Cat Power hasn’t necessarily rocked my world in the past, but the new album is totally winning me over. You can hear the whole thing on her MySpace page, and while I’m sure some will bemoan her moving away from the skeletally weary folk of her earlier releases, I for one welcome her adoption of fuller instrumentation and melodicism. The album is out next Tuesday, and the press machine is revving up. Australia’s The Age and New York Metro have interviews with the notoriously reticent Chan Marshall while The New York Times profiles both her and Beth Orton and reviewing their respective new records. Finally, keep an eye out for the first video from The Greatest for “Living Proof”, shot by Harmony Korine – Tim O Thompson reports that “it’s a bit racy”. You hear that? That was the sound of a nation of indie boys fainting.

And on the topic of Matador-affiliated, formerly press-shy indie royalty The Sunday Herald has an old-fashioned sit-down with Stuart Murdoch and comes away with an impressively expansive and in-depth interview with the Belle & Sebastian leader. And in addition to the release of their new album The Life Pursuit on February 7, there’s the release of Put The Book Back On The Shelf, an anthology of comics based on B&S songs. I am having trouble finding real accurate info on the release date – I’ve found listings for every week in February – but The Beguiling and Soundscapes seem fairly certain that it’ll be out by February 8th, because that’s the day they’re holding a release party for both the CD and the book at Andy Poolhall out on College St. Some of the artists will be in attendance, so it’s your chance to hang out with indie kids AND comic geeks… or show up with a bazooka and put us all out of our misery. You know you’d be doing us a favour.

And at the other end of the spectrum, some artists who have trouble keeping their gobs shut… Oasis are at the Air Canada Centre on March 20. Didn’t know they were on tour over here? Me neither, but there you go. The Arctic Monkeys, who have probably already sold out their show at the Phoenix the next day to Toronto’s infamous slavering Anglophiles, will open. Because, you know, they’re already here.

And also on March 20 – Six By Seven’s Club Sandwich At The Peveril Hotel gets a formal release but the band has 500 copies on sale now through their website, some even autographed. The release is described as “a mixture of high quality master recordings, demo’s and slightly unfinished masterpieces” and contains tracks that were intended for the follow-up to their swan song Artists Poets Cannibals Thieves, which never came to be. Did I ever post about my attempts to buy a copy of that album over eBay? I won an auction for a copy from some dude/shop in the UK and sent payment via Paypal. A couple weeks later, I get a package in the mail that certainly feels like a CD, but when I open it up, it turns out that it’s an empty jewel case with a 10 pound note in it along with a written apology that they couldn’t find the CD in their store so here’s my refund. Somehow paying me in a foreign currency and shipping it as a small parcel made more sense to them than just refunding my Paypal. Attempts to contact the seller just got me profuse email apologies, but no explanation as to what the hell they were thinking. And so I carry that ten quid around with me in my wallet as a reminder that, well, some people are just fucked. And I still don’t have a copy of the record.

And more news from the UK – Eamon Hamilton has left British Sea Power to concentrate full-time on Brakes.

24: I think it goes without saying that President Logan should be removed from office and replaced with David Palmer’s corpse. Or Sherry Palmer’s corpse. Or a potted plant. I wonder if the producers were given a directive to somehow come up with a President who makes the real one look good by comparison? And that kid is SO not 15 years old, though he does cry like a little girl. Oh look! Sam Gamgee in a suit! Silly hobbitses. The airport siege went pretty well, though I don’t really see what sort of threat the terrorists really were, considering that all they had in those explosive vests was confetti. And biohazard weapons? Yawn.

np – Chapterhouse / Whirlpool