Guardian Music — Wilton's Music Hall, LondonThis two-man puppet show, based on The Tempest and set to music composed and played by Franz Ferdinand's guitarist Nick McCarthy, isn't just fun. It's also an attempt to bring Shakespeare to a wider audience: people like me... more info

Guardian Music — This year's Mercury Prize was won by PJ Harvey, but who has won the award before, and who tops the all-time sales chart?• Get the dataPJ Harvey became the first artist to win the Mercury Prize twice on Tuesday night, when she scooped the award for ... more info

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