LHB’s Shorties (Midlake, Stephin Merritt, and More)

Midlake's Tim Smith talks to the Independent about the band's new album, The Courage of Others.

Blake isn't the only poetic influence feeding into the new album, as "Core of Nature" is built around a pertinent couplet from Goethe, "Into the core of nature/No earthly mind can enter." "I don't know much about Goethe, I just had a book of his poems from the library," Smith admits. "A lot of times, I'll use poetry to start coming up with a melody, because I don't write the lyrics first, I always start with the music and then see what sounds right coming out of my mouth. Certain words suit my voice better than others, and those words can then create the germ of an idea for a song. But I can't come up with it out of thin air, so a lot of times, to come up with an idea for a melody, I'll sit at the piano or guitar with a book of poetry and start singing the words, then I'll go back and replace them with my own lines. But that line was just so great, I realised I was never going to top that."

The Advocate interviews Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt.

Paste interviews Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel about his solo album, Hustler's Son.

Billboard interviews Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers.

Web in Front is offering a free download of Radiohead's January Los Angeles performance to support Hait relief efforts.

Pitchfork has announced the first wave of acts for this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival, including Pavement, Modest Mouse, and St. Vincent.

- David Gutowski