July 4th, 2012

T In The Park organiser Geoff Ellis has said he is looking for a ‘Stone Roses mark two’ for the 2013 event; a band loved by music lovers both young and old.

Peter Hook will tell the inside story of Joy Division in a new book which is due to be published later this year.

Scotland’s T In The Park event, which is due to be headlined this weekend (July 6th-8th) by Snow Patrol, Kasabian and The Stone Roses, has been named the UK’s best value festival.

Summer 2012. We’ve just had the wettest June on record, the festival season has been fractured by a series of cancellations, and album sales have fallen in their millions.

And yet, for every music fan, there’ still reasons to be cheerful.

The Stone Roses have just completed – with no major hiccups – the fastest selling weekend of live music in UK history, Blur have deemed us worthy to sample the fruits of their studio labours, some faith in humanity was restored when The Voice had its live tour pulled and, most importantly, for seven months now artists both new and established have been releasing a steady stream of truly impressive albums, proving once again that, if you’re prepared to look hard enough, quality is still out there in abundance.

So, take a look through just some of those releases we’ve pulled together for our latest Essential Listening rundown, and maybe you’ll spot something which will soon occupy a prominent place in your own record collection for the remainder of the year. And when you’ve been through the list, why not do the same for us by leaving a comment below highlighting your own favourites of 2012…so far.

A rare White Stripes single has commanded a fee of almost $13,000 after being auctioned this week.

At The Drive-In have announced a headline UK show at an as-yet-unconfirmed venue ahead of their appearance at the Reading/Leeds festival in August.

Albert Hammond Sr, father of Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr, has apparently confirmed the band are in the studio working on a new album.