Guardian Music — According to Metacritic they are. Dave Simpson meets the Texas quartetIn December the US website Metacritic embarked on a campaign to find the "best music of the decade". The site, which aggregates all the reviews it can find of as many albums as pos... more info

Stereogum — In its second year, Knoxville's Big Ears Festival has stepped up and spread out with a considerably dope lineup of events and installations worth your consideration. Worth your attendance, even, although its proximity in time (but not space) to SX... more info

Guardian Music — If Darth Vader was in a band, then this would be his chosen instrumentWhat is it? In our previous column, we looked at synthesisers that pretend to be guitars. Now we take a look at the keytar's evil 1980s twin-synthesisers pretending to be guitars. ... more info

The Telegraph — Jonathan Miller's production of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love provides pleasant, cheerful entertainment of an unremarkable kind. Rating: * * * more info

Guardian Music — The Killers got facial hair to connote lofty ambition, while Chris Martin grew something as amorphous on his chin as Coldplay's music. So who's next to ditch the razor?Blame it on the Maharishi. In August 1967 the Beatles, fried by pop, fame and LSD,... more info

Guardian Music — Meet the rock managers who've spotted an opening for them to bring expertise and experience – as well as funds – into the art worldMusic and the visual arts have had a loose relationship for decades. From the 60s onward, bands like the ... more info

Stereogum — With "The Motion Makes Me Last" and "Leaves Eclipse The Light," Portland's resident ambient master Matthew Cooper has given two fine, refined previews from the first LP to feature his voice, Similes. Director Matt McCormick handles visualizing the sp... more info

The Telegraph — If ENO and other companies want to make savings, they could start with their extravagant advertising more info

Guardian Music — The psychedelic duo's new album, Congratulations, will feature songs about Lady Gaga, Brian Eno and, er, surfing on ecstasyMGMT have announced details of their new album, Congratulations. The Brooklyn duo will release their second volley of swirly su... more info

The Playlist — In preparations for its February 19th release, the score for Martin Scorsese’s new thriller “Shutter Island” was released by Rhino Records on Tuesday.From the looks of it, Scorsese has abandoned his oft-used classic rock soundtrack... more info