Fall

The great American novelist has passed away, aged 84

Two impressive comps are coming our way in January

Radiohead's latest due for December release on CD and vinyl

True New York crime story well told by Ridley Scott

Calexico, Yo La Tengo and MMJ amongst line-up for I'M Not There live

I wasn’t able in the end to go to see The National at Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night, but Chris Robert’s nobly came off the sub’s bench to file this report.

Endorphin-rush rock'n'roll: remastered, relentless, essentialAs Zeppelin fans of all creeds and nations prepare to make the pilgrimage to London’s O2 arena on 26 November, it may not have escaped their notice that the reunited, hot-ticket, must-see Zep are about to attempt something truly precarious. Never mind Valhalla, consider Guernica. Watched by 20,000 people, three men aged 63, 61 and 59 will endeavour to lend the requisite fury and intensity to songs that are now closer historically to the Spanish Civil War than to 2007.

We've just been playing the excellent forthcoming Kelley Stoltz album to start the week (I'll write about it soon), which reminded me of another Sub Pop album I've liked in the past few weeks.

Forgive me for recycling press releases, but there’s an interesting line in this one which accompanies the new album by American Music Club. “Dark music is for people who are healthy enough to take it,” it reads, “And AMC want to appeal to all people – including the sick.”

Jimi Hendrix: Not Necessarily Stoned. . .But Beautiful A few of us from the office went last night to the launch of the Jimi Hendrix Live At Monterey DVD and CD at the Hippodrome in Leicester Square, a swanky former nightclub now used for corporate events. I was last there for a party that followed IPC’s annual editorial awards, an event made especially memorable by a spectacular fall down a particularly steep flight of stairs, after which things become very vague, my memory of subsequent events – getting home, things like that – almost wholly non-existent.