When we heard Snoop Dogg had teamed up with Seal, we thought: 'That sounds like a shit duet'. Then we realised we'd misheard, it was actually a seal [except it's a sealion in the pic, not a seal, so that gag doesn't work - Ed].

So what could be going on in this picture? We've made a few suggestions after the jump. Submit your own by leaving a comment. There will be some kind of prize for the best caption, though we haven't quite worked that bit out yet.

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Over various points over the last month or so, I've been spending a lot of time in the NME archives broom cupboard. Housing every issue of NME ever printed, it's a time warp where, if you open the right big blue bound book, The Others are cover stars, Kurt Cobain is alive and well, Har Mar Superstar has his own column and Alex Turner hasn't heard of a thing called Clearasil.

It's also where the entire story so far of The Libertines is documented in all its grotty glory. My task was to haul out the band's appearances in NME for the new one-off Libertines mag out Friday (July 30) (or NME Icons: The Libertines, to give it its full title).

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1. Maximum Balloon - 'If You Return'
Not exactly renowned for being Mr Giggles, Dave Sitek, is he? One third of TV On The Radio, yes. Noted producer of alternately swamp-rich and ice-crisp records, yes. An uncanny doppelganger for the cheerleader’s evil dad from Heroes, yes. But the guy who brings the fun? Nah. His public image has generally been of a man serious, high-minded, and with the same regard for journalists as for festering sores. Attendees of TVOTR’s gigs, though, will know quite another Dave, an exuberant bawler who incites the crowd to dancing frenzy. Who’s this mugging through a field of inflatable rubber orbs, now? Only Party Dave, finally letting the world see his silly side with new project Maximum Balloon!

The focus here is firmly on the dancefloor. Sharp, upbeat, poppy tracks driven by synths, and as you might expect, a variety of guest vocalists including TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone plus old mockers Holly Miranda and Karen O and one David Byrne. This second single from the album (following ‘Tiger’) opens with Yazoo-esque bleeps before a slinky hip-hop rhythm shunts it firmly into the modernist synthpop territory of The Knife or New Young Pony Club oiled by Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon’s sultry vocal. We’ll have 99 more like this, please.
[Emily Mackay, Reviews Editor]

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The ultimate summer playlist - as compiled by Radiohead, Madonna, Coldplay, Liam Gallagher, Franz Ferdinand and more

It's shaping up to be the hottest summer in years, so what better time to ask a load of musicians to name the sunniest tunes known to man? To kick things off, here's a selection of artists on their own personal feelgood hits of the summer.

Below, NME writers make their own picks. Meanwhile, you can listen to most of the tracks in the artist playlist via the We7 widget below. But which songs make you think of summer?

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The Mercury nominations were announced yesterday. You can listen to all the albums on the list, and read our reviews, here.

But who deserves to win on September 7? You can hear what we in the office think by watching the video below. But which album gets your vote?

Watch videos from the nominated artists

You can buy all the albums on the Mercury Prize shortlist from Amazon.co.uk

The nominations for the 2010 Mercurys have been announced. Cue a thousand blog comments berating the judges for being too predictable/conservative/sexist yadda yadda yadda.

But there's clearly some incredible music on this list, which features no fewer than seven NME cover stars. And here it all is, in the form of handy We7 album streams - plus our original reviews where applicable.

Biffy Clyro – 'Only Revolutions'
Album review

Corinne Bailey Rae – 'The Sea'

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