I couldn’t make it to Howlin Rain’s London show the other night, but my colleague Miles did, and came back impressed and bearing a very neat new CD that he bought at the gig. “Wild Life” has two tracks, lasts for about half an hour, and may provide some succour for Ethan Miller fans who’ve been unnerved by his transition from the flat-out psychedelic gloop of Comets On Fire to the sepia-tinted classic rock of the Rain.

The band to play Madison Square Gardens and Brixton Academy in June

Renowned composer Michael Nyman, most famed for his award-winning score for the film The Piano, is to present a specially made programme in the Music and Film Arena at this year's Latitude Festival.

He'll be showing off his own films too, plus literary and comedy additions!

The pair duet on four numbers including 'Black Dog', see full tracklisting here

The band respond to three tracks that appeared online this week

The UK chart number one will start concerts in Cardiff this Summer

The Smith joins My Bloody Valentine and Leonard Cohen at Benicassim

A busy and deeply professional couple of days listening to a backlog of CDs, MP3s, secure streams, dodgy downloads and so on, which involved us having another go at the Coldplay album. Apparently there's some sort of embargo on revealing opinions about "Viva La Vida". One question that occurred to me, however: when was the last time Brian Eno produced a really interesting album? I'm struggling to think of one here, but if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Volumes one and three of last year's reissue to be available soon