There are lots of exciting things happening this week. For one, my girlfriend will finally be getting back from New York, a week later than planned. Bloody volcano. But that's not the sort of exciting thing I meant. I meant stuff like this...

01: MUSExpo hits LA. So, the first of this year's MUSExpo conference and showcase conventions kicked off in LA yesterday, with a hefty number of influential music industry movers and shakers lined up to speak today and tomorrow, including Harvey Goldsmith, Korda Marshall, Ron Fair, that Perez Hilton bloke and Radio 1's Head Of Music George Ergatoudis. There will be additional MUSExpo events in London in June and Australia in October.

02: CMU Publisher lectures the kids. Hey, are you a student at the London Metropolitan University? Oh, you are? Good. You'll like this. CMU Co-Publisher and Business Editor Chris Cooke will be giving a lecture on Thursday evening. Entitled 'It Started With Napster', the talk will review the music industry's efforts to stop illegal file-sharing from the first Napster lawsuit to the Digital Economy Act, as well as asking whether online piracy can ever really be stopped, and whether it really matters. It's at 6.30pm at the Graduate Centre, Room 108, should you be interested (and a London Met student).

03: PRS AGM. It's that time of year when everyone in the entire country with some sort of interest in music publishing congregates in London to hear how the last year went for their favourite collecting society. Well, all those who are members of PRS. And of those, all the ones who can be bothered. The ones who can be bothered who don't then think of something else better to do at the last minute. Anyway, yes, it's the PRS Annual General Meeting on Thursday.

04: New releases. Particularly exciting is the new 65daysofstatic album, which is an intense little beast and also features the vocal talents of The Cure's Robert Smith on one track. There's also Japanese "death jazz" band 65daysofstatic' sixth album, '6', the second LP from fuzzy Texas-based trio Harlem, which goes by the name of 'Hippies', a new best of compilation from David Holmes, called 'The Dogs Are Parading', Juan Maclean's DJ Kicks mix, and the latest single from The Big Pink, 'Tonight', which is backed with a beautifully forlorn cover of Beyonce's 'Sweet Dreams'.

05: Gigs. I completely forgot to mention that Efterklang were touring in last week's Five Day Forecast, which was bad of me because I went to see them and they were completely amazing. If you can get to Bristol tomorrow night, you should check them out at Metropolis. In London, Nigerian singer Nneka will be performing a one-off show at The Scala on Wednesday, and the delightfully odd Hudson Mohawke has dates lined up in Manchester, Bristol, London, Sheffield and Nottingham.

And that's that. Exciting, huh?

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU Daily

The Big Pink have revealed that work has begun on writing the follow-up to their debut album, 'A Brief History Of Love'.

Speaking to Xfm at the NME Awards, the duo's Robbie Furze said: "We've been writing a few things. We've got a new record coming at the beginning of next year. We're going to try and write it by the end of this year.
We've got a new track that we're going to play out on the next tour of Australia and then we might put another new track in for the [UK] tour we do in May".

Currently on the NME Awards Tour, along with The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle and The Drums, The Big Pink have announced their biggest UK headline tour to date, which will make its way around the country in May. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

The band re-release their single 'Velvet' on Monday on download and 12" vinyl. B-sides come in the form of a new version of the title track, plus a cover of Otis Redding's 'These Arms Of Mine'.

Tour dates:

7 May: Oxford, Academy
8 May: Sheffield, Leadmill
9 May: Glasgow, ABC
11 May: Manchester, Academy 2
12 May: Birmingham, Academy 2
13 May: London, Forum

As we head towards the end of the year, we'll be revealing, in no particular order, our ten favourite albums of 2009. Today, The Big Pink's 'A Brief History Of Love'.
 
The Big Pink's debut album 'A Brief History Of Love' has been on heavy rotation since it arrived in the CMU office back in August. Formed by Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, who for several years have made and promoted noise at various levels of extremity, The Big Pink is very much an extension of that past. However, here the duo have avoided drowning absolutely everything in distortion, leaving melody and pop sensibilities exposed.
 
The tone of the album is set perfectly by opener, 'Crystal Visions', which is surrounded by swirling guitars, which buzz and flicker, getting ever closer. By the end of the track they sound like a swarm of angry wasps encircling your head, but Furze's vocals remain melodic and intimate, cutting through the noise.
 
As well as all manner of shoegaze bands, the album's most overt sonic reference point is The Verve, particularly in the deadpan vocals and lyrics, which are summed up by one line in 'Frisk': "If this is love, then I was just leaving". In fact, for the most part, the history promised in the album's title offers up a fairly dim view of love, often focusing on the fallout, or the period after the initial rush of excitement. Very Ashcroft.
 
Despite all this, the album's actually pretty upbeat, as the football terrace-style chanting 'Dominos' now elicits when performed live attests. And while you'd expect the wall of sound element of the recording to be a barrier for most, those pop elements seem to draw people in. That balance of noise and pop is no easy thing to get right, and that The Big Pink have managed it over an entire album is worthy of an Album Of The Year nod on its own.
 
Buy from iTunes
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Listen on Spotify

Muse have announced that The Big Pink will be their main support act on their upcoming UK tour. Which is good news because I would love to hear them play in a massive venue. And I've not seen Muse for ages either. Thinking about it, not for more than ten years. Blimey.

Anyway, here are the tour dates:

4 Nov: Sheffield Arena
5 Nov: Liverpool, Echo Arena
9 Nov: Glasgow, SECC
10 Nov: Birmingham, NIA
12 Nov: London, O2 Arena
13 Nov: London, O2 Arena

The Big Pink release their brilliant debut album, 'A Brief History Of Love', on Monday. You should get it, it is good. In fact, I will buy you a copy*, that's how much I think you should have this album.

The band head out on tour in October, too. Here are the dates:

8 Oct: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
9 Oct: Brighton, Digital
10 Oct: Oxford, Academy
11 Oct: Coventry, Kasbah
12 Oct: Wrexham, Central Station
14 Oct: Glasgow, King Tut's
17 Oct: York, Duchess
18 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
20 Oct: Liverpool, Academy 2
21 Oct: Manchester, Academy
22 Oct: London, Electric Ballroom

*I will not actually buy you a copy of this, or any, album. Please purchase a copy and simply pretend that I bought it in order to take advantage of this offer.

The Big Pink's debut album 'A Brief History Of Love' has been on heavy rotation since it arrived in the CMU office. Consisting of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, who for several years separately made and promoted noise at various levels of extremity, they are joined live by a revolving line-up of musicians, which currently features Akiko Matsuura (who also fronts two more of CMU's favourite bands, Pre and Comanechi) and former Sunn O))) member Daniel O'Sullivan. But, yes, the album. Very much an extension of their noise-based past, Furze and Cordell have switched off the much of the distortion that would once have pervaded everything, leaving melody and even pop sensibilities exposed. This is nonetheless filled out with swirling, room-filling guitars which up the epicness and help to both mask and enhance layers that can only be uncovered with repeat listens. The album is out on 14 Sep, in the meantime, check out next single 'Dominos' and second track 'Velvet' on their MySpace page.

www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink

The Big Pink's debut album, 'A Brief History Of Love' is not due for release until 14 Sep via 4AD, but you can hear it via their official website now. Don't dawdle, though, it'll only be up until the end of the week.

Head over to www.musicfromthebigpink.com to stream the album in full and download an MP3 of the track 'Dominos'. The track will be released as a 7" single on 7 Sep, boasting a b-side ('She's No Sense') featuring vocals from that Florence Welch off of Florence And The Machine.

In case you just want to read the track titles, you can see them here:

Crystal Visions
Too Young To Love
Dominos
Love In Vain
At War With The Sun
Velvet
Golden Pendulum
Frisk
A Brief History Of Love
Tonight
Count Backwards From Ten

Oh, and while we're here and listing things, let's have some tour dates too:

28 Aug: Reading Festival
30 Aug: Leeds Festival
6 Sep: Electric Picnic
11 Sep: Bestival
8 Oct: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
9 Oct: Brighton, Digital
10 Aug: Oxford, Academy
11 Oct: Coventry, Kasbah
12 Oct: Wrexham, Central Station
14 Oct: Glasgow, King Tuts
17 Oct: York, The Duchess
18 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
20 Oct: Liverpool, O2 Academy
21 Oct: Manchester, Academy
22 Oct: London, Electric Ballroom

The Big Pink will be over here playing their songs over the next few months, with a number of festivals lined up and a full UK tour in October.

Tour dates:

25 Jun: Bath, Moles
26 Jun: Glastonbury
27 Jun: Glastonbury
1 Aug: Field Day
28 Aug: Reading
30 Aug: Leeds
11 Sep: Bestival
8 Oct: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
9 Oct: Brighton, Digital
10 Oct: Oxford, Academy
11 Oct: Covernty, Kasbah
14 Oct: Glasgow, King Tuts
17 Oct: York, The Duchess
18 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
20 Oct: Liverpool, Academy
21 Oct: Manchester, Academy
22 Oct: London, Electric Ballroom