So how about that new Bloc Party record? You know, Intimacy, they one they sneak-announced on Monday and is available digitally as of today to anyone who pre-orders the CD for when it comes out on October 28? A wholly unexpected announcement, but a logical one considering they’ve got a load of North American touring coming up including an appearance at day one of V Fest here in Toronto on September 6.

I can’t say I especially cared for their “Flux” single, which doesn’t appear on the new record, but I liked it more than current single “Mercury”, which does appear on the new record. I do like the new other new song they’ve got streaming at their MySpace though – “Trojan Horse”. Either way, it seems that “energy” is the word of the day in Bloc Party-land, which may not bode well for those of us who loved the melancholic anthemicism of last year’s A Weekend In The City but would be good news to those who preferred the more breakneck pace of their debut Silent Alarm. Or, considering that production duties on the record were split evenly between the producers who worked with the band on their first two records – Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee – maybe it’ll be both. We’ll have to wait till… well, right now to find out.

Kele Okerke talks to Rolling Stone about where the album came from and how the band “didn’t want to go the whole In Rainbows route” – well no, In Rainbows was a helluva lot cheaper. The Intimacy CD/MP3 bundle would have cost $27 after shipping. I realize that paying $10 for just the MP3s, as I did, doesn’t necessarily come out to much less overall depending on how much you find the CD for but it made me feel a bit better. Just a bit. Pitchfork also has an interview with Gordon Moakes and This Is Fake DIY has first listen impressions of the record.

Video: Bloc Party – “Mercury”
Video: Bloc Party – “Flux”
MySpace: Bloc Party

The new video from Oasis has been posted and pulled from YouTube so many times in the past few days that I have no idea whether this link will still work… but it did at the time I write this so we’ll go with it. Forgiving the horrible audio quality, that’s two tracks from Dig Out Your Soul, out October 7, that I think are actually pretty good. Unprecedented. Oasis headline day two of V Fest and NME has some words from Noel Gallagher about the album’s title.

Video: Oasis – “Shock Of The Lightning”

NME points to a blog entry from Nicky Wire that states Manic Street Preachers are going to start recording their follow-up to last year’s surprisingly decent Send Away The Tigers.

London’s Rumble Strips, who’ve had my ear for a little while now, will be bringing their not-that-new but just-released-domestically album Girls & Weather to the El Mocambo on October 29 with San Francisco’s Birdmonster. A proper writeup on the band/album will be forthcoming but if you like jaunty, ska-inflected rock with horns and even if you don’t – I certainly don’t, normally – give a listen.

MP3: The Rumble Strips – “Time”
MP3: The Rumble Strips – “Motorcycle”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Girls And Boys In Love”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Alarm Clock”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Motorcycle”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Oh Creole”
Video: The Rumble Strips – “Time”
MySpace: The Rumble Strips

PopMatters interviews Los Campesinos!, who will release their second album of the year We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed on November 11. The Quietus, meanwhile, declares war on twee and wants Los Camps to be the first to fall.

MP3: Los Campesinos! – “How I Taught Myself To Scream”

Laura Marling’s Mercury-nominated album Alas, I Cannot Swim is out domestically this week and you can stream the whole thing at Spinner. She’s at the Rivoli on October 4 and The Independent has an interview about her current cultural picks.

Stream: Laura Marling / Alas I Cannot Swim

Also out this week, steaming in whole and coming to town soon are Stereolab and Chemical Chords and a show at the Phoenix on October 8. Tim Gane assembles a playlist, with annotations, for Complex.

Stream: Stereolab / Chemical Chords

And for more hot streaming action, head over to their MySpace to hear the whole of The Verve’s Forth, out next week. Billboard reports that the band is intending to soldier on after the release of this record and not keep with their tradition of breaking up following every release.

Stream: The Verve / Forth

The Interface has a session with Billy Bragg.

Maximo Park’s Paul Smith discusses the progress of album number three with NME.

IGN talks to Reuben Wu of Ladytron about video games.