Neon

The band are also reissuing fourth album Mwng

This week's big distraction has been what appears to be a crazy number of early Aphex Twin tracks accumulating on Soundcloud (I've added the link below). Among the new stuff, though, please try Bop English; the new solo project of James Petralli from White Denim.

Daring and masterful: late-flowering Plant blooms anew...

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 - review Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 - review Gruff Rhys at End Of The Road 2014 - review Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 - review Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 - review As far as spectacles go, The Flaming Lips still go that extra mile. Their headline set on the Woods Stage at End Of The Road tonight (Saturday) is the most colourful and psychedelic I've ever seen at the festival, perhaps ever seen full-stop.

Television and Heartbreakers legend Richard Hell’s autobiography, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp, is reviewed by editor Allan Jones in the new issue of Uncut (dated July 2013 and out now) – in this piece from Uncut’s September 2009 issue (Take 148), Hell and his bandmates explain how they created “Blank Generation”, the nihilistic, coruscating punk anthem first written as a “My Generation” for the ’70s New York scene. Words: Damien Love

A couple of months ago, I was staying with an old friend, whose teenage daughter was heading out to an ‘80s movie all-nighter. Before she went, she listed what they were going to watch; Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – the kind of John Hughes films that are now routinely used as exemplars of that decade. Her father and I were talking, and we realised we hadn’t actually seen any of them.

Manic Street Preachers are reportedly recording two new albums. Frontman James Dean Bradfield revealed the news to reporters at the Ivor Novello Awards in London on Thursday (May 16), and let slip that the first LP will be almost completely acoustic.

Not quite a return to their storming, Britpop peak – but the signs are encouraging...

Rather a long time after the event, I thought it worthwhile posting my live review of Kraftwerk at the Tate Modern (it was published in Uncut's print edition a couple of weeks ago). It was Trans Europe Express night, by the way...

Kraftwerk opened their eight-night residency at Tate Modern on Wednesday by playing in full their fourth album, Autobahn. Kraftwerk played a two-hour set that also included most of their best loved numbers. Those lucky enough to secure tickets for Kraftwerk’s first night in the London art museum’s imposing Turbine Hall were each given a cushion, a crib sheet on the band and a pair of 3D spectacles. However, virtually the whole audience stood to appreciate Kraftwerk’s impressive visuals, displayed on a massive screen behind.