Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe teamed up with UK production team Xenomania for their forthcoming tenth studio album, Yes, which includes guest spots from Johnny Marr and string arrangements via Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy (aka whoa). But all we've heard is the first single "Love Etc.," co-written by Xenomania. It's a catchy, icy meld of Tennan...

Last fall after a period of post-Poos silence, Owen Pallett released a pair of excellent EPs, and in their wake, a pair of interesting videos. Unlike "Blue Imelda" and "The Butcher," Owen actually turns up in Pays To Please's "Horsetail Feathers." Director Tracy Maurice makes good work of the cut's old-timey symphonic swing, essentially answerin...

In a recent interview with us about the recent Arcade Fire concert film Mirror Noir, Win Butler described his band's current mindset thusly: "We have no idea what we're doing, but I feel like playing with you this afternoon, so how about we have some tea and play songs for a little bit." Quaint! So while the official next Arcade Fire album may b...

The Pet Shop Boys don't really need to keep releasing new music; the icily fey British synthpop pioneers have already released a couple discs' worth of absolute classics. But they're still going, and Yes, their 10th studio album, will be out via Parlophone/EMI on March 23 in Europe (no U.S. release date yet). Xenomania, the British production te...

Photo by Ryan MuirOn our last day in the office before the holiday break, we received an early Christmas/Hanukkah present: A chat with Win Butler of the Arcade Fire. Butler and his band laid low for most of 2008 (give or take a few Obama rallies), taking a well-deserved break after years of nearly nonstop recording and touring. But expect to hea...