Animal Collective

The DiS favourites have announced a short tour to coincide with the release of new album Merriweather Post Pavilion (out January 12th). It calls at the following destinations:

January
12 London Koko
13 Glasgow School Of Arts
14 Manchester Academy
15 Brighton Concorde 2

Next week: more on Merriweather Post Pavilion as we look forward to the albums of 2009...

Blur

Could it be that he's recently released something, or does he actually want to reform his old band? Who knows, but Damon Albarn has been mouthing off again about the prospect of Blur getting back together. He told BBC Newsbeat:

"It's very possible I'll go back to Blur. Graham [Coxon] and I have been hanging out together a bit. We had lunch the other day. He's great, it's fantastic to get my old friend back"

If they do end up making music together again, though, it doesn't look like it'll be for a while - Albarn's hard at work on the new Gorillaz record. Oh what joy.

Leonard Cohen

The legendary warbler - currently on his first UK tour in 15 years - has given the seal of approval to Welsh outfit Brigyn's bid to release a version of the classic 'Hallelujah' in their native tongue. Christmas number one anybody?

Frightened Rabbit

Not satisfied with being the main support on the Death Cab For Cutie tour, Scottish melancholy types Frightened Rabbit will now open for fellow Highlanders Biffy Clyro on their December jaunt. Catch them on the following dates:

December
17 London Brixton Academy
18 Birmingham Academy
19 Manchester Academy
20 Glasgow SECC

All of which ties in nicely with their limited edition Christmas single, a "radically re-mixed, re-scored and expanded" version of 'It's Christmas So We'll Stop', released December 15th on FatCat.

FrYars

Poor man's Patrick Wolf or genuine musical visionary? Decide for yourself in March 2009 when FrYars releases his Luke Smith-produced debut album Dark Young Hearts via his own FrYarcorp imprint. A new download-only track 'Visitors' precedes the release on December 8th, and features none other than Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan on backing vocals. It's free, too.

Of Montreal

Never ones to do things the conventional way, Of Montreal have released an accompanying video for their new album Skeletal Lamping, explaining how to assemble the myriads bits and bobs that come with limited edition versions of the release. Kevin Barnes explains the logic:

"We hope this idea catches on and, in the future, square CD packaging will be abandoned forever and only interesting art objects will fill record stores. We envision a time when you'll be walking around your local record shop and be like, 'What's the new Radiohead album again? Oh yeah, a bonsai tree in the shape of a deformed goat, I see it over there'"