stay, for just five more minutes...

Welcome to the desperate, lovesick, uneasy world of Desire.

Unsurpisingly the Canadian new school Italo trio have signed toItalians Do It Better and are touring with Glass Candy. They've even roped in old Johnny Jewel for extra stabs. Well, I guess he was twiddling thumbs after Chromatics split.

Unsurprisngly we've fallen head-over-heels for them.

Here's some exclusive downloads:

Desire - 'Under Your Spell'

Desire - 'Don't Call'

Desire - 'Miroir Miroir'