Jun 30, 2009 By Mark Redfern Taken By Trees

Victoria Bergsman is set to release her second album as Taken By Trees. Entitled East of Eden, the follow-up to 2007’s Open Field is set for release on September 8th via Rough Trade. The former Concretes singer and Peter Bjorn and John collaborator (“Young Folks”) recorded her new album in Pakistan with the help of local musicians. The album will come with a short film chronicling the experience of recording in Pakistan. More

Jun 30, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto R.E.M.

On July 7th, R.E.M. will be digitally releasing a 4-song EP entitled Reckoning Songs From the Olympia. It will essentially be live versions of four tracks from the band’s second album, Reckoning, recorded during working rehearsals in July 2007. The EP is intended to be a taste of what’s to come in the two-CD set R.E.M. Live At the Olympia, which is due out this fall. More

Jun 30, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto Christopher O’Riley

Concert pianist Christopher O’Riley has been known to lend his talent to non-classical repertoire. Having rendered his own versions of compositions by Radiohead, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake in dedicated albums, O’Riley has announced the upcoming Out of My Hands, which will feature his arrangements of songs by R.E.M., Tori Amos, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Pink Floyd, Portishead, Tears For Fears, Elliott Smith, and Radiohead. More

Jun 30, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto

Sweden’s own Jens Lekman has reportedly come home from South America with swine flu. According to this website, this Pitchfork news item, and Lekman’s own blog, Lekman began feeling the effects on his flight home and is now in quarantine. More

Jun 30, 2009 By Frank Valish Lucky Soul

Britain’s favorite ’60s girl group/Motown enthusiasts are currently putting the finishing touches on their second full-length album, which is currently untitled and tentatively slated for October release. The band, which spent time in Sweden recording with Stockholm Strings, currently have 16 songs from which to choose and hope to have the album completely finished by July. Speaking with Under the Radar last month, songwriter/guitarist Andrew Laidlaw called the songs “lean and mean,” saying they were darker in lyrical content but “more direct.” More

Jun 29, 2009 By Mark Redfern Sondre Lerche

Sondre Lerche is set to release his new album on September 8th. Entitled Heartbeat Radio, it is Lerche’s first album for Rounder Records and his first release since his soundtrack for the Steve Carell movie Dan in Real Life, which was released in 2007. The singer/songwriter’s new album was recorded in both his hometown of Bergen, Norway and in Brooklyn, NY, which the album’s press release describes as Lerche’s “newly adopted home.” More

Jun 29, 2009 By Laura Studarus The Flaming Lips

Reigning kings of weird, The Flaming Lips, are slowly dribbling out more information about their forthcoming double-album Embryonic. As announced in an interview with Swiss website Die Klangschau and reported by Pitchfork, Leadman Wayne Coyne admits that album guests include a song with MGMT and, on several songs, Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. More

Jun 29, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto Blur

Upcoming Blur reunion shows in Hyde Park are set to be recorded professionally and released within a week of the performances. More

Jun 29, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto The Apples in Stereo

The Apples in Stereo, of the famed Elephant Six Collective, will be releasing a best-of collection on September 1st through Yep Roc Records. More