The Grapevine: Fri Jan 22

Feeling a bit lost? So are we, that's why we're catching up on the biggest stories in the music world we missed this week. Come and rediscover the week that was.

Super Stylo-ing
The weird and wonderful cats behind Gorillaz have released the details on their forthcoming third album Plastic Beach and streamed the first single from it, Stylo, online. Like their previous releases, Plastic Beach will feature a host of guest vocalists including Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Mark E Smith, Bobby Womack, De LaSoul and Gruff Rhys. Frontman Damon Alb... I mean Murdoc Niccals explained his 'procurement' of the stars:

"Leeching is the wrong word now isn't it? It's not like I've drawn blood or anything. No, I think the word 'coerced' sings the deal a little better. Although, yes, the coercion did come via chloroform and rohypnol."

Plastic Beach will come out in March, while you can hear Stylo here (via Spine Magazine) until its release later this month.

Breaking out
Making more noise than a botched uranium mine deal, former members of seminal Aussie rock group Midnight Oil have teamed up with one of the dudes from Violent Femmes (of Blister In The Sun fame) to form new supergroup The Break. With more than a healthy dose of surf rock influence (eg their name), guitarist Jim Moginie explains the band's sound:

"We realised that we could just be an instrumental band with vocals added occasionally and we could use surf guitars or weird sounds for the melody. I think of Mogwai, the Mermen or Decoder Ring. Instead of a lead singer those bands just rely on the power of the players and the dynamics of the music. We've found the lack of vocals opens up all sorts of possibilities in the music that we couldn't have even imagined in our wildest dreams. Getting Brian (Ritchie) in was important because he's such a strong ensemble player and catalyst. There were shivers up the spine at our first rehearsal, the sound was just enormous."

The Break's debut album Church of the Open Sky will see its release on Fri Apr 16

MGMT do a Radiohead (of sorts)
Ben Goldwasser from psychadelic indie/disco/electro outfit MGMT told the NME this week that the duo would not be releasing any singles from their upcoming album Congratulations.

"We'd rather people hear the whole album as an album and see what tracks jump out rather than the ones that get played on the radio – if anything gets played on the radio,” Goldwasser said.

The move echoes a similar stunt pulled by Radiohead, when they didn't release any singles from their 2000 album Kid A.

Congratulations is due out in the first half of 2010

They just can't get enough
As if we hadn't all started to get more than a little bit sick of Muse mania as the indie three-piece sweep across the nation, Matt Bellamy and Dom Howard earlier this week revealed to Triple J that they will be back in Australia at the end of the year to play more shows.

"That’s why we didn’t do any sideshows (away from the Big Day Out tour)," Bellamy explained. "Usually bands do sideshows, but we thought we’d rather save it and come back and do a full tour of our own later in the year. The set we’re going to bring back, and the set we’re just using in Europe is a really cool set, so we’re looking forward to that.”

Muse play the Big Day Out on Fri Jan 29

Ready, steady, see ya later!
American rock heroes The Hold Steady are sad to announce the departure of multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay (the moustachioed one pictured above) from the band. While not giving a reason for his decision, Nicolay assures us that the parting of ways was amicable on both sides.

"I told the band I’d be leaving in early September, played my last show with them in Minneapolis around Thanksgiving, and dotted the t’s and crossed the i’s this week. Five years seemed like a nice round number. Thanks to everyone who was a part of the experience."

In the meantime, Nicolay will be busy with various projects including releasing a solo EP and producing an album for Brooklyn band The Debutante Hour. Isn't that nice?

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