Hello from the UK! A largely sunny July has seen iTunes take over the Roundhouse venue in Camden for a month of free gigs, with the likes of Laura Marling, Goldfrapp, Tinie Tempah, Mumford & Sons and The National – to name but a few.

Friday’s show featured Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons presenting a collaboration between themselves and a group of Indian folk musicians called Dharohar Project. First up was Dharohar Project, followed by Laura Marling and then Mumford & Sons – before all three groups returned to the stage to perform the EP they recorded at the end of 2009 in India.

Overall a heartfelt evening without a hint of self-indulgence or pretentions. Check out the EP (iTunes UK) now or hang on for the live version (also iTunes UK) as heard by my very ears.

Next up was The National on Saturday night, playing a mix of tracks from their three superlative albums. An energetic set was topped off when singer Matt Berninger walked into the crowd blazing through Mr November, with a seemingly endless cable following him to the back of the auditorium. I thought about taking a picture of him as he rocked past me but then I decided to spare you a dark blurry image in favour of me enjoying the moment. Hope you don’t mind! You can take a look at the official images here.

It’s back to the grind for me, I’ll be back sometime next week with a report from the sterling Latitude Festival.

If you’ve not heard today’s incredible 10th anniversary Splendour In the Grass lineup, have you not a computer / radio / phone / ears / eyes????

OK so camping tickets are $450 (ouch), but we’ve done the math & it turns that makes each set $5.55… Five and half bucks to heard the new LCD album live!? The full lineup is below, with our favourite acts on the LHS. (Full disclosure, they’re all ours!)

In your pre-Splendour research mode, we’re willing to help you out even further by giving you:

• Laura Marling Ltd Edn I Speak Because I Can CD/DVD with 5 free downloads, postcard artwork, and lyrics booklet
• Jonsi blockmounted poster featuring Go album art
• Operator Please signed 7″ vinyl of Logic / Logic (Dolby Anol Remix)
• Ben Harper & Relentless7 signed blockmounted poster featuring White Lies… art
• Gorillaz limited edition Plastic Beach CD/DVD
• Hot Chip One Life Stand double gatefold vinyl
• Goldfrapp Headfirst collector’s edition cassette

Just head to our sister store at theinsong.com/splendour, buy any of the singles or albums to receive competition details, and tell us in 25 words or less how you plan to warm up for Splendour.

Disco-glam Alison Goldfrapp is back after her 2008 LSD-laced folk trip in the woods, and she is ready to party… on a rocket.

The first track we’ve heard from Goldfrapp’s (remember, they’re a duo) upcoming album Head First is the glittery disco number Rocket – which is streaming from their myspace as we speak. Don’t forget to don your pink jumpsuit and platforms (seriously, we’re not jumping to disco stereotypes – that’s Alison’s garb on the Rocket artwork).

That’s it so far from the album Head First, out March 19… except for this 25 second preview of silky smooth tunes to come. Oh they tease us so!

This incredibly stunning promo for the SyFy TV channel (formerly ye olde Sci Fi Channel) is soundtracked by Goldfrapp’s fantastical sparkling tune Happiness.

The promo is called House of Imagination and has a stellar crew:

• Director: Brett Foraker
• Director of Photography: Larry Fong (300, Watchmen)
• Post House: Moving Picture Company (HP, Narnia, X-Men, Bond)
• Main Guy: Banks Boutté
• Main Girl: Tamaryn Roy

A little birdie told us some very good and some very sad news today…

Electro-glam-pop-oh-so-sensual duo Goldfrapp are set to score the upcoming film Nowhere Boy – a biopic about John Lennon’s childhood and teen years.

“We have written the score for a film called Nowhere Boy. It’s about John Lennon as a boy.” Alison Goldfrapp wrote on her blog.

The film is based on Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird’s book Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon. Appropriately, the score was recorded with a full orchestra at Abbey Rd studio. As for Goldfrapp’s follow up to last year’s sun-drenched, ethereal Seventh Tree, that’s in the works too – no ETA just yet.

Nowhere Boy was scripted by Matt Greenhalgh, who proved his merits with the stunning Anton Corbijn biopic on Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, Control. Can’t wait for the London Film Fest premiere and local release! It really is Beatle-mania out there…

And in less-cheery Beatles news, the very Lucy of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds fame has passed away at the age of 46 of the autoimmune disease lupus. Lucy O’Donnell went to school with John Lennon’s son Julian. In 1966, Julian took his painted picture of the three year old Lucy to his father and explained “it’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds”.

Not a bad legacy, eh? Rest In Peace.

Stop Motion Goldfrapp Oh La La from Jonathan on Vimeo.

…or ‘Twenty Minutes of MMJ Bliss on a Thursday Morning’

Kentucky may not be a hot tourist destination, but the fact that the Louisville mayor is cool enough to host My Morning Jacket gigs makes it somewhat more appealing. The band have delivered a live EP recorded partially at Waterfront Park in their hometown, called Celebración De La Ciudad Natal (Celebration of the Town). Thankfully, they’ve filmed the day for us unfortunate mega-fans (I may or may not be wearing my MMJ tee right now) based outta town.

Bliss out to Aluminum Park, Highly Suspicious, Dodante, One Big Holiday, and an army of schoolkids playing glockenspiels with the band.

Several things to note:

• It appears Jim James has kidnapped Goldfrapp’s owl. Check out the puppets during the epic One Big Holiday.
  
• We weren’t aware fellow ISWO blogger Glenn Dickie was part of the band. Check out the check-shirted, hat-donning, mustached G from 1:16-1:28
• The live footage confirms that Jim James does actually sing “peanut butter pudding surprise” in Highly Suspicious, the highly addictive experimental Mike-Patton-esque number from album Evil Urges. EMI HQ has been pondering over this for months.

MMJ toured Australia in January, dishing out an overwhelming, unrelenting, sweaty, & life-changing 3 hours of An Evening With My Morning Jacket at each venue. Not to overstate things, but experiencing Gideon or Touch Me I’m Going To Scream pt II bears comparisons to being touched by the hand of God. If you’ve not seen them live, make it a life priority.