Somewhat belatedly, I’ve just got round to reading Alex Ross’ fantastic book on 20th Century composition, The Rest Is Noise. A lot to talk about in there, but one quote stuck out yesterday. “Back in 1915,” Ross writes, “the critic Van Wyck Brooks had complained that America was caught in a false dichotomy between ‘highbrow’ and ‘lowbrow’, between ‘academic pedantry and pavement slang’. He called for a middle-ground culture that would fuse intellectual substance with communicative power.”

Free MP3 of first new YLT song 'Periodically Double Or Triple' here

Travel the globe with the animated Fabs and friends

The Unleashed reunion tour hits in October

You can join in as The Orb go head-to-head with hand-bell ringers in London

Hear one of the rarities 'Lovely Day' FREE here now

A beautiful bit of work today, with this video to “Unwound”, by Music For Your Heart. Very taken with this; imagine a subtle and warm torch song built on the spare dynamics of something from Slint’s “Spiderland”, and you’re close to the appeal of this opening track from Sandra Zettpunkt’s forthcoming album. An unfamiliar name, perhaps, though “Turning Marvel” was recorded by Teenage Fanclub’s Raymond McGinley and mastered by Shellac’s Bob Weston, and features double bass from Calexico’s Volker Zander.

Howling Bells, Starsailor, Magic Numbers all new to line-up

Epic, inspiring, awkward – the first volume of Young’s multimedia autobiography proves a mirror image of its creator

Sticky Fingers to Undercover via It’s Only Rock’N’Roll and more remastered