The Shins, The Kills and Seasick Steve are to record live albums at shows at Jack White's Third Man Records complex during "Rocktober". The Shins are to appear on October 6, while The Kills will perform on October 10, Olivia Watt on October 23 and Seasick Steve on October 26. The shows being recorded and released individually on the Third Man label.

I’ve not always had much time for the cult of Brian Eno, and for a lot of the music he’s been involved with in the last 20 or 30 years (I used this piece about Blues Control & Laraaji’s wonderful record to take a few swipes).

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has released a statement concerning rumours that the rock titans were to split. On Saturday (September 30), during the band's set at the Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park, Grohl told the 60,000 strong crowd: "This is it, man. We don't have any [shows] after this."

Damon Albarn last night [October 1] performed a secret, last-minute show with soul singer Bobby Womack at the Notting Hill Arts Club. The impromptu gig was announced via the XL Recordings Twitter account on Friday evening [October 29], and followers were invited to email for the chance to win tickets.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has confirmed that the metallers will start work on their new album "soon". The band, who are currently working on a 3D film project, which is helmed by Predators director Nimród Antal, will start work on the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic soon, Hammett told Rolling Stone. Following drummer Lars Ulrich's comments that the band already had "tons of ideas sitting around", he said:

Johnny Marr's manager, Joe Moss, has flatly denied any truth in the latest Smiths reunion rumours, telling NME: "It isn't happening. We are fully focused on preparing Johnny's new album for release and booking shows for 2013." Yesterday (October 1), celebrity gossip site Holy Moly created an online buzz by posting an article claiming "several credible sources" had confirmed that The Smiths would reform for four 2013 shows, including Glastonbury Festival.

Boxing Day, 1967, and The Beatles’ new film, something called Magical Mystery Tour, is about to be shown for the first time, broadcast by the BBC, fans looking forward to what surely will be a highlight of the Christmas television schedules, a welcome respite to those of a certain age from the usual seasonal fare of old movies and light entertainment, all that stuff that they usually show to keep the old folks happy over the holidays.

I interviewed James Murphy in late 2006, for a preview piece about The Sound Of Silver, the second album by his band, LCD Soundsystem.

With The Beatles set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, previously unseen footage of the band making the film is being shown online.

Drive-By Trucker lifts the lid on his crisis years...