A mystery was clarified by reader Tim Smith whose eagle eyes spotted the following news on the Merge Records site

"2005 has been another busy year of changes and a line up that is now focused around combinations of Gary Olson, San Fadyl, Jeff Baron and Julia Rydholm along with guests. Ladybug finally had their Australian debut last spring with a sucessful month long tour in March. On returning to the US, most of the group began work on an album project with Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine). After a month of rehearsals at Marlborough Farms, the group and Ayers returned to Tucson for three weeks of recording at Wavelab studios with Gary Olson producing. The results will be heard on a new Kevin Ayers LP to be released in early 2006."

Ladybug Transistor already have a track with Kevin - 'Puis-Je', released on the innovative 'Pop Romantique' collection of French language songs. The collaboration with a younger band continues the fine tradition of the time spent with the Wizards of Twiddly and Ultramarine. The combination of Kevin with the transatlantic, but essentially very bucolic Ladybugs holds a fascinating promise and I can't wait to hear what this sounds like. I can also speculate with some certainty that the time spent on this (a month of rehearsals is extremely serious stuff) means we are as close as ever to a definite release and that hasn't often been the case in the last 14 years. Can we all please collectively whisper to our deities that the moment has finally arrived for this new baby - then we can get back to the really serious business of finding Mick Fincher.

More at Ladybug Transistor's site