Indie: Last News

St Vincent has opened up about playing a satirical version of herself in The Nowhere Inn.The mockumentary is written by St Vincent aka Annie Clark and best friend Carrie Brownstein and it sees Clark playing a fictionalised, satirical version of herself.Speaking about the experience to Variety, Vincent said: “It was an incredibly warm and welcoming way to do my first foray into acting, because it was a script that I’d co-written with my best friend, and playing versions of myself.“So it was as soft a landing as one could get.

Manic Street Preachers have scored their first UK Number One album in 23 years after a heated chart battle with Steps.As revealed in the midweek charts, the rock band were battling the ’90s pop act to displace Drake from the top of the charts after the rapper scored the top spot last week with his latest album ‘Certified Lover Boy’.It’s now been revealed that the Manics registered 27,000 chart sales with acclaimed 14th studio album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, with 91 per cent of these coming from physical copies including 6,300 on vinyl. They beat Steps by 2,000 chart sales.“It’s amazing to be back at Number 1 after 23 years,” the Welsh band said of the accolade.

Placebo have revealed the unusual writing process behind their upcoming new album, explaining how they chose to work “backwards” this time around to beat “boredom”.Last night (September 16) saw the band release their new single ‘Beautiful James’ – the first taster of their upcoming eighth album and long-awaited follow-up to 2013’s ‘Loud Like Love‘.Speaking to Matt Everitt on BBC 6 Music, frontman Brian Molko discussed the making of the album and explained how it was finished in early 2020 before the pandemic struck.“We were basically ready to go on tour: the album was already finished and we spent 2019 in our home studio working on it,” he said.

Alt-J have made a cryptic announcement on their social media channels, suggesting a new album and single are on the way.Accompanying a picture of the trio, the post is simply captioned with “U&ME” and “September 22”, meaning fans have less than a week to hear new music from Alt-J – the band’s first original material since 2017’s Mercury Prize-nominated album ‘Relaxer’.Fans can pre-save ‘U&ME’ via streaming services now.

Blossoms have shared a new clip of them playing The Smiths’ ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ with Rick Astley – you can watch the video below.Blossoms and Astley teamed up earlier this week at the former’s gig in London to cover a pair of Smiths songs, with the artists subsequently announcing two Smiths covers shows in Manchester and London next month.Ahead of those two gigs, Blossoms have shared new rehearsal footage of them performing the Smiths classic ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ with Astley.During the footage, Astley suggests that they each drink a shot of Jägermeister before attempting the cover.Drink taken, the band and the singer are then seen jamming their way through ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ – you can watch the clip

Pale Waves have revealed that they’ve begun work on their third studio album.The band released second full-length, ‘Who Am I?’, via Dirty Hit in February of this year.In a new post on Instagram yesterday (September 15), the band’s vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie shared a photo of herself and drummer/producer Ciara Doran in the studio, with the simple caption: “Album 3.”See the post below:A post shared by HBG (@heatherbarongracie)Reviewing Pale Waves’ ‘Who Am I?’ upon its release earlier this year, NME wrote: “There have been plenty of albums borne out of the pandemic (Swift’s ‘Folklore’ era) and some whose recording wrapped up before it all went to pot (Dua Lipa’s ‘Future Nostalgia’), but few bridge the gap between the old and new world quite

Snail Mail has announced details of her second album – ‘Valentine’ is set to come out later this year and is being previewed by its title track.The follow-up to Lindsey Jordan’s 2018 debut album ‘Lush’ will land on November 5 via Matador, and will be toured around the UK next year.“I wanted to take as much time as possible with this record to make sure I was happy with every detail before unleashing it unto y’all,” Jordan said in a statement.“Referring to the process as the deepest level of catharsis and therapy I have ever experienced would be a huge understatement.

Klaxons member James Righton has spoken to NME about the process of finding the members of ABBA‘s new live band, as well as revealing how it has helped shape his own new music.The Swedish pop legends returned earlier this month, announcing details of a “revolutionary” and immersive new live show called ‘Voyage’ along with a new 10-track album of the same name and the first two singles from it.The ‘Voyage’ live show will see a “digital” version of ABBA performing alongside a 10-piece live band (put together with the help of former Klaxons member James Righton and featuring Little Boots) at the new purpose-built 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in a run of shows from May 27, 2022.Speaking to NME, Righton

Blossoms and Rick Astley have announced they’ll be teaming up for a pair of shows that will celebrate the songs of The Smiths.It comes after Blossoms surprised fans during the first of three nights at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum last night (September 13) by inviting Astley on stage to run through a selection of Smiths covers.Taking place at Manchester’s Albert Hall on October 8 and London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town on October 9, the shows will see Blossoms become Astley’s backing band for a full set of theirs and fans’ most-loved Smiths songs.“The Smiths have always meant so much to Blossoms, with even their rainiest songs complete with wry humour and soul-reaching musicianship and melody,” Blossoms said in a statement.

Franz Ferdinand‘s Alex Kapranos has shared a handwritten note from Bloc Party‘s Kele Okereke asking to support the Scottish band in 2003.Kapranos’ band, who were to release their self-titled debut album six months later, played a headline show at the Electrowerkz venue in London on October 24, 2003.Ahead of the gig Okereke wrote to Kapranos and the band, sending them Bloc Party’s first demo and asking to be considered as a support act at their next London show.“Hey Alex, this is Kele from Bloc Party,” Okereke’s note read, which Kapranos shared alongside a photo of an accompanying press release about the then-fledgling band.

Manic Street Preachers are currently battling it out with Steps in the race for this week’s number one in the UK albums chart.One of the acts is very likely to displace Drake from the top of the charts after the rapper scored the top spot last week with his latest album ‘Certified Lover Boy’.The Manics are currently leading the way with ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, with yesterday’s (September 13) chart update from The Official Charts Company revealing that the band are currently 3000 sales ahead of Steps’ seventh studio album ‘What The Future Holds Pt.

Metronomy have celebrated 2 years of their most recent album ‘Metronomy Forever’ while hinting that new material is on the way.“Metronomy forever was released two years ago today?!?! That’s bonkers,” songwriter and frontman Joe Mount said on Twitter.“I’m aware it’s mildly insulting to relate what’s gone on since to the release of an (albeit) incredible album, but that’s how we measure life isn’t it; with small, human scale things…against the backdrop of massive world changing things.

Blossoms surprised fans in London tonight (September 13) by inviting Rick Astley on stage to run through a selection of Smiths covers.The Stockport band are currently on a UK headline tour, performing the first of three nights at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum after stepping in to replace Machine Gun Kelly for a recent main stage performance at Reading & Leeds 2021.As well as airing new single ‘Care For‘ in their career-spanning set that leaned heavily on 2020’s acclaimed ‘Foolish Loving Spaces‘, the band gave gig-goers the biggest surprise of the night when veteran pop icon Richard Astley arrived on stage.“Since it’s London we thought why not do something special? So we’re going to do some songs by one of our favourite bands with a friend

The Strokes have been announced as a headliner of Lancashire’s Lytham Festival 2022.Next year’s event, which will expand to a 10-day festival instead of the usual five, will see the US indie rock legends take to the stage on Friday, July 8.They join Diana Ross, Duran Duran, Lewis Capaldi, Snow Patrol, Lionel Richie and Tears For Fears in the headline slots across the festival (June 28-July 10, 2022).Tickets for the festival go on sale at 9am BST this Friday (September 17) here.The festival, which is held at Main Proms Arena on Lytham Green in Lytham St Anne’s, Lancashire, is to announce the remaining three headliners soon.

The Cribs have shared a new video for recent single ‘Swinging At Shadows’, filmed at their first gig back since the pandemic.The band played their first gig in three years last month at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London as part of the South Facing festival.To commemorate the show the band have shared a video for the new single, tracking their journey to the show and performance of the song.“Due to all the legal wrangling over our masters, and then the pandemic shutdown, we had not played a live show in 3 years…plus, people have been starved of festivals for so long too, so it seemed like a good opportunity to make our first live music video,” Gary Jarman said in a statement.“Crystal Palace Park is an historic venue – we had seen some photos

NME on the red carpet of the Mercury Prize last night (Thursday September 9), Mogwai told us about the secret to their song titles and advice to new and emerging artists. Watch our video interview with the band above.The Scottish post-rock legends were at the ceremony for their first ever Mercury nomination, having this year scored their first ever Number One with their 10th album ‘As The Love Continues‘.“You’d think after 25 years would be about the right time to get nominated,” guitarist Barry Burns told NME, before frontman Stuart Braithwaite added: “It’s just really weird.

Black Country, New Road have spoken to NME about how they’ve just a completed a new “sad, epic and possibly more universally likeable” album. Watch our video interview with the band above.The experimental London post-punk band were speaking to NME on the red carpet at last night’s Mercury Prize 2021 (September 9), where they were nominated for their acclaimed debut album ‘For The First Time‘.“I can’t believe they want to talk to us,” bassist Tyler Hyde said of the media fuss around them.

Glass Animals have shared their brand new single ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’ – you can hear the track below.The song marks the Oxford band’s first new release since the arrival last summer of their third album ‘Dreamland’.Speaking about ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’, which you can hear in the below Drew Kirsch-directed video, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley said: “Talking is great, don’t get me wrong. But this pandemic has made so many of us look inwards in a way we maybe haven’t before.“The uncertainty in the world and the inability to go out and create new memories makes you dig deep into the past.

Wolf Alice caught up with NME on the red carpet of the Mercury Prize last night (Thursday September 9), to talk about returning to playing live again and share some insight into their favourite cheeses. Watch our interview with the band above.The previous Mercury Prize winners were in attendance having been nominated for their acclaimed third album ‘Blue Weekend’.

Damon Albarn will livestream his solo show at the Globe Theatre in London later this month.The sold-out gig will see the Blur frontman, his live band and a string quartet performing songs from Albarn’s forthcoming new album ‘The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows’, which is out on November 12 via Transgressive Records.“I love playing in the round and at the Globe you can see the moon too, marvellous,” Albarn said in a statement about the upcoming show.The live media platform Doors.Live will be streaming Albarn’s Globe show live on September 20, with the stream set to be available to watch in the UK, Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.The Albarn show will be available to watch live on the night and

Coldplay will be the first act to play the newly renamed Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington next month.The concert will take place on October 22, a week after the band release their ninth studio album, ‘Music Of The Spheres,’ their follow-up to 2019’s Grammy-nominated ‘Everyday Life’.