– Adalita has issued a missive from “the cocoon” of making her second solo album. Maybe solo’s not the right word, though, as she’s talked about enlisting a band. Posting on her website this week, the Magic Dirt leader shared news on her follow-up to 2011’s self-titled solo debut, which came in at #6 on our Critics Poll. She’s been working on it at Melbourne’s Bakehouse Studios and says: “It’ll be quite different from the last one. A lot of the guitar stuff is distorted and big and is going to need a band. I was so reluctant to have a band for the first record because it just didn't feel right, but for this one I want the power of bass and drums. It’s an anxious time for me, thinking about putting a band together, trying to find the right players, the right pieces of the puzzle.”

She goes on to describe her latest batch of songs as “mainly medium-tempo, melodic, fat chords, distorted … and there’s one all on its lonesome on piano” but adds “I think only three of this lot will be album contenders.” It’s too early to expect a title or release date any time soon – she’s finishing some demoing this week and may write a bit more still – but the above is enough to whet anticipation and make us wonder how a (different) Adalita-fronted band might sound.

– Speaking of our 2011 Critics Poll, the #9 entry – Lost Animal’s Ex Tropical – will see US release on January 29, 2013 through Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art, which put out Circle Pit’s ‘Slave’/‘Honey’ 7”. The clip for ‘Say No to Thugs’ just premiered in the US via Spin, while Lost Animal’s upcoming Australian gigs include a pair of Brisbane supports for Spiritualized in December. Lost Animal will also appear at the Drones-curated ATP in February.

Sat, Nov 3 –Good Hustle Music Salon @ Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, VIC
Tues, Nov 20 – Where?House, Melbourne, VIC [Melbourne Music Week]
Tues, Dec 4 –Hi Fi, Brisbane, QLD [w/Spiritualized]
Thurs, Dec 6 –Hi Fi, Brisbane, QLD [w/Spiritualized]

– Wellington’s The Garbage & The Flowers will see their 1997 double album Eyes Rind As If Beggars reissued as a gatefold double LP, CD and download on January 21 through England’s Fire Records, also home to such Kiwis as Opossom, Bailter Space and Surf City. “A sprawling collection of fragile melodies, abrasive improvisations and velvet voices,” the opus came from a band whose origins sat in the teenaged meeting of guitarist/songwriter Yuri Frusin and singer/violist/bassist Helen Johnstone – and whose name came from a lyric in Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’. Both the vinyl and CD versions of the reissue will come with a bonus full-length CD of additional material. You can hear the ruffled opener ‘Love Comes Slowly Now’ below.

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