Wahey! An update! Who would have thought. Christmas just came early for you guys, eh? Although we haven’t updated for a while we’ve been busy little beavers over here at 12MCHQ; editing interviews, organising contests, writing Haikus, and generally getting ready for the blogging year ahead. While the Basics/Bawdies interview video still hasn’t gotten past a rough cut yet (when Editing is your day job, the last thing you want to do is come home and park yourself infront of Final Cut Pro again), but just keep your eyes on this page and it’ll be here before you know it. Now, with the updates:

Everyone’s favourite multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Bird, has decided to speed things up and release his upcoming LP a little earlier than expected. Although originally slated for a slightly later release, Noble Beast, his fifth solo record, has now been brought forward to January 20th in North America and February 2 for Europe. That leaves us somewhere in the middle, I assume; not that it even matters any more since the only people buying actual music from actual record stores are mums.

No doubt if you’re a hipster like me you’ll be whipping out your credit card and logging onto the information super highway any minute now to pre-order your copy of Noble Beast over da internetz. Not only will you be considered ultra cool, but you could be the first in line to get your hands on the Deluxe Edition of Noble Beast, a 2-disc double whammy with a 24-page booklet of lyrics with illustrations by Diana Sudyka, extra photos, a fold out poster, and completely different packaging. The second disc, Useless Creatures, will feature a collection of instrumental gems slash dinner party music recorded by Bird & Co. What more could you ask for? Here’s hoping some Oz dates get announced soon.

Get pre-orderin’ right here, or head to his Myspace to sample his first single “Oh No” off Noble Beast and “Carrion Suite” off Useless Creatures.