Features

I was reading this interesting Wilco piece a few days ago, which talks about how Jeff Tweedy has parlayed cult success into what appears to be a viable business model. It made me think of the strategies used by Mark Kozelek these past few years: how he keeps a steady stream of music, predominantly live albums, coming through his Caldo Verde label to satisfy his obsessive fans (and I suspect Kozelek fans tend to be by nature obsessive; I know I am).

You find us at that time in the month when things start getting more than a wee bit hectic, deadlines fast approaching as we head into the final week or so of work on the new issue, for which I am reviewing Roy Harper’s Man & Myth, his first album of new material since The Green Man, 13 years ago. There’s also the small matter of next month’s cover story, which I’m also writing, which means it’s all go at the moment.

Prefab Sprout have recently announced their long-awaited return with a new album, Crimson/Red – to tide you over until its release on October 7, here's a piece from Uncut's September 2009 (Take 148) issue, where Paddy McAloon tells us about the music that changed his world, including Dylan, Bowie and Puccini. Interview: Sharon O'Connell

The cover image of Promised Land Sound’s debut album, an old Nashville street map, clearly asserts the geographic and aesthetic loyalties of Sean Thompson, Joey Scala, Evan Scala and Ricardo Alesio, and their press biog has the requisite classy endorsement from local grandee Jack White's Third Man Records.

The new issue of Uncut should be in UK shops today, with an exclusive in-depth look at the new entry in Dylan’s Bootleg Series, plus Nilsson, Canned Heat, Morrissey, Armando Iannucci, Linda Thompson, Julianna Barwick and, I’m particularly pleased to say, Rocket From The Crypt. More here…

Bob Dylan’s on the cover of the new Uncut, which goes on sale tomorrow, July 31. The occasion? The release of The Bootleg Series, Volume 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969 – 1971) a typically fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of the Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning sessions.

At 7pm on the first night of Atoms For Peace’s London residency, the Amok Drawing Room has already sold out of commemorative mugs. The Enterprise pub across the road from the Roundhouse has been rebranded in expressionist monochrome, and an upstairs room has been upholstered in Stanley Donwood wallpaper, the better to sell exquisite £500 prints, t-shirts screenprinted while-you-wait, and a pointedly apocalyptic jigsaw puzzle.

For Steve Coogan, Alan Partridge’s big screen debut represents a pivotal moment in the actor’s relationship with his most famous creation.

Gearing up for the Atoms For Peace show tonight with this lot: please note (and in some cases listen to) new Forest Swords, Feral Ohms (another Ethan Miller band, this one very much in the Comets On Fire zone) and a reissue for Robbie Basho’s long-unavailable first Windham Hill album. The Desert Heat record sounds better with every play, too…

One of the projects we have just finished working on for the next issue of Uncut, on sale next week, was a special promotional feature we have produced in association with hmv, which is newly returned to robust high street health after recent rough times.