Jónsi, lead singer of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós, is set to release his first solo album. The release date for Australia is April 1st 2010 and will feature 9 songs that have been developed over his years with Sigur Rós and arranged with the help of composer Nico Muhly.

Details of a world tour will be announced tomorrow, February 1st 2010.

Check out jonsi.com for more details.

As many of you will be aware, each year in the UK there is much attention placed on who will get the coveted Christmas number one on the music charts. Personally, I don’t really understand it as it’s basically just who is holding the number one place the week of Christmas but it’s a big deal over there and I guess a big sales driver.

For the past three years the winners have all been X Factor winners (Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This, Leon Jackson - When You Believe, Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah), providing big publicity for the show and lining Simon Cowell’s ever expanding pockets. This year, one fed up British music fan, Jon Morter, set up a facebook page that aimed to stop the X Factor winning streak.

The Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No.1 page seemed to do the trick with thousands of people joining the groups, and presumably buying the 1992 hit, Killing in the Name Of. Sales of Killing in the Name Of sold 50,000 more copies of than X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s cover of the Mylie Cyrus song, The Climb, which, by the way, is horrible on so many levels. …read more

After the wonderful and successful Volume One, released in 2008, Jooey Deschanel and M Ward (together She & Him) have announced details of their second album, Volume Two. According to sheandhim.com the album will be released on March 23rd, 2010 and will contain thirteen tracks: eleven originals and two covers. …read more

Canadian singer/songwriter, Rufus Wainwright, is set to hit our shores again early next year. Unfortunately for most of us, it looks like Sydney is the only city Wainwright will be playing at with two shows at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Verbrugghen Hall. The show dates are February 28th and March 3rd 2010 with tickets going on sale December 8th 2009.

So, the gaming side of the evening was covered by Trev yesterday so I thought I’d give the music side a it of a look in. For the most part I was less than impressed. A DJ played throughout the night, which was fine except there was a lone saxophone player and a guy with his own Latin rhythm section playing along to the tunes. Weird.

Then there was the surprise guest, two of the girls from the Pussycat Dolls, Melody and Ashley perhaps…I’m pretty sure they were there because of their inclusion on the Lips line up but it was all just a bit odd really. They yelled into the microphone and then danced around with the fellas mentioned earlier, then left. I don’t know if two of the less recognisable Pussycat Dolls were the right act for a room full of gamers. …read more

The second line up announcement for next year’s Big Day Out’s was released today and here’s the list of acts have been added to the bill for all the shows:

Beenie Man …read more

Frank Turner may very well have confirmed via Twitter yesterday that he will be coming to Australia in April, 2010 for a full tour.

Turner, who was originally part of hardcore band Million Dead, is now blowing people away with his solo career. Turner fills his songs with intelligent, straight from the hear lyrics and some of the catchiest choruses to come from an acoustic guitar in a long, long time.

I’ve been waiting for Frank Turner to come to Australia for a long time. So when he gets to Melbourne, I’m buying him a beer.

More details when they are available. …read more

For some time now we’re been aware of the recently reformed Pavement’s inclusion in the 2010 Golden Plains line up, now we have a little bit more to go on when deciding whether or not head to Meredith next labour day long weekend. Next year, the supernatural amphitheater will see likes of Dinosaur Jr, Midnight Juggernauts, The Cruel Sea, Tame Impala and Dirty Projectors gracing its stage. For the full list and all other Golden Plains related information, check out the official website.

The second studio album from New Zealand comedy folk act, Flight of the Conchords is the wonderfully named, I Told You I Was Freaky. Thirteen mostly hilarious songs from the second series of the brilliant Flight of the Conchords.

All but three of the songs on I Told You I Was Freaky were released as singles on iTunes the day following the airing of the episode it appeared in, creating a novel way to accumulate the album. The first of these tracks, and the first on the record, was Hurt Feelings, which challenges the notion that rappers don’t have feelings with a genius combination of random and hilarious scenarios. The next track on the album is Sugalumps, my favourite song on the album. Here Bret and Jemaine talk up their man parts and really, how can a song that refers to dungarees and pantaloons be bad? …read more

Mumford & Sons‘ front man, Marcus Mumford, has set up his own book group. The first cab off the rank is Cormac McCarthy’s, All The Pretty Horses. Mumford invites people to read the suggested books and then add comments after he has given his own appraisal of the text. Believing that what you read heavily influences what you write, Mumford wants the group to be more about self-improvement rather than about critiquing books.

For more information, head to the Mumford & Sons website.