Guardian Music — Franz Ferdinand and a Bavarian puppeteer are shaking up The Tempest in The Isle is Full of Noises. Maddy Costa reportsAs rehearsals for The Tempest go, the scene in London's Sausage Studios is a little peculiar. There's hardly room to move between th... more info

Guardian Music — Stock to be distributed by Pias Group feared destroyed in blaze at Sony warehouse in EnfieldNumerous independent record labels fear they have lost a catastrophic amount of stock in a fire at a distribution warehouse in north London during the riots i... more info

NME — Franz man cites ‘Grease’ and ‘Flight Of The Concords’ as influences for ‘The Tempest Puppet Music Show’ score more info

Guardian Music — For the xx and for Elbow, the Mercury prize boosted album sales tremendously – but for Speech Debelle it was less effectiveJudges of the Mercury prize often cite their desire to bring interesting, but sometimes little-known, music to a broader audi... more info

Guardian Music — What was once a gimmick can now be just good marketing. And don't forget the Beatles was a naff pun onceMeet From Jethro Tull through the Beau Brummels to Franz Ferdinand, bands have long appropriated real names from history. In recent years, though,... more info

Brooklyn Vegan — New wave/post-punk pioneers Blondie recently released Panic of Girls in the UK, their third album since reuniting in 1997, and ninth overall. The album includes the single "Mother," which they recently performed live and acoustic from Abbey Road. Che... more info

Nialler9 — Last week, Domino ran a week-long radio station which now has lots of awesome archived radio shows for listening including Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Wild Beasts, James Ford, Austra, Twin Sister, Owen Pallett, ... more info

Guardian Music — 12 January 2004: Number 47 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of indie musicIf the Strokes had made guitar music sexy again, then the emergence of Franz Ferdinand a couple of years later proved that sexy could be smart as well. Take Me... more info

The Vinyl Villain — and is also, in my humble opinion a better song than the A-sidemp3 : The Monochrome Set - The Strange Boutiquemp3 : The Monochrome Set - Surfing S.W.12This was the band's fifth single.  It was released in 1980 on DinDisc.  The Strange Boutique was ... more info

Guardian Music — Chris Salmon is as yet unconvinced by iTunes Match, but falls for Domino's eclectic, intelligent new temporary radio stationThis week's biggest news in digital music has been Apple's announcement that, for $25 a year (UK price yet to be confirmed), u... more info