Guardian Music — My bill would exempt small venues from the absurdities of the Licensing Act, which is stifling emerging artistsIn November last year, Britain's Got Talent finalist Faryl Smith performed a song for her fans at an album signing at HMV in Kettering, Nor... more info

Scotsman.com — THE days of disco are to be restricted at the HMV Picture House after judges ruled it must stop hosting club nights in competition with one of its rivals. more info

Guardian Music — The New Yorker likes to celebrate the festive season with a dodgy musical proposition – this year, that hip-hop is deadThis time of year is all about traditions. The Germans like to eat pickles on Christmas Eve. The Rough Trade shops' top ten ... more info

Rock Sellout —   Lars Ulrich's favorite band The Sword will be heading out for a short 6 date tour to test out some new material for their follow up to 2008's Gods of the Earth. These dates are sure to be loud, heavy, and include lots of hair.  Jan. 23 - Corpus C... more info

WFMU's Beware of the Blog — Last Friday Sluggo and I finally got out to see Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about the Norwegian black metal scene … sort of. If I hadn’t read Lords of Chaos years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been... more info

Stereogum — The hardworking Oakland trio Clipd Beaks' expansive second full-length To Realize (1/26, Lovepump) blows by 2007's Hoarse Lords, an album that excited us enough to slap them with a Band To Watch tag. (It's more in the spirit of their later "Vision... more info

Nialler9 — My favourite track of the last month gets an epic video treatment. It’s Mad Max meets Lords of the Rings meets Dune meets The Abyss meets the recent requirement for naked people in music videos. The director is Radical Friend. MP3: Yeasayer –â€... more info

Guardian Music — Baroness Buscombe's speech to the annual conference of the Society of EditorsLast year Paul Dacre told you what he described was a "grotesquely hubristic confession" that from the moment he was born he had wanted to be an Editor.I'm really sorry Ladi... more info

XLR8R — Building upon the constant psychedelic drone and claustrophobic tribal-disco assault of past releases Preyers and Hoarse Lords, Oakland's Clipd Beaks have finished work on their follow-up album, To Realize. read more more info

Rock Sellout — This band is awesome!Well my love of metal is definitely know to all those who follow my wrath. I think Southern Lord has been following me around. They seem to know exactly what I like in my releases. They have the most extravagant releases be it vi... more info