It’s been three whole years since Leslie Feist’s mainstream breakthrough, The Reminder, came out, but, according to the Guardian’s recent interview (via Exclaim) with her co-conspirator Chilly Gonzales, the the pair are working on the follow-up right now (in addition to a film about “jazz chess”) just outside Paris. Gonzales was careful, however, to withhold any other specifics about when Feist’s 4th LP will be reaching our ears or what they’ve cooked up in the studio so far.

Meanwhile, Toronto alt-country artist Doug Paisley has enlisted the fellow Canadian singer-songwriter for a guest spot on his latest album, Constant Companion. Similar to her work alongside Wilco in Beck’s Record Club last year, Feist’s collaboration with Paisley, “What I Saw,” strips away the jazz-pop elements of her solo work for a breezy take on early ’70s folk-rock, complete with honey-dipped harmonies. Check out a live clip of Feist debuting new song “He Was Free” and give “What I Saw” a spin below:

All “Vampy Weeks jacked Graceland” jokes aside, the soundtrack and score to upcoming Uma Thurman-starring flick Ceremony looks pretty amazing. In addition to previously recorded cuts by the likes of Kate Bush, Pete Townshend, and the Animals set to appear in the film, director Max Winkler (son of The Fonze) has enlisted Fruit Bats mastermind Eric D. Johnson to score his directorial debut with a little help from the great Van Dyke Parks, the Playlist reports. What’s more, Parks teamed up with Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig for a cover of Paul Simon’s 1972 song “Papa Hobo” for the film.

Ceremony, which also stars Michael Angarano as a man in his 20s who falls for an engaged older woman played by Thurman, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival later this month. Presumably, a taste of Koenig’s latest take on Simon will be reaching our ears soon thereafter. In the meantime, check out the synopsis/stills here, more music details here, and Simon’s original song below:

Armed with only a four-track cassette recorder and Coles 4038 ribbon microphone (one of Jack White’s faves), Richard Swift and Damien Jurado got together over a recent August weekend to record their first volume of collaborative covers, dubbed humbly: Other People’s Songs. Given such limited equipment, time constraints, and excellent choice of source material, my curiosity was piqued to say the least, and, thankfully, we don’t need to pay a dime to try it on for size.

Just as a studious group of Nine Inch Nails fans (“This One Is On Us”) did with the last show on NIN’s “Lights In The Sky” tour, a team of over 4 dozen Radiohead fans have carefully edited a slew of live footage from the band’s set in Prague last August to produce a free, multi-format concert film, dubbed Radiohead: Live in Praha. Though a pro-edited, fan-shot live show is certainly noteworthy on its own, the best part was revealed modestly below the setlist on their official download site: “Audio masters kindly provided by the band.” (!)

Ever since SKoA pointed us to the page this morning, it’s been crawling as eager fans devour that sweet, sweet bandwidth, so bookmark the page now for when things pick up over there and enjoy the entire film on YouTube or a few choice clips below:

Photographer/director Anton Corbijn and our hero Tom Waits were originally set to unleash Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010 about a year ago, but the scheduled release date was delayed… until next month. The good news, though, is that their 220-page, 30-year spanning effort has become even more epic in the meantime: What was once described as simply a collection of portraits adorned by lyrics from the Waits songbook now includes a 48-page spread of words and images by Waits himself, in addition to around 200 Corbijn-shot portraits. In other words: Best coffee table book ever.

Check out a preview (including a link to pre-order Waits/Corbijn for the current October 29 release date) over at Corbijn’s site — where the director of forthcoming George Clooney-starring thriller The American is also peddling hardcovers on that film, Ian Curtis biopic Control, U2, and more. By the way, still no update on Corbijn documentary Shadow Play, save for the teaser trailer embedded below:

We’ve heard the first single, “Crossfire,” as well as live previews from the new Brandon Flowers solo album, Flamingo, but now the anticipated studio version of “Hard Enough,” featuring guest vocals by Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, has surfaced. Though I was hoping for a full solo verse from Lewis (making the tune a more proper duet), she mostly provides harmony vocals for the choruses and bridge here. That said, it’s hard to deny Lewis’ gorgeous Emmylou Harris-esque backup vocal chops and “Hard Enough” offers plenty of proof to that end.

Check out the radio rip via YouTube below:

The latest release from Chicago’s Mike Kinsella (American Football, Cap’n Jazz) as the acoustic guitar-driven outfit Owen is a limited-edition 7” single recorded by his cousin (and Joan of Arc bandmate) Nate Kinsella called “Abandoned Bridges.” On the flip side is a stripped-down version of Wilco’s Summerteeth rocker “I’m Always In Love” — one of my personal live faves from Owen’s fellow Chicagoans.

The song’s unforgettable melodic interludes, which are echoed in an otherworldly register on a keyboard in Wilco’s version, are a perfect match for Kinsella’s love for almost-overly repeated catchy riffs, as he brings the line back to earth with an elegant folk twist that creates a pause between the verses, adding greater pensive weight to Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics. One lyric gets a particularly long pregnant pause after Kinsella switches “I forget my mother” to “I forgive my father.” Pre-order the “Abandoned Bridges” vinyl (or buy the digital version) here, listen to the A-side over on MySpace, and hear Owen’s take on “I’m Always In Love” below: