In the wake of loss, a half-whispered lament that's strangely sweet and surprisingly optimistic.

Beguiling fourth from the impressively unclassifiable London brainiacs.

He's playing for Teenage Cancer Trust this March

Some albums prove harder to write about than others, for reasons that aren’t always easy to fathom. Others, though, seem purposely designed as hard to pin down: a case in point being Kompakt’s latest “Pop Ambient 2010” comp, which I’ve been listening to a lot for a couple of months now. How do you articulate what music sounds like that exists in such a neutral, undemonstrative space?

His lawyer says the case represents the 'dark side' of the music industry

Jonsi Birgisson says the band are taking time out

A load of pretty heavy psych’s been accumulating over the last few weeks: new albums from Major Stars (what an amazing guitarist Wayne Rogers is); from both Wooden Shjips and Ripley’s other project, Moon Duo; a cool new (to me, at least) band on No Quarter called Coconuts.

Chris Wolstenholme says he wants to capture 'life on the road' with the band

He'll draw inspiration from his 1975 album

It’s a dubious business, calling any band empirically ‘great’. But perhaps one indicator of greatness might be the amount of controversy and whingeing generated when a ‘Best Of’ tracklisting is announced.