Portishead returned this year with their long awaited new album Third, and producer Geoff Barrow has claimed in a new interview that the band could be set for a swift return.

In an interview with BBC 6Music, Geoff Barrow said the band would not take 11 years to record their next album. “When everyone’s had a bit of a break, I think we’re just going to plough onto it,” he said. “I think we’re kind of there now. We’ve sat down and we’ve talked about the direction and stuff like that.”

“Everyone seems really positive about it. And I think everybody at some point wants to get back out on the road, because we didn’t really do an awful lot of live stuff. What’s really interesting is that we’re in this lucky position now. We haven’t got a record company; our deal ended and so did our publishing deal.”

Peter, Bjorn and John have announced plans to release a fifth studio album in Spring next year through Wichita Recordings.

The eagerly awaited album was recorded over the past year in Stockholm, New York and Los Angeles. The band produced the record together with Lars Mårtén, who also had the control of the mixing dials.

The trio has also announced a series of live shows to debut their new material:

February
25 - Strand, Stockholm
26 - KB, Malmo
27 - Storan, Goteborg

March
05 - Scala, London
06 - Academy 2, Manchester
07 - The Button Factory, Dublin

What would you do if one decade into your career you suddenly saw one of your songs turned into a worldwide hit, won six Grammys in your native Sweden, and your latest release was declared album of the year by one of the world’s most influential music websites? If you’re Karin Dreijer Andersson, formerly singer with ‘90s pop hopes Honey Is Cool and now one half of The Knife, the answer is to take a couple of years off and return as a solo artist under a new name: Fever Ray.

In Karin’s own words, “I had so many songs to record that I just had to make an album. I thought I was going to have a longer break but I guess it will never happen. I can’t stop working. My aim was to finish the album and now that it’s done I’m a bit restless (good that The Knife has an opera to write then.) During the last years I discovered that I like to sing too, so I hope that my newly found live band will make it to the stages next year. We are rehearsing and building something beautiful and brilliant.”

Think The Knife but a bit more sparse - influences by the long winters, it’s a darker, more brooding counterpoint to the playfulness of their previous work.

The debut album is released on March 18th 2009 by Rabid Records in Sweden/Scandinavia, March 23rd on Cooperative Music in the UK and the rest of Europe, March 24th through Mute in the US and March 23rd through Etc Etc in Australia & New Zealand. Watch this space for more information.

To have a liste, pop over to <a href=”http://www.myspace.com/feverray”>www.myspace.com/feverray</a>.

Dananananaykroyd have confirmed details of their debut album. The hotly anticipated, by us at TLOBF Towers anyways, release will find its way to the shops on April 6th. It’ll be called Hey Everyone and will be preceeded by the single ‘Black Wax’ on March 23rd.

The band will also hit the road with Kaiser Chiefs in Jan and Feb 09, joining as main support across Europe and Ireland dates. These follow tours and shows with Foals, Johnny Foreigner as well as a load of headline dates.

January 2009
19 - Columbia  Halle, Berlin
20 - Tonhalle, Munich
21 - Palladium, Cologne
23 - Rockhal, Luxembourg
24 - AB, Brussels
25 - AB, Brussels
27 - Olympia, Paris
28 - Transbordeur, Lyon
29 - Razzamatazz,  Barcelona
31 - Coliseum, Porto

February 2009
1 - Coliseum , Lisbon
2 - La Riviera, Madrid
5 - Alkatraz, Milan
6 - Volkshaus, Zurich
7 - Gasometer, Vienna
9 - Alter Schlachthof, Dresden
10 - Phonixhalle, Mainz
12 - Vega, Copenhagen
13 - Sentrum, Oslo
15 - Docks, Hamburg
16 - Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
19 - O2 Arena, Dublin
20 - Odyssey Arena, Belfast

Morrissey has announced three UK live dates for May 2009 when he will play London’s Royal Albert Hall on the 11th and two nights at Manchester’s Apollo on 22nd and 23rd.

Tickets for all three shows went on sale today, Friday 5th December, at 10am (see ticket info below).

Morrissey’s new studio album Years of Refusal will be released on 16th February 2009 on Polydor/Decca. That’s the album artwork for it up there… I’m sure there’s fan busily analysing what it means as we speak. It will be preceded by the single ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’ one week prior. The single will be supported by two new songs ‘Because Of My Poor Education’ and ‘Shame Is The Name’, the latter featuring additional vocals by Chrissie Hynde.

Years of Refusal was completed earlier this year at Conway Studios in LA with the late Jerry Finn, producer of Morrissey’s acclaimed 2004 UK No.2 album You Are The Quarry. Morrissey describes the new album, the follow up to 2006’s Ringleader of The Tormentors, as his strongest work to date. The 12-track album includes a clutch of new songs played live in recent months including ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’, ‘Something Is Squeezing My Skull’, ‘Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed’ and ‘One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell’.

May
Monday 11th - London Royal Albert Hall - 0207 589 8212
Friday 22nd - Manchester Apollo - 0844 477 7677
Saturday 23rd - Manchester Apollo - 0844 477 7677

Tickets are £42.50 / £37.50 / £30 London and £32.50 Manchester

Also available at www.gigsandtours.com 24 hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260

Well - Brakes news seems to be like buses - you don’t see any for ages and then three come along at once!

Brakes have found a new home on Brighton’s favourite indie label, FatCat Records. After two successful releases with Rough Trade Records, Brakes will appear, on April 20th, on their new home, FatCat, with the release of Touchdown. The album is preceded with two singles, ‘Hey Hey’ and ‘Don’t Take Me To Space (Man)’.

Brakes is Eamon Hamilton (vocals/guitar), Thomas White (guitar/vocals), Marc Beatty (Bass) and Alex White (drums). Containing previous and current members of British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade, Tenderfoot and The Pipettes.

For a short period of time, you can download a brand new track off Touchdown, titled ‘Crystal Tunings’ here!

Tourdates:
Jan 28 @ Proud Galleries - London
Feb 5 @ Fuzz - Sheffield

On 3rd March 2009 Anti- Records will release the eagerly awaited new Neko Case album Middle Cyclone. The fifteen-track collection is Case’s first release since 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.

Middle Cyclone was produced by Case with Darryl Neudorf and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. It features Case backed by her core band - guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick - along with numerous guests including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys, and Giant Sand, among others. In addition to twelve new songs written by Case, Middle Cyclone includes covers of ‘Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth’ by Sparks, and ‘Don’t Forget Me’ by Harry Nilsson.

Track listing for Middle Cyclone:
1. This Tornado Loves You 2. The Next Time You Say Forever
3. People Got A Lotta Nerve
4. Polar Nettles
5. Vengeance Is Sleeping
6. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth 7. Middle Cyclone
8. Fever
9. Magpie To The Morning
10. I’m An Animal
11. Prison Girls
12. Don’t Forget Me 13. The Pharaohs
14. Red Tide
15. Marais La Nuit

www.nekocase.com

Malcolm Middleton, a man always full of cheer, has announced some new live dates and info about his forthcoming new album in 2009.

Malcolm’s fifth album has a current working title of The Day Is Shit, There Is Nothing Around The Corner And I’ve Nothing New Or Of Worth To Say About Any Of It and is looking likely to reach us by Spring 2009 through Full Time Hobby.

Full live dates are as follows:

11 Dec 2008 St Giles Church (supporting James Yorkston), London
19 Dec 2008 ‘Burst Noel’ Xmas Show @ Fairfield Working Men’s Club, Govan, Glasgow with De Rosa, Phantom Planet and dj set from Aiden Moffat
21 Dec 2008 “9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People” @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

Here’s what Malcolm had to say about his new album:
“I’m currently working on my 5th album, working title “The Day Is Shit, There Is Nothing Around The Corner And I’ve Nothing New Or Of Worth To Say About Any Of It”. I doubt that’ll be the final title though, as it’s stupid, negative, whiny, and histrionic. I’m sure I can sink much lower.

“While everything’s going well, there have been a few moments of wondering if I’m still writing songs and making music for the right reasons. In the past it was usually to do with comfort, boredom and needing to share something. This year I haven’t felt very expressive and when I do pick up a pen I usually start spitting, swearing and editing myself after one line and then give up. I don’t like the sound of my inner voice at present and I don’t know how to change this. One half of me wants to blow-up my pigeon hole and escape, while the other half is comfy and thinks that it’s where it belongs. Part of me wants to do a full-blown pompous megapop album, while Mr. Hyde-Middleton just wants to sit down with an acoustic guitar for 30 minutes and have a quiet, tuneful rant about the usual shit.

“Anyway, combine all this with
1. A calm and cynical hatred for the modern multi-media-based music industry,
2. A constant image of Joe Blogger possibly having a good/bad opinion about me, and
3. Musical fatigue and all the self-doubt I’ve ever had finally catching up and over-taking me,
…and I guess I’m in the perfect place to record another Malcolm Middleton album. At last. Brilliant.

“I’m recording at Cava Studios in Glasgow with Geoff Allan who did most of the Arab Strap records, as well as my first 2 albums. Songs that look strong enough and likely to stand up to my final scrutiny for inclusion on an lp are: “Shadows”, “Red Travellin’ Socks”, “Box & Knife”, “Ballad Of Fuck All”, “Burn In Hell”, and “Not To Be”.

FrYars has revealed details of his debut album, due for release in March 2009. Entitled Dark Young Hearts, the album was produced with ex-Clor guitarist Luke Smith over the course of 2008, and will be released on FrYars’ own frYarcorp label.

The album includes favourites ‘The Ides’ and ‘Olive Eyes’ from frYars two acclaimed EPs, and continues to develop the themes that frYars outlined in these early releases: conflicts between reason and passion, between reality and spirituality… or so it says here…

There’s also a guest apperance from Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on backing volcals on new track ‘Visitors’ - which will be available as a free download from 8 December. Watch this space…

The follow-up to Morrissey’s Ringleader Of The Tormentors has been pencilled in for a February 23rd 2009, reports a variety of sources… and will be titled Years Of Refusal

It was originally supposed to be released back in September, but was put on hold due to some nasrt record company wranglings…

The album is produced by Jerry Finn and will be preceded by a single, ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’, featuring vocals from Chrissie Hynde on the B-side, ‘Shame Is The Name’.

L.A.’s finest, The Bronx, return in November with their third self-titled album.

The Bronx will be released digitally through Wichita Recordings on November 10th, and then will be made available physically in January 2009.

The track-listing for the album is as follows:
1. Knifeman
2. Inveigh
3. Past Lives
4. Enemy Mind
5. Pleasure Seekers
6. Six Days A Week
7. Young Bloods
8. Ship High In Transit
9. Minutes in Night
10. Spanish Handshake
11. Digital Leash

You can download an exclusive track, ‘Young Bloods’, here for a taster of what’s to come…

The band are also set to come over to the U.K. in late October for a trio of dates.

OCTOBER
27 - Kings College, London
28 - Club Academy, Manchester
29 - ABC2, Glasgow

The tickets are available via www.seetickets.com and are priced at £11 (£12 in London).