Vazum: Vampyre Villa

Detroit-based deathgaze band Vazum have expanded their musical palette with the enlisting of Emily Sturm on bass and vocals. Band leader Zach Pliskah is in the driver's seat, with Zachary Anderson riding shotgun on guitar and bass.

The new album Vampyre Villa is an intense and dark journey, through goth and post-punk and other subgenres whose fans like to dress in black. The complex and harsh songs make a good case to lure unsuspecting to join the dark side. Today's homework: try to find whose is holding doen the bottom end on which song.

Nick Cave: online shop "Cave Things"

Nick Cave has launched Cave Things, an online shop selling "things conceived, sourced, shaped and designed by Nick Cave", mainly prints, objects and apparel.

» nickcave.com

Librarians With Hickeys: Long Overdue

Power pop Librarians With Hickeys are a first and foremost singles band, the kind who have trouble writing a B-side and opting for double A-sides instead. The Akron, Ohio based band took a leap of faith and released their first album Long Overdue and it's more like a collection of six great singles, without the hassle of flipping and changing the 7" every couple of minutes.

They always put the melody first. Taking cues from the peak years of pop they sing songs about their dealings with the fairer sex. They navigate the treacherous waters of getting a date with Be My Plus One and the superb Next Time wherein the singer declares that he might get as far as "telling I love her" eventually. It is all delivered with a sense of longing for a candy-coloured past when they were young, innocent and hopeful. The angry Leave Me Alone after being shafted and the sultry Black Velvet Dress are like letters written in hindsight. This is upbeat yet introspective collection of songs that is a tribute to the jukebox era.

Kelly Lee Owens: Corner Of My Sky (ft. John Cale)

Kelly Lee Owens reached out to John Cale to come up with the vocals for her pulsating electronics composition Corner Of My Sky, a single from her forthcoming album Inner Song, out via Smalltown Supersound on August 28. Cale camee up with a haunting spoken word piece, delivered in English and Welsh. It could be considered as a sort of follow for this guest spot on The Insult on the Trash Palace album Positions.

Donna Blue: "Inbetween" video

Dutch retro-pop band Donna Blue have made a video for Inbetween, the title track from their latest EP: "Sadness and loneliness have found their way into their music, but they have retained the lush arrangements and soft-spoken vocals. It makes the underlying message even more gripping. The mixed emotions reach a peak in the title track, captured in a mix of surf, country and doo-wop."