Those of you familar with these 2 artists may be surprised to see them here - apart from Rufus being gay and Ben having previously been in something vaguely resembling a boyband, they don't have much in common with the usual Into The Groove faves. However, I have become a big fan of Rufus (pictured left) over the last year and he really is quite acetastic and deserving of a post. This is a cover version of the George Michael classic, sung on the joint tour Rufus did with Mr Folds in America a while ago, cleverly entitled the Odd Men Out tour.

This is the very long-awaited follow-up to Automatic, the amazing dance-pop single by Dutch pop girl Elize. It may not quite be that mighty, but it's pretty ace all the same. Despite Elize being "no Latino", the song does have a Latin vibe, as well as some ace almost-rapping, nonsensical lyrics and much more! Now all we need is for Elize to hurry up with releasing her album, or at least update her web site. She doesn't seem to be the hardest working pop star!

So, this is the song that the Aloud girls are covering for Christmas. It turns out to be rather lovely - a soulful balald reminiscent of Diana Ross, yet it sounds nothing like Christmas and even less like Girls Aloud! Still, it's a much better choice than Wicked Game by Chris Isaak which they were at one point planning to cover, but luckily they changed their minds just in time and released the much acer Long Hot Summer. I know some GA fans are not so keen on LHS but would they seriously have preferred Wicked Game? I really hope not! Info on Dee herself is more than scarce, but I have discovered that sang backing vocals for Wham and the Style Council, has dated Paul Weller, and is actually called Diane Sealey, so clearly had some influence on KT Tunstall.

Those of you who've exhausted the amazing new Madonna single, which I don't need to tell you samples the original Abba version of this song, may like to download this rather energetic (perhaps a slight understatement!) cover by the A*Teens. The band's first album was made up solely of Abba covers (an idea poached by the new duo West End Girls, who only sing Pet Shop Boys songs) and this track was featured there, as well as on the Greatest Hits album they released last year. The band, like Abba, are sadly no more, but only one solo single has been released so far (Girl Talk by Dhani), so if this lack of success continues, perhaps a reunion will be on the cards.

This is Swedish pop prince Darin Zanyar's cover of the legendary Lena Philipsson's 2004 Eurovision entry, Det Gör Ont (or It Hurts in it's English form). According to my Swedish pop expert, this was recorded for a TV show earlier this year, celebrating 50 years of Melodifestivalen, the fantastic Swedish song contest. Apart from a male voice, Darin also brings a new, slightly rocky sound to the song, using a Michael Jackson sample, although it rather deceptively begins as a ballad.

This is a track from the debut album Australian pop-rock twins the Veronicas, whose excellent single 4ever I posted here a while ago. It was very difficult to choose which song to post as the songs are mostly quite good without any particular one being my favourite on first listen. I chose this track because it's the most representative of the style as a whole. Their sound is a bit like Delta Goodrem singing Kelly Clarkson's songs, which is not at all surprising since they are Australian and they have recorded some songs written by the legendary Max Martin, who also writes for Kelly.

So, the best British album of the year so far has been released, and unsurprisingly it's currently (narrowly) missing the top 20. Of course the lack of success has absolutely no correlation with how good it is, and to prove that here is one of the best tracks and also one of the most controversial. This song was written by the singer Alexis Strum (known for her recent single Bad Haircut and her brilliant column on Popjustice) with pop genii Xenomania. Alexis never released her version but it was leaked on the Internet several months before Rachel's and it was generally believed to be a masterpiece of quirky modern pop. As expected, Rachel brings the song back towards the core of pop music, the shiny, smiley side, and views on her take on it have been very mixed. Some have hated it, others even prefer it to the original. Personally I love both, as they are excellent in their different ways. It's definitely Alexis' best song and also one of Rachel's best. I'm posting the Rachel version because I want to persuade you to buy the album, but do get hold of Alexis' as well if you can, if only for the interesting comparison.

If you click the link above you can download 2 tracks by Dragonette for free from their official web site. They are a new female-fronted electro-pop group who have toured with such greats as Annie (very well-suited), the Raveonettes and even some non-Scandinavians such as the Scissor Sisters and (my sworn enemies) Duran Duran. What I've heard so far of their music is utterly poptastic, so I'm hoping a UK launch will soon be in order. I would say they sound like the Cardigans meet No Doubt with a sprinkling of Robyn, which should sound pretty amazing to any regular ITG reader. And before you ask, I Get Around is not a Beach Boys cover!

Apologies again for my recent lack of posts - I should have broadband back tomorrow, but considering I was expecting to have it weeks ago I won't be at all surprised if it doesn't happen. Here is a yousendit to keep you going. This was released as a single last year and I expected it to be an enormous hit, yet it missed the top 20 in the UK (although it had more success in Australia and Belgium). It's a brilliantly fun and sexy song (don't be put off by the ugly blokes who made it - the picture to the right could not be more misleading if it tried, but it's all I could find), with fab lyrics and sound effects. I can't help dancing in my seat. Freestylers are a British dance act who've released several singles, 2 albums (plus a remix album and a live album) and apparently have even sold a million records somewhere. However, this is their only mainstream pop single, and the other songs I've heard have been nowhere near as ace, so I guess this was their one-off great moment.