Their fifth album finds The Strokes continuing the search, begun on 2011's Angles, for ways to tackle the future.

Glastonbury's acts will play this weekend to packed crowds but a raft of the country's other music festivals are floundering, as agents struggle to sell tickets for well below their asking price.

With his designer stubble, straggly mass of curls, uniform of tight black jeans and partially unbuttoned shirt Todd DiCiurcio looks like a long lost member of New York band The Strokes.

So many negative noises have been made about Angles from critics and the band (guitarist Nick Valensi admitted "I feel like we have a better album in us"), that its actually-not-badness comes as a pleasant surprise.

Nick Valensi admits there are still "undertones of resentment and hostility" in The Strokes.

The Strokes admit they are "like a house of cards".

The warm-up act was only half joking when they said they'd been asked to play their set twice to fill in as a snow-impeded Jon Spencer Blues Explosion raced across London. More than an hour after they left us, the audience was decidedly tepid. So it was lucky that when JSBX finally turned up, their menacingly synthesised New York sound soon sent the temperature gauges soaring.

Begun by two teenagers in 2005, the singles label is now on its 50th release. To mark the occasion, founders Nadia Dahlawi and Sara Jade have pulled together 35 tracks that document the vibrancy of London's music scene.

It is the season of lists. Best of the Year/ Decade. Worst of the Year/ Decade. Most Beautiful of the Year/Decade. I'd like to introduce a "Mildly Enjoyable Night Out But Nothing To Write Home About of The Year/Decade", because that is also a large part of the cultural experience. But for the moment we'll have to make do with the best-of category.