Alice

Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo and Wilco headline the July festival

Post-electoral shenanigans notwithstanding, quite a day in prospect; another run at the six and a half hours of the Jack Rose tribute album (I’m writing next month’s Wild Mercury Sound magazine column about it, in theory), then Joanna Newsom at the Festival Hall tonight.

Former Sex Pistols manager had cancer

Fan sentenced in court for stealing the Gibson SG

Rings master brings another best-seller to the big screen

Bristol outfit back to their best, assisted by Damon Albarn, Guy Garvey, TV On The Radio and more.

Because, as I have just had pointed out to me, I have foolishly mistakenly read their name as MegaFUN, when the three members of MegaFAUN hove into view, led by a large bearded man with a banjo and a big grin, I somewhat feared they would prove to be relentlessly hearty, the distressing musical equivalent of bouncy castles, red noses, playground japes, a particularly unwelcome wackiness. The kind of jollity, in other words, that makes you want to run screaming from its larkish presence.

Some promo CDs come with a serious layer of security to prevent piracy and leaks: a special watermark which means the music can be traced back to a specific numbered disc if it finds its way onto the internet. You can often see the point of these heavy manners, especially when an album that may well sell millions arrives early in the Uncut office.

When the last Om album, “Pilgrimage”, came out, I made some kind of borderline lazy crack about it being virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor. Not much danger of being able to do that with “God Is Good”, this time.

Waves of blinding camera flashes and unbridled shrieks of worship greet the grand dame as she emerges from behind a curtain, in a scene straight from an old time Hollywood movie premiere. But this is not Rita Hayworth or Lauren Bacall, but national treasure Vivienne Westwood, who has come to Latitude's literary tent to read from her "cultural manifesto".