Sabine ScheckelWith all due respect to Mark Van Hoen and Nick Holton and their works with Seefeel and Holton’s Opulant Oog, respectively, it’s entirely reasonable to discuss Stars Are Our Home, the debut album from England’s Black Hearted Brother, almost entirely in terms of Neil Halstead. Because not only is it Halstead’s work in Slowdive, Mojave 3, and as a solo artist that’s going to sell this record, it’s his past work which offers the strongest reference points. And yet what fans of the aforementioned will get out of this record depends entirely on the expectations they come into it with, for despite a return to electric instruments, a band context, and the unapologetically cosmic allusions of the record, Stars occupies an orbit all its own that promises no return to Souvlaki Space Station.

In fact, for all the echoes of Halstead’s past work that inhabit Stars, there’s little that’s reminiscent of Slowdive at their most beloved. The downbeat “Take Heart” comes closest to recreating a Souvlaki-esque sigh, but for the most part guitars have more psych and bite than swell and bloom, and the electronics at play leave little of the space that defined Pygmalion. The songwriting at its best captures the brighter, poppier side of Mojave 3 as well as the laid-back melodicism of solo Halstead – both “This Is How it Feels” and “UFO” combine these marvellously – and even when it’s not quite as refined – some of it feels jammier than you’d have ever found on a M3 or Slowdive record – the palpable enjoyment these long-time mates get out of playing together still carries it through.

As I mentioned the last time he came through town, Halstead’s gift for musical reinvention while remaining wholly himself is quite remarkable, and with Black Hearted Brother – who use their own past as influences, but still create something all-new – this continues.

Stars Are Our Home is out today, and MusicOmh gets a track-by-track walkthrough of the album from the band. Meanwhile, Exclaim! has an extensive interview with Halstead about not just Black Hearted Brother, but the plausibility of a Slowdive reunion (the door he opened last year remains reluctantly wide open) and the upcoming solo gigs at which Rachel Goswell will guest on vocals for a planned live record.

And further to the Halstead singularity in which we now find ourselves, a limited-edition 7″ featuring solo versions of “Alison” and “Yer Feet” will be made available for sale online this Friday, providing they don’t sell out at the London gigs. Which they really should.

Update: Also fun – the band have put out an introduction video for those not familiar with the principals.

MP3: Black Hearted Brother – “This Is How It Feels”
Video: Black Hearted Brother – “This Is How It Feels”

The Boston Herald, Boston Globe, and Metro profile Franz Ferdinand, coming to town for a show at The Kool Haus on October 24.

The 405 talks to Los Campesinos! about their new record No Blues, coming out next wek on October 29.

With the November 5 release of her new album Matangi a couple weeks away, Pitchfork, The Fader, and The Guardian all want to talk to M.I.A..

Clash has a stream of another new tune from Rose Elinor Dougall, who will release the Future Vanishes EP on November 18.

Stream: Rose Elinor Dougall – “Poison Ivy”

Toy have released a video for the title track of their new record Join The Dots, coming out December 9.

Video: Toy – “Join The Dots”

Slate The Disco and Leeds Music Scene talk to Lanterns On The Lake about their new album Until The Colours Run, which gets a North American release on January 14.

Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace has rolled out another video from AMOK and a making-of video for said video, viewable at Pitchfork.

Video: Atoms For Peace – “Before Your Very Eyes”

When Scottish rockers Idlewild announced a hiatus following 2010’s Post-Electric Blues, it certainly seemed like the permanent sort but this photo posted yesterday to their Facebook implies that they’re feeling it again, which is good news. Or they’re just messing around with the emotions of their Facebook page fans.

Guitar World talks to Noah & The Whale guitarist Tom Hobden about his world of guitars.

The Line Of Best Fit reports that Manic Street Preachers have unearthed some new Holy Bible-era material – not music, but archival material – and may include it in a 20th anniversary release.

Editors have a new video from The Weight Of Your Love.

Video: Editors – “Honesty”

The Fly chats with Yuck 2.0.

David Gedge of The Wedding Present discusses the return to Hit Parade with The Glasgow Evening Times and lists off the soundtrack of his life for High 50

NPR welcomes Daughter for a Tiny Desk Concert, while The List and Refinery 29 have interviews with frontwoman Elena Tonra.

Arctic Monkeys describe to Rolling Stone how they went reinvented themselves from being a chart-topping rock band to a chart-topping rock band.

And since this is where my head has been at lately, know that the 1993 Suede live concert film Love and Poison is available to watch in its entirety on YouTube; the VHS-transfered visuals aren’t amazing but the soundtrack is quite acceptable.

Video: Suede / Love And Pain

Lee ClowerThere’s nothing like going into the long weekend with a healthy dose of WTF, so we’ll run with this – a concert announcement either torn from the playlists of Alternative Nation circa 2005 or the dollar bins of CD stores for pretty much every year after that. That’d be the double-bill of Leeds-born, New York-based glam-rock revivalists Spacehog and Detroit’s post-grunge champions Sponge, who will take the stage at Lee’s Palace on December 11, tickets $23 (that’s about $15 in 1995 dollars, if you were wondering).

Also, if you were wondering, they do both have new material that they’re ostensibly promoting. Though they basically split in 2001, Spacehog reunited in 2008 and released a new record in As It Is On Earth at the start of this year. Sponge, remarkably, never actually broke up and have been chugging along since their commercial peak with Wax Estatic and put out and Stop The Bleeding last month. But it’s okay if you don’t care; they probably know you don’t. But they know you wanna hear those old singles so you’re just going to have to deal.

The Nottingham Post has a quick interview with one of Spacehog’s Langdon brothers. It’s not really clear which one.

Stream: Spacehog – “Try To Remember”
Stream: Spacehog – “Glad To Know”
Video: Spacehog – “In The Meantime”
Video: Sponge – “Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina)”

While it’s disappointing that Keep Shelly In Athens had to cancel their Toronto date at Wrongbar next week due to visa issues, their co-headliner Chad Valley will still be coming to town and be playing for free at The Horseshoe on October 15, set time 11:40PM.

MP3: Chad Valley – “I Want Your Love”

English producer Darren Williams has already toured through a couple times in the past two years as Star Slinger, will release his debut album next year – he’s offered a taste to stream below – but not before he puts together another tour that will bring him to the Drake Underground on November 16, tickets $15.

Stream: Star Slinger – “Free”

English singer-songwriter Jake Bugg may have to wait until the end of the month to learn if he’s going to win the Mercury Prize, but he’s already thinking big, following up this past August’s local debut at The Mod Club with a new date at The Sound Academy on January 14, tickets $29.50. Though the fact that his second album Shangri La will be out on November 19 might also have something to do with the tour.

Video: Jake Bugg – “What Doesn’t Kill You”

With a new album in Mug Museum due out on November 12, Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon has announced a North American tour that brings her to The Drake Underground on January 21 of the new year, tickets $12.50 in advance.

Stream: Cate Le Bon with Perfume Genius – “I Think I Knew”
Stream: Cate Le Bon – “Are You With Me Now”

The Line Of Best Fit, The Fly, and DIY have interviews with Anna Calvi about her new record One Breath, which came out this week.

If you missed the album stream that went with the UK release of Summer Camp’s second album back in September, Interview is hosting another preview of Summer Camp ahead of its US release next week on October 15.

Stream: Summer Camp / Summer Camp

The Neil Halstead-fronted Black Hearted Brother have released a new video from their debut Stars Are Our Home, due out October 22.

Video: Black Hearted Brother – “This Is How It Feels”

Los Campesinos! have made available a stream of a new song from No Blues, their forthcoming album due out October 29.

Stream: Los Campesinos! – “Avocado, Baby”

Posting of remixes is usually verboten around here but when it involves David Bowie, exceptions can be made. LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy’s remix of “Love Is Lost” is one of the main selling points of The Next Day Extra, being released November 4, and it was premiered yesterday via Pitchfork but if you have the inclination, the rip of the BBC premiere is worth hearing for the short interview with Murphy that precedes it. And the version of “Sound & Vision” that soundtracked a cellphone commercial earlier this year is also available to hear (and buy, if you like) – Exclaim explains that one.

Stream: David Bowie – “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich mix)
Stream: David Bowie – “Sound & Vision” (Sonjay prabhakar mix)

There didn’t end up being a local Stone Roses date this year as I’d prophesied – sorry to anyone who believed me – but the Made Of Stone documentary film about their legacy and reunion definitely is. It’ll screen at The Bloor Cinema on November 22, so circle that one if you’re interested.

Trailer: The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone

Bowlegs has a video session with Lanterns On The Lake, whose wonderful new record Until The Colours Run doesn’t get a North American release until January 14.

The 405 have got a stream of the new Peggy Sue album Choir of Echoes, due out on January 27 of the new year.

Stream: Peggy Sue – “Idle”

The Fly checks in with The Horrors, at work in the studio on their next album.

Filter talks to Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.

Manic Street Preachers have released a poignant new video from their latest, Rewind The Film.

Video: Manic Street Preachers – “Anthem For A Lost Cause”

Camera Obscura have released a new old-school sci-fi video from Desire Lines.

Video: Camera Obscura – “Troublemaker”

Noisey chats up London Grammar about their current North American tour

Under The Radar has an interview with Savages.

A Music Blog, Yea grabbed an interview with Daughter when they were in town a couple weeks back.

In excerpting the book Isle Of Noises: Conversations With Great British Songwriters, Clash gets some insights into the processes of Laura Marling and Johnny Marr.

Noisey sends Emmy The Great to find out how much it would cost to be A$AP Rocky’s girlfriend a la the prerequisites in “Fashion Killa”; hilarity ensues.

Anyone who had “founding a company dedicated to building and restoring early 1990s Porches” in the, “What has former Catherine Wheel frontman Rob Dickinson been doing since releasing his first and only solo record Fresh Wine For The Horses way back in 2005″ pool, congratulations – you win. Hypebeast has a video interview with Dickinson, who sadly doesn’t sound like a man who misses strapping on a Stratocaster and singing “Black Metallic”.

Bella UnionNewcastle-upon-tyne’s Lanterns On The Lake were one of the more luminous discoveries of SXSW 2011, their intimate yet expansive sounds filling the space-folk void left in my heart by the likes of Mojave 3. Their 2011 debut Gracious Tide, Take Me Home focused more on the folk than the space, the more dynamic elements evident in their live show muted in favour of elegance, but was still a strong debut that promised even more to come.

That “more” is impressively realized on their second effort, Until The Colours Run, with the crashing electric guitars of opening track “Elodie” immediately signalling that this record will not be a retread of the first. Remarkably, as much as Colours pushes their sound to massive-sounding heights, be it by distortion pedals or string swells, it never comes at the expense of the fragile heart of their music. To extend the aquatic theme that runs through the band’s work, if Tides situated the listener on the shore where they could marvel at the band’s seemingly still and deep beauty, Colours takes them out onto the open water where that placidity is proven to be just an illusion, but Hazel Wilde’s soothing vocals act as a lifeboat against the tumult from which one can safely marvel at it all. A marvellous work.

Until The Colours Run will be out on October 7 in the UK and January 14 in North America; a long way off to be sure, but hopefully a sign that it will be properly promoted – like with a tour. In the meantime, Clash has an advance stream of the record with track-by-track annotations from Wilde, and Bristol 247 has an interview with the band.

Video: Lanterns On The Lake – “Until The Colours Run”
Video: Lanterns On The Lake – “Another Tale From Another English Town”
Stream: Lanterns On The Lake / Until The Colours Run

Johnny Flynn takes Drowned In Sound on a track-by-track walkthrough of his new long-player Country Mile, out this week.

Dummy has premiered a stream of Laura Groves’ – née Blue Roses – new EP Thinking About Thinking, available to purchase as of today.

Stream: Laura Groves / Thinking About Thinking

Canada wins as CBC Music has a stream – accessible from north of the 49th only – of Anna Calvi’s new album One Breath ahead of its release next week on October 8. Don’t worry, non-Canucks, I’m sure a less geoblocked stream will be available soon, and you can at least read this interview at The Irish Times. But in the meantime, I’ll just enjoy this record while I wait four hours for my free doctor’s appointment. Update: Spin has a Spotify stream for US readers/listeners/existers.

Stream: Anna Calvi / One Breath

If you were wondering if and when all those extra songs that were recorded alongside that which would become David Bowie’s The Next Day would come out – allegedly they had enough for a second album – wonder no more. The Line Of Best Fit reports that an expanded, three-disc version of Bowie’s comeback album will be released on November 4 and in addition to a DVD containing the album’s videos, there’ll be a bonus disc of eight new tracks – although four have already appeared on deluxe and international editions – and two remixes, including one by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. And oh yeah, if you haven’t been to see David Bowie Is at the Art Gallery of Ontario, definitely do so – it’s amazing. And while he didn’t do anything so obvious as show up to mark its opening last week, he has participated by offering a reading list of his favourite books to Open Book Toronto.

Nylon checks in with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, whose second album is meant to be out before the end of the year. Update: Cupid Deluxe is out November 18; details at DIY.

NME talks to Guy Garvey about the new record from Elbow, which they’ve just announced will be coming out on March 10 under a title to be announced later. And, as The Guardian reports, those who preorder the record and buy tickets for their just-announced UK tour next Spring will get the option of purchasing a previously-unreleased live CD/DVD set; information which really doesn’t do their North American fans any good, but there you go.

The Guardian gets to know Arthur Beatrice, whose full-length debut will be out early next year.

They’re still not saying anything about a new record but The Blue Walrus has just premiered a third new song from Anglo-Canadian trio The High Wire and yeah it makes us want that new record whatever/whenever it’s coming. Update: The album is due out in early 2014.

Stream: The High Wire – “Under A Spell”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Pet Shop Boys, who’ve just released a video for the next single from Electric.

Video: Pet Shop Boys – “Thursday”

The Scotsman talks to James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers.

NPR and Pitchfork have interviews with CHVRCHES, while over at The Guardian frontwoman Lauren Mayberry pens a powerful editorial about fighting the culture of online misogyny.

Peter Hook updates Rolling Stone on the legal status of those dumpster-dived Joy Division masters from a little while back.

And while the website doesn’t really tell you anything useful, it should be known that Trans – who made their live debut at the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia this past weekend as per NME – is one half Jackie McKeown of Scottish bands Yummy Fur and 1990s, and one half Bernard Butler, the former Suede guitarist who had previously sworn off live performance in favour of studio work and production. Their debut single is out next week and self-described as, “A cross between Can and Television, a freeform guitar-sparring extension along the path trodden by Quicksilver Messenger Service. Two era-defining guitarists, free from restrictions, undertaking new sonic explorations, this is a project of pure, glorious artistic impulse” and GUYS BERNARD BUTLER PLAYED LIVE OMG.

Andrew KnowlesThe biggest releases of last week both happened to be Scottish in nationality. There was Franz Ferdinand’s fourth long-player Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, which was the topic of conversation with Alex Kaparnos at NPR, Billboard, Canada.com, and DIY, while Kapranos and Bob Hardy both chat with Stereogum and Paul Thomson answers the phone when CBC calls. Further, Pitchfork has video of that acoustic Grimes cover the band played for French radio that everyone was linking to last week. They play The Kool Haus come October 24.

Meanwhile, with their new b-sides comp The Third Eye Centre finally out, Belle & Sebastian have released a new video featuring Hannah Murray from Skins and Game Of Thrones. Under The Radar has compiled their multi-part interview with the band into a single piece, PopMatters has a chat with Richard Colburn, and over at The Quietus, Stuart Murdoch opts to talk about other peoples’ records rather than his own.

Video: Belle & Sebastian – “Your Cover’s Blown” (Miaoux Miaoux remix)

James Allan talks to The Quietus, MusicRadar, and Yahoo! about Glasvegas’ new album Later… When The TV Turns To Static. It wasn’t alluded to in the lede, despite being Scottish, because a) it came out this week and not last week, and b) not many people care anymore.

Arctic Monkeys are streaming a new b-side which doesn’t appear on AM, due out September 10. And if you only care about the songs which do appear on the album, you’re in luck – the whole thing is now streaming at iTunes. Arctic Monkeys are at The Kool Haus on September 15.

Stream: Arctic Monkeys – “Stop The World I Want To Get Off With You”
Stream: Arctic Monkeys / AM

Drowned In Sound talks to London Grammar, who are offering a full stream of their debut album If You Wait via their own website with just a few hoops to jump through. The record is out September 10 and they play The Great Hall on October 4.

Stream: London Grammar / If You Wait

In a video session for Gigwise, Frightened Rabbit offer up a cover of Jessie Ware’s “Wildest Moments” and another track from the Late March, Death March EP, out September 10, is available to stream via Stereogum. They play The Kool Haus on October 17.

Stream: Frightened Rabbit – “Candlelit”

Savages have premiered a new performance video from Silence Yourself at Pitchfork; they play The Opera House on September 12.

Video: Savages – “I Am Here”

Gigwise and MusicRadar check in with CHVRCHES, whose debut The Bones Of What You Believe is almost finally out on September 24 but not before they headline the Danforth Music Hall on September 15.

James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers talks to Wales Online about their new album Rewind The Film, while Nicky Wire takes The Quietus through the new record track by track. And NME has posted the whole of their recent Wire-led Twitter Q&A. Rewind The Film is out September 16.

The Quietus looks at the many, many collaborations Elvis Costello has undertaken in his career, the latest of which is Wise Up Ghost with The Roots, due out September 17. Costello talks to The Brisbane Times about the new record.

Peter Hook talks about matters past, present, future, and legal with Billboard, Pitchfork, The Huffington Post, Exclaim, and The Dumbing Of America. He leads his new band The Light through old material at The Hoxton on September 18.

Daughter are streaming a new b-side; they play The Phoenix on September 29.

Stream: Daughter – “Smoke”

Yuck talks to Rolling Stone about carrying on without their original frontman, as documented on their new album Glow & Behold, out September 30.

Two Door Cinema Club have released a video for the title track of their new Changing Of The Seasons EP, due out September 30; NME has details. They play The Danforth Music Hall on October 15.

Video: Two Door Cinema Club – “Changing Of The Seasons”

Anna Calvi has released the first video from her forthcoming One Breath, out October 7.

Video: Anna Calvi – “Eliza”

Lanterns On The Lake have released a video for the title track of their new album Until The Colours Run, which is due out on October 7 in the UK and will get a North American release early next year on January 14.

Video: Lanterns On The Lake – “Until The Colours Run”

The Line Of Best Fit reports Suede will finally reissue their entire catalog on vinyl on October 21, but the catch is you have to buy them all in one super-expensive box set, it’s only available in the UK, and you have to take A New Morning with the rest. And oh, they released a new video from Bloodsports.

Video: Suede – “For The Strangers”

Los Campesinos! have confirmed an October 29 release date for their new record No Blues, and have made the first track from it available to stream.

Stream: Los Campesinos! – “What Death Leaves Behind”

M.I.A. is streaming another new track from her forthcoming Matangi, out November 5.

Stream: M.I.A. – “Come Walk With Me”

The Charli XCX show originally scheduled for September 16 at The Hoxton has been rescheduled to Saturday, November 9, and will now take place at Wrongbar. All previous tickets will be honoured and all the new dates can be seen at Exclaim.

MP3: Charli XCX – “Valentine”

Drowned In Sound checks in with Josh Hayward of The Horrors on the status of their next album, due out in early 2014.

Drowned In Sound chats with David Gedge of The Wedding Present, who will be undertaking an exhaustive reissue series of their back catalog in the near future; FACT has details on that.

Tessa Murray talks to Vogue about the new Still Corners video from Strange Pleasures.

Video: Still Corners – “Fireflies”

Under The Radar and Pitchfork talk to Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.

With the assistance of Hefner’s Darren Hayman, Allo Darlin’ frontwoman Elizabeth Morris has put together a solo EP entitled Optimism, available for digital purchase now.

eMusic has an interview with Billy Bragg.

Roger DeckkerI’d like to say that I’ve been on tenterhooks waiting for new music from Anna Calvi, but the truth is that her 2011 self-titled debut – one of that year’s favourites – is still in fairly heavy rotation, the combination of her sensual vocals and searing guitarwork still eliciting swoons more than two and a half years on. But that’s not to say that the news of her second record isn’t tremendously welcome.

Said record – entitled One Breath – will be out on October 7, and Calvi tells NME that it’s a more personal album, the lyrics strongly informed by her battles with depression. This doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a downcast affair – the first official single, which has been made available to stream, is as energized as anything she’s done, and the sample that soundtrack the album trailer might be more melancholic, but it still soars. One Breath may document a battle, but it certainly sounds like one that Calvi is triumphing over.

There’s only three North American dates currently on her Fall itinerary, but you know more are to come. Or they damn well better be – I’ve still yet to see a full show.

Stream: Anna Calvi – “Eliza”
Trailer: Anna Calvi / One Breath

The Vaccines have released a new video for the title track of their just-released Melody Calling EP and also stopped in at USA Today for a video session. They open up for Mumford & Sons at the Molson Amphitheatre next week on August 26.

Video: The Vaccines – “Melody Calling”

The Guardian and Exclaim talk to Franz Ferdinand as they gear up for the August 27 release of their new record Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, a record which has just been made available to stream in advance at NPR. Franz Ferdinand play The Kool Haus on October 24.

Stream: Franz Ferdinand / Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

Fellow Scots Glasvegas are hoping their third album Later… When The TV Turns To Static, out September 3, is the one that turns their fortunes back towards the buzz that greeted their debut and not the shrugs that met the follow-up. Rolling Stone is offering a download of the title track for you to decide for yourself. Clash also has an interview.

MP3: Glasvegas – “Later… When The TV Turns To Static”

Lanterns Of The Lake are streaming – and offering to download in exchange for an email – an alternate take of a track from their new record Until The Colours Run, coming out September 9.

Stream: Lanterns On The Lake – “The Buffalo Days” (alternate)

Tone Deaf, LeftLion, and Gigwise have interviews with newcomers London Grammar, whose debut If You Wait is out on September 10 and who are in town to play BLK BOX on October 4.

The Quietus talks to Elvis Costello, whose new collaborative album with The Roots – Wise Up Ghost – is out September 17.

The Line Of Best Fit has details on the second Yuck record, their first without former frontman Daniel Blumberg. Glow & Behold will be out on September 30 and a second sample track from it is available to stream.

Stream: Yuck – “Middle Sea”

NPR has a World Cafe session, and Refinery29 and Stylecaster interviews with Jessie Ware; she is back in town to play The Sound Academy on November 6.

Laura Groves, whom some of you may remember from her lovely 2009 record Blue Roses whilst still performing under the alias of Blue Roses, finally has a new release – an EP – ready and will be releasing it this Fall under her own name. There’s a video for the first release from it and yup, still lovely whatever the name is.

Video: Laura Groves – “Inky Sea”

I was all excited about the prospect of hearing new Blood Orange material but as Pitchfork reports it, this is just a Drake cover. But it’s still better than Drake.

Stream: Blood Orange – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”

Dazed Digital have premiered the new video from Spiritualized’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light.

Video: Spiritualized – “I Am What I Am”

Camera Obscura have released a new vide from Desire Lines and are also featured in a World Cafe session at NPR. Further, Under The Radar has posted their feature from the current issue which puts Tracyanne Campbell in interview with Lloyd Cole – yes, that Lloyd – complete with appendices.

Video: Camera Obscura – “Break It To You Gently”

Denver Westword interviews Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine.