May 10th, 2010

Beginning today, NPR Music offers advance album streams of new records from The Black Keys, Crooked Still, The Claudia Quintet, Harvey Milk and Tracey Thorn. All of the albums are available for free, on-demand listening now until their release on May 18 at www.npr.org/music as part of the site’s “Exclusive First Listen” series.

British electro duo La Roux, led principally by singer Eleanor Jackson, have announced details of a large US tour to take place over the next few months, and have also released details of an EP, ‘Bulletproof: The Gold EP‘, which is set to be issued digitally on May 11th through Cherrytree/Interscope Records. The announcement comes as the lead track ‘Bulletproof‘ is revealed to be at #22 on the US Top 40 Airplay Chart.

Our friends at ZANI recently interviewed one of rock’s most intriguing front men ever - Ian Astbury of The Cult. He discusses the future of music, UNKLE, Damien Hirst, Hip Hop, Filmmaking, The Cult, The Doors and much more.

“When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets”.

James Joyce – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Your place of origin is an important piece of our psychosocial make up. It shapes our views, religion, behaviour and attitude. Staying loyal to your roots is commendable and the heritage of your municipality is passed down to the next generation, creating a sense of worth and pride.

Gorillaz are set to play a 5 gig run in large UK arenas this September.

The “Escape To Plastic Beach‘ tour tour will start out on September 10th in Brimingham. Damon Albarn’s lads will then play in Newcastle, Manchester and end the mini tour with 2 shows at London’s O2 Arena.

John Lennon snacking on Paul McCartney – WTF? If all goes as planned, you’ll be delighted to know that this scenario will come alive on the silver screen. Film bosses have grabbed the rights to a book which has the Fab Four lurking in the shadows with an insatiable appetite for flesh. The book ‘Paul is Undead‘ actually has John Lennon taking a bite out of band mate Paul McCartney.

Darwin Deez has certainly stamped his musical mark upon 2010 and, following the completion this week of the NME Radar tour, he will return this summer to make a string of high profile festival appearances, including T In The Park, Wireless, Latitude, Truck, Jersey, Underage, Secret Garden, Greenman, Bestival and a Roundhouse performance for the iTunes Festival with yet more to be announced.

With the free show fully subscribed, the excitement builds as Rage Against the Machine prepare to play their promised free concert at Finsbury Park in London on Sunday the 6th June.

The Rage Factor guests have now been confirmed, providing a varied and exciting line up for the day’s celebration.

Celebrated UK trio Keane will embark on a headlining US tour this summer in support of their new album Night Train, out tomorrow on Cherrytree/Interscope Records. The tour kicks off July 20th in Oakland, CA and sees the band traveling across the country, wrapping up August 11th in Minneapolis. Tickets go on sale May 14th. Tour dates below. Supporting the tour will be Travis frontman Fran Healy and Ingrid Michaelson.

Here you’ll find all the latest news from this week’s UK Album and Singles Charts, as well as Live4ever’s highlights taken from some of our featured tours going on in a major city near you over the next 7 days.