Frank YangI’m sure it’s more coincidence than any kind of conspiracy, but for some reason the last few years have seen late September/early October become the season when a deluge of Mercury Prize rolls through town. Over the past little while, Toronto has hosted performances by Laura Marling, Coldplay, The Horrors, and Wild Beasts with James Blake here tonight and Portishead in just over a week, and Wednesday night saw 2008′s winners Elbow return for their first headline show in over five years.

It wasn’t supposed to have been so long; they were technically here in August 2009 as reigning Mercury champs opening for Coldplay and had a headlining show at The Phoenix all lined up alongside it, but an offer to play Letterman forced them to pull the plug on it and fly to New York – the salt in the wound being that they never got to perform on account of a segment with another guest running long. And personally, though I’d seen them back in November of 2005, I only became any kind of a fan in the intervening years – all of which is to say that the show at The Sound Academy in support of this year’s Build A Rocket Boys was one I’d been waiting for for a long while.

I certainly wasn’t the only one, but with the venue only half full – approximately 1500 punters – and folded into its more intimate configuration, there clearly weren’t as many as some may have hoped. Still enough to offer a roar of welcome to the Manchester quintet and their two backing violinists/vocalists, though. Whereas at the 2005 show I saw, Garvey was hobbled by a bum leg and forced to perform seated for most of the show, he spent this entire evening roaming the stage like the man of the people he is, shaking hands with the front row and pointing and waving to pretty much everyone; I wager that by show’s end, there wasn’t a person in the crowd who hadn’t been personally acknowledged by Garvey. The sort of skills one gains from playing to arena- and stadium-sized crowds, as Elbow do back in the UK, served him well in connecting with the audience whether is was a running theme of getting everyone to wave their hands in the air whenever he did so – perhaps a nod to their latest album’s artwork – or cheekily chastising overeager fans for randomly shouting out the names of English towns or trying to start football singalongs and a offering elocution lessons to those shouting requests inarticulately. All in good fun, of course.

And while I’m sure plenty would have been happy to attend a Guy Garvey speaking tour, this was still a rock concert. At least technically. One of the key realizations in my becoming a fan was that Elbow weren’t actually a conventional rock band, and expecting them to ever “rock out”, as the kids say, was an exercise in frustration. They can pack a wallop when need be, as “Neat Little Rows” and “Grounds For Divorce” – which followed an extended nonsensical ad-libbed audience singalong – aptly demonstrated, but most of the set showcased what has become the band’s forte: the big, open-hearted, sentimental and stately anthems. Opening with “The Birds” and running through the likes of “Mirrorball” and “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”, all rendered gorgeously and meticulously, it was almost a case of too much beauty to take in.

The heartstring-tugging peaked mid-set when the rest of the band left just Garvey and keyboardist Craig Potter onstage for “The Night Will Always Win” and “Puncture Repair” rendered as piano ballads. Upon their return, the band went big for the final third of the show with grandiose performances of “Weather To Fly”, begun as an acoustic campfire number with all five gathered in a circle before being completed in proper cinematic fashion and set-closing “Open Arms” that was as soaring as one would expect. The encore led off with “Starlings” – Garvey, Mark Potter and Pete Turner handling horn duties – and following “Station Approach” ended with “One Day Like this”, the song that will likely close Elbow shows until the end of time or until they write something even more celebratory.

For all the preceding praise, it could have been better. Hearing something – anything – from Cast Of Thousands would have been glorious and made me feel a little bit less like I was being punished for taking so long to come around on this band. It would also have been nice if they’d worked some of their darker-tinged songs, such as “Audience With The Pope”, into the set if just to break up the sepia-ness of the performance and show off that heavier side just a bit more. A little more variety in the tenor of the set wouldn’t have been a bad thing – after all, when every song is done up big like a set-closer, it can take away from the actual arc of the show and almost make it feel anticlimactic. But these are relatively minor complaints; any time you get to spend almost two hours with one of Britain’s best bands where the prevailing emotion is love in all its permutations, it’s going to be a good time. Check that; great time.

The National Post also has a review of the show and The Globe & Mail, DIY and San Diego City Beat have band interviews.

Photos: Elbow @ The Sound Academy – September 28, 2011
MP3: Elbow – “Open Arms”
MP3: Elbow – “Newborn”
Video: Elbow – “Open Arms”
Video: Elbow – “Neat Little Rows”
Video: Elbow – “The Bones Of You”
Video: Elbow – “One Day Like This”
Video: Elbow – “Grounds For Divorce”
Video: Elbow – “Leaders Of The Free World”
Video: Elbow – “Forget Myself”
Video: Elbow – “Grace Under Pressure”
Video: Elbow – “Not A Job”
Video: Elbow – “Fugitive Motel”
Video: Elbow – “Fallen Angel”
Video: Elbow – “Newborn”
Video: Elbow – “Powder Blue”
Video: Elbow – “Red”
Video: Elbow – “Any Day Now”

Blurt has details on exactly what is going to be in that ridiculously comprehensive (and expensive) Smiths box set entitled Complete due out October 18.

Adele has released a video for the song you’ve been hearing all Summer and which will haunt you through music stores, shopping malls and karaoke bars until the end of time.

Video: Adele – “Someone Like You”

Contact Music reports that after all his various projects, Damon Albarn is finally planning a proper solo record. Which I’m hoping is code for a Blur North American tour, but I suspect is not.

The Line Of Best Fit serves up a video session with Summer Camp, whose Welcome To Condale is out November 8.

Also sessioning up at The Line Of Best Fit is I Break Horses with the second of three performances recorded in Stockholm.

NPR interviews Feist. Metals is out Tuesday and she’s at Massey Hall on December 1.

Exclaim talks to Kathryn Calder about her new album Bright & Vivid. It’s not out until October 25 but the first video is now available.

Video: Kathryn Calder – “Who Are You”

The Toronto Star and NOW talk to Ohbijou in advance of tonight’s release show in support of Metal Meets at Trinity-St. Paul’s.

Exclaim hosts a video session with The Elwins, who have a single release show at The El Mocambo tonight.

BBCThere’s no shame in being late to the party on certain artists; it’s simply not possible to keep up with everything that’s out there, let alone apply the necessary hype filters to discern what’s genuinely good and what’s just hip noise. I tend to go with the philosophy that if it’s worth hearing, I’ll hear it eventually and if it’s not, then I won’t even know what I missed.

Of course, sometimes you realize it’s worth hearing a little too late. By the time the buzz around Amy Winehouse reached my ears back in 2007 or so, talk about her talent was already inextricable from tales of her offstage antics and addictions, so rather than potentially participate in the tabloid/gossip storm, I declined to even bother giving a listen and missed her one and only Toronto performance at The Mod Club in May of that year. Our paths would have crossed later that Summer as she was one of the big-name undercards for that year’s V Fest but her personal issues continued to grow to the point of having the pull out a couple of weeks before the festival date. There were the usual apologies and assurances that she’d make it up, but of course she didn’t. Amy Winehouse died earlier this Summer as a result of what appears to side-effects of attempting to detox at the age of 27. In the ensuing flood of tributes and remembrances, I finally took the trouble of giving her music a listen and yeah. Clearly I missed out. And clearly I’m going to be one of those adding to the posthumous sales of Back To Black.

The title track of which was covered in stately style by Elbow for a BBC Live Lounge session in June 2008; Elbow are another artist I was slow on the uptake for, only getting on board fully sometime between Leaders Of The Free World and The Seldom Seen Kid, but am now completely won over. I’ve been waiting a long time for them to return to town for their own headlining show with me as a proper fan and they’ll finally do so this Wednesday night at The Sound Academy.

And also offering an interpretation of “Back To Black” in 2008 was Dev Hynes, who at the time was still operating as Lightspeed Champion. I ignored his first band Test Icicles and justly so as they were terrible, but have been a fan of everything he’s done since. His stripped-down, acoustic rendering appeared on the NME Awards 2008 cover compilation which featured covers by artists who appeared on the NME Awards ceremony or sponsored tour that year. Hynes has since put the Lightspeed Champion monicker to bed and now records as Blood Orange, having released his debut Coastal Grooves back in August. He’ll be at The Garrison on October 21 supporting and also playing as part of CANT.

MP3: Elbow – “Back To Black”
MP3: Lightspeed Champion – “Back To Black”
Video: Amy Winehouse – “Back To Black”

Leon DiaperLondon’s Vaccines were really asking for it with the title of their debut album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, what with it sounding like equal parts challenge and excuse. For my part, I didn’t expect a hell of a lot. You see, as Anglophile as I am, I’m also hella suspicious of acts that arrive on a tidal wave of hype as I’ve owned too many CDs from British guitar bands that proved to have very little shelf life. And given The Vaccines arrived with a well-orchestrated, a major label-funded buzz blitz, I assumed they’d be all hat, no cattle.

Well I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again. Rather than lose my interest with each listen, time spent with What Did You Expect‘s brief running time only made me want to hit repeat. They don’t pretend to be anything more than what they are, which is to say a quartet of kids playing rock music, but it’s uncanny the way they manage to evoke the best of British rock from over the last decade – the meat-and-potatoes simplicity of Arctic Monkeys, the scrappy snottiness of The Libertines, the open-hearted romanticism of Bloc Party – without actually sounding like any of them. Most key, however, is the fact that they’re able to write songs that are anthemic in scope yet punkish in packaging and catchy enough to warrant praise entirely on their own creative merits – “All In White” is downright stirring. It may well be that they’re just the next British guitar band of the moment, but it’s The Vaccines’ moment and they’re making the most of it.

And while this would normally be the point in the post where I tell you that The Vaccines are coming to town soon, an announcement yesterday actually instead pulled their entire Fall tour, including the September 27 date at The Phoenix – Justin Hayward-Young will need surgery on his throat for the third time this year, and doctor’s orders do not include gallivanting around the globe singing rock music. While I wasn’t going to be hitting that particular show, I was looking forward to seeing that at Iceland Airwaves in October and that show is also scotched. Here’s hoping Hayward-Young’s recovery is quick and the make-up date is a convenient one.

NME talked the band at Reading/Leeds this past weekend about their plans for album number two and Sabotage Times has an interview with guitarist Freddie Cowan.

MP3: The Vaccines – “Norgaard”
MP3: The Vaccines – “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)”
Video: The Vaccines – “Norgaard”
Video: The Vaccines – “All In White”

The Telegraph has an interview with Elbow frontman Guy Garvey. They’re at The Sound Academy on September 28 and the video of a session from this past Spring in the crypt at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral is available to stream for the next week at Absolute Radio.

The Gallagher brothers’ ongoing duel of one-upmanship has spilled over into their North American touring itinerary. Noel Gallagher has announced the first Stateside live dates in support of his solo debut Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, out November 8, and though it’s limited to major markets as the first Beady Eye jaunt was, it’s much more ambitious in scope. For example, while Beady Eye were able to fill if not quite sell out the Sound Academy back in June, Noel has booked not one but two nights at Massey Hall to open up the tour on November 7 and 8 – tickets $39.50 and $99.50 plus fees, on sale on September 9 at 10AM. Now I know that Oasis fans are devoted and Noel has said he’d play material from said band live, but still – that’s kind of… well that’s a lot of tickets to expect to sell. That’s all. Anyways, NME has another new song from the debut album available to stream.

Stream: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “If I Had A Gun”
Video: Noel Gallagher & The High Flying Birds – “The Death Of You And Me”

Meanwhile, over at BBC6, Liam Gallagher discusses the slander lawsuit that remains against his brother about comments surrounding the end of Oasis and the next Beady Eye record.

Paste has a feature piece on Laura Marling, whose new record A Creature I Don’t Know is out on September 13 and who plays The Great Hall on September 23.

BBC has a conversation with Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale about their plans for album number four and the influences being applied to it.

Ladytron’s Reuben Wu talks Gravity The Seducer with DIY; the album is out September 13 and they play The Phoenix on October 5.

The Quietus gets Portishead to select thirteen of their favourite albums. They’re at The Sound Academy on October 9 and 10.

Sweden’s The Sounds have set a North American tour in support of their new album Something To Die For; look for them at The Opera House on October 26.

Video: The Sounds – “Something To Die For”

If anyone was wondering – as I was – if there was going to be a way to get hands on a vinyl copy of I Break Horses’ gorgeous debut Hearts on vinyl in Canada without paying crazy import prices, take, um, heart – apparently there is an October 18 street date for physical editions of the record.

DIY reports that Sweden’s Those Dancing Days have decided to go on hiatus to tend to things IRL for a while. This is disappointing as they were one of the bands who had to pull out of SXSW this year due to visa snafus and I was hoping they’d make it up next year. Guess not.

Video: Those Dancing Days – “Reaching Forward”

Danish punks Iceage have released a new video from their debut New Brigade.

Video: Iceage – “You’re Blessed”

The lead track from the forthcoming M83 double-album ridicu-epic Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is now available to stream. They’re at Lee’s Palace on November 18.

Stream: M83 – “Intro”

The Jezabels have released a video to go with the first MP3 from Prisoner, out September 16 in their native Australia but not until next Spring over here. They’re at The Phoenix opening up for Hey Rosetta! on November 24 and possibly the just-announced second show on November 23; still waiting on confirmation of that.

MP3: The Jezabels – “Endless Summer”
Video: The Jezabels – “Endless Summer”

Jean-Baptiste MondinoThanks to the fact that the United Kingdom exists five hours into the future, I woke up yesterday morning just in time to see the short list for this year’s Mercury Prize – awarded annually to the best album in the UK and Ireland – commandeer my Twitter feed for a short while. The process by which the shortlist and winner is selected isn’t entirely clear to me – it’s not as transparent as Canada’s Polaris Prize – but in a way that mysteriousness makes it more interesting.

Even though the “how” isn’t clear, a few years of Mercury-spotting has made the “what” pretty easy to peg, at least in a manner of speaking. History shows that about half the list is the cream of the Brit-indie pop/rock crop and the other half is pulled from all manner of other genres, from jazz to pop to hip-hop to what have you and the net result is eleven or twelve – interesting there’s no fixed size to the short list – albums that offer a good amount of grist for the conversational mill. The dozen records competing for the prize are:

Adele / 21 / Video: “Rolling In The Deep”
James Blake / James Blake / MP3: “To Care (Like You)”
Anna Calvi / Anna Calvi / MP3: “Blackout”
Elbow / build a rocket boys! / MP3: “Open Arms”
Everything Everything / Man Alive / Video: “Final Form”
Ghostpoet / Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam / Video: “Cash And Carry Me Home”
PJ Harvey / Let England Shake / MP3: “Written On The Forehead”
Katy B / On A Mission / Video: “Carry Me Home”
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins / Diamond Mine / Video: “Bubble”
Metronomy / The English Riviera / Video: “The Look”
Gwilym Simcock / Good Days at Schloss Elmau
Tinie Tempah / Disc-Overy / Video: “‘Til I’m Gone”

I can only speak to first-hand experience with about half the list, but it’s not unreasonable to think that the winning album will be amongst that subset. Indeed, many have already narrowed it down to a two-artist race between Adele and PJ Harvey, and if it’s down to those two I’d give the edge to Polly Jean if for no other reason than last year’s XX win was the eminently obvious choice. I don’t necessarily see them doing that again. And while I’d have no problem with either, both of their records being massive achievements by a number of standards, I’d be pretty happy to see Anna Calvi sneak up the middle to take it. I do love her self-titled debut and am sad that her appearance at Osheaga next week will not come with a stop down the 401. Perhaps a Mercury win would encourage her to do another North American tour and give me the opportunity to finally see her live. I also continue to love Elbow’s latest but think the odds of them winning for two albums in a row are pretty slim – they don’t have the underdog card to play anymore.

In any case, the winner will be announced on September 6.

Washington City Paper talks to Wild Beasts, whose Smother seems to be the consensus surprising omission from this year’s short list. They also do a couple video sessions for WNYC and The Fader and will be at The Mod Club on September 29.

Spin talks to Daniel Blumberg and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to Max Bloom, both of Yuck.

Emmy The Great talks to Clash about her personal grassroots campaign against News International.

Interview and The Sydney Morning Herald talk to Patrick Wolf about his new record Lupercalia while The Independent finds out how he and Patti Smith became friends.

JAM has a feature on White Lies, in town at The Phoenix on August 3.

NPR has a World Cafe session with Beady Eye.

The Grid is starting rumours that Noel Gallagher will be in town for a show the week his solo debut Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds is released in North America, which is to say November 8. Bookie’s not one to just make stuff up, so keep an eye out. Also, in conversation with The List, Gallagher says he takes no joy in Beady Eye’s failure to tear up the charts.

The Guardian talks to Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow of Portishead, who have two shows at The Sound Academy on October 9 and 10; word is the first night is sold out and the second not too far behind.

Artrocker chats with Tim Burgess of The Charlatans.

eMusic talks reunions and reissues with Brett Anderson and Mat Osman of Suede.

According to The Guardian, the New Order split is about as final and acrimonious as you imagined it to be.

French dance-pop veterans Tahiti 80 are back with a new record in The Past, The Present & The Possible and a tour which brings them to The Horseshoe on September 22, tickets $13.50 in advance.

MP3: Tahiti 80 – “Keys To The City”

M83 has finally revealed specifics on and an MP3 from their next album, which will be a double-set entitled Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Pitchfork has details on the record, which will be out on October 18. M83 plays Lee’s Palace on November 18, tickets $20 in advance.

MP3: M83 – “Midnight City”

DIY has a profile of I Break Horses, whose debut Hearts is out August 15.

Spinner talks to Lykke Li.

Adult Swim is giving away a new song from The Tallest Man On Earth. Just because, I guess.

MP3: The Tallest Man On Earth – “Weather Of A Killing Kind”

In a perfect world, this would be an item about a new Jens Lekman album and world tour including a local date. But it’s not a perfect world so instead, it’s an item about a new EP entitled An Argument With Myself, due out September 20, and a US tour that doesn’t cross the border. The Secretly Canadian press release consists of an interview with Jens.

Stereogum has the first MP3 from the new Loney Dear record, entitled Hall Music and out on October 4. There’s also rumours/promises of North American dates in November.

Labrador Records, purveyors of the finest in Swedish pop, have put out a free label sampler entitled Stockholm Belongs To Us which collects tracks from all their active roster. Needless to say, it’s wonderful.

Consequence Of Sound and Pitchfork both have more details on Bjork’s Biophilia project, the album of which will be out September 27 and the app of which was released today – The Guardian takes it for a spin.

And speaking of Bjork, guess who’s going to Iceland Airwaves this October? Lots of people. Me amongst them. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to swing tickets to Bjork’s Reykjavík Concert Hall shows, but hey. Iceland!

Frank YangIf it were possible to discuss Beady Eye and their debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding based strictly on their musical merits and not their backstory, then it would be a fairly short conversation: alright-enough Brit-rock, hardly re-inventing the wheel. But taking into account that the band comprises 4/5 of the final lineup of Oasis, less chief songwriter Noel Gallagher, extra scrutiny is unavoidable. Which is unfortunate since despite the band’s – well, Liam Gallagher’s – insistence that they’re going to be the biggest band in the world, they don’t aspire to much more than solid, meat-and-potatoes rock’n'roll. And in that, especially considering the younger Gallagher’s rather unspectacular songwriting efforts in Oasis, Different Gear is surprisingly decent, with a good dose of swagger and energy and thankfully fewer than expected cringe-worthy lyrics. After all, Liam has never pretended there was a poet underneath the gruff exterior; Noel was the sensitive one.

While Beady Eye have hardly set the world ablaze with their debut, they found it worthwhile to bring it across the Atlantic for their first North American tour starting this past weekend in Chicago and landing in Toronto’s Sound Academy on Monday night. It would be the first time Liam would take a stage here since Oasis’ final assault-interrupted performance at V Fest 2008, and clearly the faithful had been waiting – the giant Union Jack flag waving from the balcony and random chants of “Liam!” a few of the signs that the band were on friendly turf. And really, it’s a rare sort of crowd who sings along en masse to The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment” over the PA, isn’t it? When the lights dimmed a few minutes later than the scheduled start time – it wouldn’t have done to not let the final bars of The Stone Roses’ “I Am The Resurrection” not ring out, after all – the cheers went up and out strode Liam Gallagher in appropriately ridiculous Union Jack topcoat and his more conservatively dressed compatriots and we were away.

Opening with “Four Letter Word”, Gallagher in his familiar nose-on-the-mic, arms-behind-his-back post and picking lyrics off a teleprompter, the first thing you noticed was that they were loud. More specifically, Gallagher was loud – heinously so. It was as if his monitor mix was being fed into the house by accident, so much louder were his vocals than the band that it was like hearing someone singing at the top of their lungs to music playing on their earphones. Thankfully within a few songs it was sorted somewhat – or fleeing to the back of the venue made the difference – and the remainder of the set was entertaining in a steady head-nodding sense. Each song from Different Gear as well as a couple of non-album tracks and one new composition was aired out, each with its own staging and adhering closely to their studio versions. And while it obviously wasn’t the context I’d ideally like to have seen, it was good to see Andy Bell back on guitar and taking a few solos in person.

Without that much material on hand and a sworn oath to not delve into the Oasis songbook, it wasn’t surprising that the main set was over in less than an hour, closing with “Champagne Supernova”-like psychedelic slow jam “The Morning Son” before returning for a two-song encore that brought the show to a respectable length. Throughout, Gallagher conducted himself with an interesting combination of confidence and humility, as though he still believed that he was fronting the best band in the world but understood that he had to prove it; this solid showing was a good start. Will Beady Eye, as their song declares, “stand the test of time like The Beatles and The Stones”? Not likely, to be honest, but at least they’ve bought themselves some of that time to get there.

Metro, The Grid and Shortlist have typically entertaining interviews with Gallagher and his bandmates. Chart, examiner.com and JAM also have reviews of the show.

Photos: Beady Eye @ The Sound Academy – June 20, 2011
MP3: Beady Eye – “The Roller”
Video: Beady Eye – “Millionaire”
Video: Beady Eye – “Four Letter Word”
Video: Beady Eye – “Bring The Light”

Loads of new videos making their way across the pond over the last few days. Let’s sum up.

Amor de Dias has a new clip from Street Of The Love Of Days. Alasdair MacLean and Lupe Núñez-Fernández are also playing guest editor this week at Magnet starting with a Q&A and submitted a guest list of inspirations to Critical Mob.

Video: Amor de Dias – “Wild Winter Trees”

The latest single from Anna Calvi also comes with a video.

Video: Anna Calvi – “Desire”

The previously mailing-list-sign-up-only video for the new Slow Club single is now available for all to see. It comes from their second album Paradise, which is out September 12 – NME has details.

Video: Slow Club – “Two Cousins”

Friendly Fires have confirmed their Fall North American tour which includes the make-up for the cancelled Toronto show, now taking place October 23 at The Phoenix. The Georgia Straight and Black Book have interviews with the band and oh yeah, there’s a new video from Pala.

Video: Friendly Fires – “Hawaiian Air”

Yuck have a new, kind of disturbing clip from their self-titled debut. RTE has an interview with the band.

Video: Yuck – “Shook Down”

The new clip from Noah & The Whale’s Last Night On Earth is appropriately slick and cinematic. And nice dance moves, Charlie. Creative Loafing has an interview.

Video: Noah & The Whale – “Life Is Life”

The Joy Formidable’s Big Roar has yielded a new video, which proves their affection for ’90s alt.rock extends to video aesthetic.

Video: The Joy Formidable – “A Heavy Abacus”

It’s not a proper promo clip, but people will still want to see this live video of Radiohead performing a new, non-album track. It’s taken from their upcoming From The Basement webcast, which I believe will be aired on July 1.

Video: Radiohead – “Staircase” (live)

Some news from components of Blur; Clash checks in with Graham Coxon on the state of his next record while The Guardian has a feature on the many projects of Damon Albarn, including an opera about John Dee and a tease about possible North American Blur dates next year – hello Coachella?

Summer Camp have turned to Pledge Music to garner financing for their debut album, and have put together some very neat and entertaining rewards for various pledge levels. The real reward, of course, will be a record of wonderful pop music like the track “Nobody Knows You”, which they’re trading for your email address, but if you want to walk away with Jeremy Warmsley’s bass guitar, well that can happen too. Clash talks to Elizabeth Sankey about the new album and fundraising efforts.

Clash quizzes Emmy The Great about this, that and the other thing.

Laura Marling has announced the September 13 release of her third album A Creature I Don’t Know. She talks to Spin a bit about what to expect and The Line Of Best Fit has more specifics. The record is already available to pre-order.

Bella Union has announced details on the debut album from Newcastle’s Lanterns On The Lake, who rather beguiled at SXSW. Gracious Tide, Take Me Home will be out on September 19 in the UK – the first MP3 from it is available to have and the hold now.

MP3: Lanterns On The Lake – “You’re Almost There”

The Quietus talks to The Horrors and gets a track-by-track breakdown of their new record Skying, due out July 12. They play Lee’s Palace on September 27.

Spinner, HitFix and The Mirror talk to Guy Garvey of Elbow, finally coming back to town for a show at the Sound Academy on September 28.

Pitchfork filmed a short James Blake film at Primavera last month; Blake is at The Phoenix on September 30.

The Daily Record asks Glasvegas frontman James Allan where he’s living nowadays while Rab Allan talks to Metro.

Spin is streaming a second preview track from the new Ladytron album Gravity The Seducer, due out September 13.

Billboard, BBC and The Quietus talk to Patrick Wolf about his new record Lupercalia while The Fly has an acoustic courtyard session with the artist.

Interview interviews Kate Bush.