Guardian Music — 9 December: Our musical Christmas countdown continues as Conor from Villagers talks us through his Spotify playlistDomino artist Villagers has pulled out all the stops for his advent calendar entry with a detailed run through every song on his playli... more info

Altsounds — Hey Scrooges, Grinches and Heat Misers, you don't have to be so pissed off at Christmas anymore. Orlando street-punk heroes *The Attack* have just released their rendition of *The Kinks'* classic Christmas tune *"Father Christmas."* You won't get st... more info

Guardian Music — Ray Davies is to curate next year's Meltdown festival. Jon Savage salutes a national treasureIn late 1965, Ray Davies threw a party. One of his guests was a clothes designer, and as Davies recalled: "I got pissed off with him always going on about fa... more info

Guardian Music — The Vampire Weekend frontman on fake rap posse the Lonely Island and the Kinks' exotic EnglishnessThis year began extremely well for Vampire Weekend: their second album, Contra, entered the US charts at No 1, a first for both the New York quartet and... more info

Guardian Music — Arcade Fire, LondonAlthough this was the year they achieved the benchmarks of the truly big – two nights at Madison Square Garden, for example – 2010 was also the year in which Arcade Fire tried to keep things smaller. The Suburbs, the band's thi... more info

Stopcryingyourheartout.com — A few bits 'n' bobs I typed up from the current issue of Q.Liam Gallagher named the band, and that rehearsals began with Beady Eye a few weeks after Noel left with the understanding that they would leave Oasis behind for good and play only new materi... more info

Guardian Music — If love, and sex never die, whatever the latest gimmick, then neither do boybands like JLS, says Paul Morley Time to meet JLS, just so that I can see for myself if they are, as such, for real. For a while, I did not think such a meeting would be nece... more info

Guardian Music — The former Kinks frontman on vaudeville, his hatred of The X Factor and his pick'n'mix approach to the Meltdown lineupTim Adams It's six months until Meltdown. Any plans yet?Ray Davies It's like buying a bag of sweets, at the moment. You point to all... more info

NME — Kinks frontman will helm the event next June more info

Guardian Music — Former Kinks singer 'thrilled' to take control of the Southbank Centre's 18th annual festival, promising to forge a 'musical bridge between past, present and future'Ray Davies has been appointed artistic director of next year's Meltdown festival at t... more info