Bloc Party

Bloc Party to hit the studio in September.

Bloc Party

Bloc Party have been working on a new album and will head into the studio in September.

NME spoke to the UK indie sensation’s guitarist Russell Lissack, who has just wound up a stint touring with Brit-pop scamps Ash.

He said that he and frontman Kele Okereke have begun working on new stuff, separately and together.

‘We’re having a bit of a break until the festivals are over,’ he said, ‘because people have commitments during the summer, but we’re going to get back properly in September and sit in a rehearsal studio to work on new band material.’

The band have been on a live hiatus since 2009 and haven’t released an album since 2008′s third album Intimacy

R.E.M. reveal new album name to be released in Spring 2011

R.E.M. reveal new album name. Best-selling rock band R.E.M. have revealed that the title of their 15th studio album will be Collapse Into Now. The album will be released in Spring 2011 by Warner Bros. Records. BBC Radio 6 broke the news on its Twitter feed after R.E.M.’s manager Bertis Downs revealed the title at the In the City conference. R.E.M., which is singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills, re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band’s acclaimed previous album Accelerate, to make Collapse Into Now. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie’s Heroes, U2′s Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing were done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville. Collapse Into Now is the follow-up to 2008′s hard-charging Accelerate, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, topped the Alternative, Rock, Digital, and Internet (physical goods) charts in the U.S., and debuted at No. 1 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. It spawned three hit singles ‘Supernatural Superserious,’ ‘Hollow Man,’ and ‘Man-Sized Wreath.’ The band also released a two-CD live set, entitled R.E.M. Live At The Olympia, last October. On October 26th, 2010, New West Records will release R.E.M. Live From Austin, TX – a DVD that contains the full live performance of the band’s concert for PBS’ Austin City Limits television series, plus three songs that didn’t air on the original broadcast. The 17 songs, including several from Accelerate and such classic hits as ‘Losing My Religion’ and ‘Man On The Moon,’ have been re-mixed and re-mastered in LPCM stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound.

Ash to release Carnal Love

Ash to release Carnal Love. A gloriously, heart wrenching ballad soaked in Tim Wheeler’s rich croon, Carnal Love revisits that winning Ash formula ‘ a soaring guitar riff matched with Wheeler’s effortless melodies. Another solid pop classic in the thrilling progression of the A-Z series. Beginning with a clutch of UK warm up dates ‘ see www.ash-official.com for details ‘ Ash kicked off their festival season with a headline performance on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury and will wrap it up by headlining the Festival Republic Stage at Reading / Leeds on Friday 27th August (Leeds) and 28th (Reading). Meanwhile the A-Z series continues a pace. Recent single Binary ‘ letter Q – saw Ash dig through their archive to compile the accompanying video, unearthing footage from their lost DIY slasher movie featuring Coldplay, Dave Grohl and Charlotte Hatherley. The video ‘ Slashed Part 1 – rapidly spread across the blogosphere even turning up on Coldplay’s facebook page. Slashed Part 2, featuring another handful of rock’s good and the great, will arrive later this year. Throughout the campaign Ash have collaborated with artists including Russell Lissack from Bloc Party – who joined them on their recent tour on keyboard and guitar ‘ and Emmy The Great. A-Z Vol 1 is available now – with limited edition CD/DVD formats featuring an A-Z tour diary filmed last autumn.