Guardian Music — It might be more than 30 years old, but krautrock, Germany's experimental music from the 1970s, still has a freshness that sixth-generation British indie bands can't matchIt began out of nothing, was given a joke name, and became the pop influence du... more info

Pitchfork — Photos by Tim Kiernan; Above: The xx Last year, at the first Big Ears music festival in Knoxville, Tenn., Jon Hassell headlined the opening Friday night at the Bijou Theatre, then the event's largest venue. Despite two balconies and the twin overhead... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Opera House, LondonNowadays, Janácˇek is a fixture in the operatic repertory across the world, but in 1990, when Bill Bryden's production of The Cunning Little Vixen was first seen at Covent Garden, the opera had never been performed the... more info

Guardian Music — From echoes of Stockhausen in the Dirty Projectors to Arvo Pärt's effect on Radiohead, it's more than a bit of fun to think about the links between indie music and modern classicalBefore I'm away for a week, a belated catchup with a good post over... more info

Guardian Music — Stuart Skelton's Peter Grimes electrified audiences last year. Now he's back in London to bring another troubled soul to lifePeter Grimes is very much English National Opera's own opera. It was the work the company (in its previous guise, as Sadler's... more info

Pitchfork — St Vincent photo by Tod Seelie; David Byrne photo by Danny Clinch In his latest journal entry, which muses on the nature of collaboration, David Byrne revealed that he and St. Vincent's Annie Clark have been working on a project together. The "on ... more info

The Telegraph — David Alden's Katya Kabanova never suggests the cramping smallness of a village but cast and conducting are exceptionally good. Rating: * * * * more info

Pitchfork — Last night, MGMT played a secret show at downtown Manhattan's Mercury Lounge (capacity 250) under the name the Smirking Worm. (Via Sound of the City.) Along with the hits, they played a bunch of new tracks from their forthcoming LP, Congratulations, ... more info

Guardian Music — The city's most vibrant sounds are being made by a ragged breed of pan-generational improvisers producing free-jazz fire musicEven now, New York remains one of the spiritual homes of jazz. It's a reputation based on black and white images of cigarett... more info

MTV.com News — 'We don't know if our new album is crap or not,' Andrew Van Wyngarden says.By James Montgomery, with reporting by Rya Backer MGMT's Andrew Van Wyngarden Photo: MTV News MGMT didn't set out to make the stereotypical sophomore album, but, in... more info