I was maybe halfway through the entirely improvised new live album by Ghost, when it occurred to me that I might have been fixating on the new psych/folk/freak jams a bit much this past week or so. It was then that I turned to the new album by Beirut, as I have done for the past two or three weeks when I feel the need for tunes, of all things.

The legend will release ‘Magic’ in October

The soul sensation cancels festival appearance to address ‘health issues’

Greetings from gusty Edinburgh, where this year's Film Festival is kicking into its first full day, and there's a few hangovers from last night's Opening Gala party.

I’ve just been reading Re-Make/Re-Model, Michael Bracewell’s new book on the formative years of Roxy Music and was particularly struck by an early passage in which Bryan Ferry – thankfully not talking about fox-hunting or the Third Reich – waxes nostalgically about a music shop in Newcastle called Windows, where as a teenager he spent many astonished hours browsing through racks of records he couldn’t always afford, but liked anyway just to spend time poring over.

BABYSHAMBLES

Franz perform new song at Edinburgh Film Festival

They rocked Glastonbury – can Iggy and the band do the same at V?

Around the turn of the decade, I used to go and see a Brooklyn band called Les Savy Fav every time they played London. They were a fantastic night out. The singer, Tim Harrington, occasionally behaved like a cross between Iggy Pop, Salvador Dali and Captain Birdseye.

More melancholy crooning from former Pulp man