Scratch any literate songwriter â€' Win Butler, David Bowie, PJ Harvey â€' and beneath the surface you will find a debt to TS Eliot

The New Yorker critic Louis Menand, reflecting on TS Eliot's transition from radical modernist to arch-conservative, wrote in a review of the poet's letters: "He tried to shut the door on modern life. It was too late of course. He was the author of Prufrock and The Waste Land. He was already inside."

Eliot would not have loved pop music but pop music loves Eliot. Ninety years after the publication of The Waste Land, he remains the lodestar poet for ambitious songwriters. They rummage through his masterpiece's treasure chest of arresting phrases: the "violet hour" and "bodies naked on the low damp ground" quoted in the Sisters of Mercy's Floorshow, "April is the cruellest month" kicking off Hot Chip's Playboy or the "red sails" picked up by David Bowie on Lodger (Bowie told William Burroughs in 1974 that he'd "never read" Eliot but I suspect he got around to it).

Likewise 1915's The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. "Like a patient etherized on a table" is paraphrased by avowed Eliot fan Win Butler in Arcade Fire's We Used to Wait, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" became a song title for Chuck D, and "the Eternal Footman" crops up in Tori Amos's Pretty Good Year. "Alfred J Prufrock would be proud of...

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The founder of the independent label guides us through the years of the imprint through YouTube videos and tells us about the first Danger Mouse record

Lex Records is one of our favourite independent London labels whose wildly creative output spans over a decade of landmark releases that have changed the music industry no end. From underground rap heroes (DOOM) to harbouring super producers with a perchant for cult collaborations (the myriad of Danger Mouse projects with the once incarcerated rapper Jemini and the transcendental meditating David Lynch) to lush, cinematic electronics and pop (Boom Bip and Neon Neon) and even deluxe audio books (legendary comic book writer and Watchmen creator Alan Moore).

This year, Lex’s latest label compilation opus is entitled Complex and is a taster of the label in 2012 with Thom Yorke a... article continues »
            
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Here's the new video for Modeselektor's collaboration with Thom Yorke, on a song called "This" from Modeselektor's album Monkeytown. (The also did another track on the album together, "Shipwreck".) Directed by Andrew Jones for FutureDeluxe, it falls in line with the clip for "Shipwreck", using slightly disturbing childlike imagery, including creepy dolls and wooden puppets.

Photo of Yorke, the Gaslamp Killer, and Flying Lotus at the Brainfeeder party via the Brainfeeder Twitter

The final hours of the second weekend of Coachella on Sunday night found Saturday headliner Thom Yorke sprinting toward the finish line. He joined long-time collaborators Modeselektor on stage to perform "Shipwreck" from last year's Monkeytown.

Tough talk and Thom Yorke from David Neville and Marcus Wainright

Rag & Bone Women's was a warzone. The flood lights dropped out and yellow flashing emergency sirens began blaring out a warning signal – until a soundtrack by Thom Yorke hit so loud the bass shook you through your feet. It would seem a fitting take for a collection based around British Imperialism and the cultural exchange between the countries they've colonised. What is historically a forceful union of old world and new, designers David Neville and Marcus Wainright used the topic to explore the aesthetic influences of this time period and their contemporary place within their brand.

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Thom Yorke: "Stuck Together":

Thom Yorke: "Twist":

Back in September, models for the clothing line Rag & Bone found themselves walking down the runway to the tune of new Thom Yorke material. Today, Disco Naivete points out that music from the show has surfaced, on YouTube: two pieces called "Stuck Together" and Twist". It has been confirmed that this is music Yorke made for the Rag & Bone show, but it may only be an excerpt.

The Occupy London website has posted a new video interview with Thom Yorke and Massive Attack's Robert '3D' Del Naja, in which both artists voice support for the Occupy movement. The interview was filmed at a holiday party for Occupy London where, as previously reported, both artists performed DJ sets.

According to the Occupy London site, "The performances have been recorded for an album and HD video, to be made available to help raise money for Occupy London and the wider Occupy movement. Both will soon be available on a 'pay what you want' basis from the Occupation Records label."

Photo via the Massive Attack Facebook

Tonight, Thom Yorke, Massive Attack, and ex-DFA member Tim Goldsworthy performed at a party for Occupy London at Bank of Ideas in Hackney. The party was webcast live on the Occupy London Livestream, as The King of Limbs Part 2 pointed out.

Continuing our new series looking at pop charts across the globe, Andrew Khan listens to the Polish Lady Gaga

Poland's classical music and jazz scenes may be enormously influential, but the country's pop acts have traditionally made little impression internationally. With isolated exceptions such as Blog 27 â€' a pair of 13-year-old rappers whose 2005 album LOL is fondly remembered in Japan to this day â€' few Polish stars have significantly troubled the foreign charts.

The lack of overseas success shouldn't be mistaken for a sign of limited horizons or shortage of quality. Poland's domestic pop scene spans everything from dancehall to slick retro soul and can boast a handful of the most engaging artists the region has to offer.

With English lyrics and expensive videos, the performer most likely to find an audience outside Poland may be Dorota "Doda" Rabczewska. Famous since 16 as singer with metal act Virgin, her recent solo work has seen her repositioned as a central European answer to Lady Gaga. Although the peroxide hair, challenging fashion sense and ongoing fight against criminal charges of blasphemy suggest she has the fundamentals ticked off, the music still needs work.

At home, her popularity has been eclipsed by Czech Republic-born Ewa Farna whose Ewakuacja (see clip above) has a claim to being the biggest single of 2011. Her muscular power ballads share more than a trace of DNA with Evanescence but they're belted out with...

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The video for Thom Yorke and Modeselektor's collaborative track "Shipwreck", directed by Tony T. Datis, features a little boy with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a visibly disturbed nature. He encounters zombies and a vicious dog while curiously collecting batteries. Watch it below (via NPR) for the kicker.