Having released their first post-hiatus album, ‘In The Grace Of Your Love’, earlier this year, The Rapture will be stopping by for a two-date UK jaunt next May. But wait, there’s more, because the band are also set to play an exclusive interactive London show on 12 Dec.

Presented by Dell, Intel and Vice Magazine’s joint live venture, Noisey, as part of their Special Engagement Concert Series, fans will get the chance to choose the band’s encore track, design merchandise for their new single ‘Sail Away’, and even join them on stage. The entire set will be streamed live on the Noisey website. Details on how to secure entry to that show, which goes off at Rowan’s Bowling Alley in Finsbury Park, can be found here.

Say The Rapture, in sweet and perfect unison: “Thanks to Noisey, we feel quite lucky to engage in far reaching ways to fans all over the world. This sounds like it should be a damn good concert”.

Meanwhile, here are the regular old 2012 dates:

1 May: Oxford, Academy
2 May: London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Details have been announced about next year’s HMV Next Big Thing festival, which will take place from 2-12 Feb at nine venues around the UK, including various London haunts and HMV venues in Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

200 bands are set to play, with various nights curated by different labels and music media also thrown into the mix this time round. Each night will be a tenner including booking fee, and tickets are on sale right now. This time round the gigs will also be recorded, with highlights made available via HMV’s websites.

Artists already confirmed for 2012 include: Emeli Sandé, Delilah, Lianne La Havas, All The Young, Dry The River, Clement Marfo & The Frontline, We Are Augustines, Loick Essein, StooShe, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny, Jodie Marie, Yasmin, King Charles and Fatoumata Diawara.

More at hmvnextbigthing.com.

Never mind chocolate calendars, Advent this year comes courtesy of oft-masked London-based singer-songwriter Paul Dixon, who, as David’s Lyre, so ably demonstrated a deft touch for folkloric pop on his debut EP ‘In Arms’.

But how exactly is David’s Lyre doing the online countdown to Christmas this year? Well, this message from Camp Lyre should explain: “As we approach the Season Of Goodwill we are offering a gift every day from our very own advent calendar. From 1 Dec a succession of self-produced covers, original tracks, poetry and live acoustic performances, set to visual pieces created by students from the world famous St Martin’s College Of Art, will be unveiled”. I couldn’t have put it better myself. No, seriously.

You can enjoy all this via the David’s Lyre YouTube channel. Then, come Christmas Eve, all tracks and treats released throughout Advent will be available for free download via Facebook. Which just about brings us to yesterday’s offering, a cover of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’ (the best I’ve heard yet, not that Kasabian’s attempt is any competition). It’s set brilliantly to student filmmaker Will Hazel’s short about Knight Warrior, the Salford superhero.