Florence and The Machine are to release a special edition, 4 disc deluxe version of their critically and commercially acclaimed debut album 'Lungs'. The new edition includes the original album, live songs, demos, covers and remixes. Disc two is a nine track CD Live From Abbey Road, disc 3 contains remixes, covers and rarities, while disc four is a Live DVD of a performance from the Rivoli Ballroom in London in July. The package also comes with an essay by Florence Welch's favourite author David Vann, personal sketches, notes and photographs. It is due for release on November 27th.
Following the release of their live album 'R.E.M. Live at the Olympia', R.E.M. have returned to the studio to record the follow up to 2008's 'Accelerate', and are once again working with Grammy Award winning Irish producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee. Frontman Michael Stipe posted two short videos from behind the scenes on the band's website https://remhq.com/index.php, which include snippets of new material.
Badly Drawn Boy has announced that his next album will be another film soundtrack, this time for the forthcoming TV film 'Is There Nothing We Can Do' written by Caroline Aherne (The Royal Family) and Jeff Pope (The Fattest Man In Britain), and starring Timothy Spall. If Badly Drawn Boy's 'About A Boy' soundtrack is anything to go by, we'll be expecting good things from this when it's release on December 11th.
School of Seven Bells, the band made up of Secret Machines' Benjamin Curtis and the Deheza twins from On! Air! Library!, will follow up their excellent 2008 debut album 'Alpinisms' with an album called 'Disconnect From Desire'.
Shearwater, the alt-folk sideproject of Okkervil River's Jonathan Meiburg, have revealed that their next album will be called 'The Golden Archipelago.' The album follows last year's 'Rook' and is due for release on Matador on February 12th.
Meanwhile, Interpol have revealed that they plan to release their new album in early 2010, and that it will hark back to their 2002 debut, 'Turn On The Bright Lights', and Britney Spears record label Jive have confirmed that the follow up to last year's 'Circus' is due in late Spring 2010.