Iain Key

British Birds have announced a new single, Scary Movies, from their forthcoming album Murmurate, Oscillate Chorley-based British Birds are Bobby and Emma Townson. Drums are by Dominic Lawson, and bass is by James Robinson. They are a resolutely DIY band. Bobby records and mixes all the music; Emma creates all the artwork. Their first two albums were self-released, selling hundreds of copies at gigs and at a few chosen record stores.

(Do Something Records) DL/Streaming Out Now Acclaimed UK country/pop singer Amy Jo has just released her new single, Hold Your Horses, on Do Something Records. Amy Jo: Hold Your Horses Althought not the usual LTW fare, we have previously covered the artist, describing her as 'a Morecambe Bay resident who sounds like a Nashville-era Taylor Swift'.

Caroline Aherne: Rebel In Disguise by David Scott Manchester University Press Available 26th May Buy Here Following on from his excellent Mancunians, which saw Scott offering an insight, through his own memoirs and via interviews with many others, to what it was like being in Manchester on the brink of the last Millennium. He’s now turned his attention to one of Britain’s most loved comediennes , Caroline Aherne, the biggest influence on his career.