Musinews

Would that be SWSL's favourite Cardiff-based indiepopstrels Los Campesinos! in the pages of the latest issue of Plan B? I rather think it would. The article finds Gareth admitting to being "a total snob" when it comes to music, and Tom saying: "I hope it's not just throwaway pop. Or, if it is, please recycle"...

Amongst the other goodies in the November issue of the only music magazine worth parting with your hard-earned cash for: a big feature on New Zealand's Flying Nun label; interviews with Thurston Moore and Fuck Buttons; live reviews of PJ Harvey, Future Of The Left and the Truck Festival; and album reviews of Les Savy Fav's Let's Stay Friends, The Hives' The Black And White Album, The Raveonettes' Lust Lust Lust and Einsturzende Neubauten's Alles Wieder Offen. That Sons & Daughters' new single 'Gilt Complex' is described as "streamlined" (as opposed to "rompy") is interesting in the light of last week's gig.

Los Campesinos! and Fuck Buttons are two of the acts already announced for ATP vs Pitchfork, set for the weekend of 9th-11th May at Camber Sands, alongside Sebadoh, Ween, Of Montreal and the charmingly named Pissed Jeans. To be honest, though, the ATP event the following weekend in Minehead looks even better, with Explosions In The Sky curating and Dinosaur Jr, Broken Social Scene, Iron & Wine and ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead already lined up. I won't be able to go, sadly. Partners do have milestone birthdays at the most inconvenient times, don't they?

Talking of Jenni, here are some photos from Pitchfork of the incredible gig we very narrowly missed out on in New York last month. Just for the record, the line-up for the Randall's Island gig featured The Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Les Savy Fav and Blonde Redhead. Why am I torturing myself by looking at the pictures? Why?

As if to prove that, though Rather Ripped may have seen Sonic Youth getting as cosy with mainstream pop as at any time in their career, they're still very much leftfield arty types, Lee Ranaldo has just published a book of poetry inspired by spam email. Expect lots of references to Viagra and Nigerian bank accounts, then.

Last but certainly not least, the news that we've all been waiting for. The only question now is whether they'll tour with the reformed Jesus & Mary Chain...