News

Damon Albarn unveiled a new track at a poetry festival in London earlier this week (June 14) – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to watch. Consequence Of Sound reports that the singer, who was performing at the Poetry Olympics at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, included a brand new song in his set which he told the crowd he had recorded "last week".

REM's Peter Buck has posted his first solo material online – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to hear his track '10 Million BC'. The song, which surfaced via Slicing Up Eyeballs, is set to appear on the guitarist's debut album, although a title or release date for the LP have yet to be revealed. In March of this year, Scott McCaughey – Buck's Minus 5 band mate and frequent REM collaborator – confirmed that he had been working on the record and hinted that it would be released on vinyl only.

Wayne Coyne has said that the band's new album could be the best Flaming Lips album that the band ever make. The Oklahoman band are set to release their collaboration-heavy LP The Flaming Lips And Heavy Fwends on CD and digitally on June 25 but, in an interview with Spinner, the singer said the band were already looking ahead to their new studio record.

Radiohead's drum technician, Scott Johnson, has been named as the man who died after a stage collapsed before the band's concert in Toronto on Saturday (June 16). A relative confirmed to the BBC that the 33-year-old from Doncaster had died when the roof of the stage fell on top of him. A further three people are injured, with one reported to be in a serious condition, in the incident at Downsview Park. Scroll down the page and click to view footage, shot from a helicopter, of the aftermath.

The Rolling Stones will bow out from live performances with a headline slot at next year's Glastonbury festival, according to a tabloid report. The band have never played the Worthy Farm festival but a rumour suggests that they will be heading there for their first and only time next summer, according to the Sunday Mirror.

Flaming Lips are to release their The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends album on July 30. The album was originally given a limited, vinyl-only release for Record Store Day on April 21 this year. Recorded in collaboration with artists including Nick Cave, Yoko Ono and Bon Iver, the album will be released by the band's new label, Bella Union, on both CD and vinyl. The track listing for The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends is: 1. “2012 (You Must Be Upgraded) (w/ Ke$ha, Biz Markie & Hour Of The Time Majesty 12)

St Vincent and David Byrne have announced details of their joint album ‘Love This Giant’, which is set for release on September 11. Recorded over two years, the pair wrote ten of the album’s twelve tracks together, with each artist submitting a track of their own. Speaking of the collaboration, St Vincent – real name Annie Clark, said: "There was no delineating what the roles were. It's a collaboration I'm truly proud of."

Ringo Starr's birthplace has been saved from demolition, according to UK Housing Minister Grant Shapps. The Beatles drummer's former home will not be knocked down by Liverpool City Council as part of their plans to regenerate the Welsh Streets area of the city, and it will now be refurbished. According to the BBC, the house on 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle, is one of 16 on the street spared from the bulldozer; although 400 homes in the area will be pulled down.

Yeasayer have announced a short UK tour for September. The Brooklyn indie band, who announced recently that they will release their third studio album Fragrant World on August 20, will play three dates in the UK in September as well as an intimate London show in July. The gigs kick off at London's O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on September 27 before the band travel north to play Glasgow's Arches venue on September 28. They round things off at Manchester's HMV Ritz on September 29.

Bon Iver have announced that they will be releasing a new EP next week. The EP, which is simply titled iTunes Session EP, which will be released on Tuesday (June 19) and contains a total of seven tracks, all of which were recorded live. Among the tracks scheduled for release is a cover of Bjork's "Who Is It?" and the band's recent single "Holocene". Bon Iver recently announced two UK dates for later this year. Apart from headlining this summer's Latitude festival, they will play shows in Glasgow and Belfast in November too.