Weekly News Round-Up: Pink Floyd, Slaves, Alt-J and more

Wondering if you’ve missed out on any of the week’s top news stories? Wonder no longer – here Live4ever looks back on ten of the biggest headlines we featured during the last seven days in British music.

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Dave Gilmour has no desire to return to Pink Floyd again, declaring the band ‘done’.

Gilmour, together with drummer Nick Mason, kept the Pink Floyd flame flickering as they revisited the 1994 ‘Division Bell‘ sessions for last year’s ‘The Endless River‘ album, when contributions from the late Richard Wright were also used.

Bloc Party have undergone changes since the release of ‘Four‘ in 2012, and will return soon without original members Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong.

Yet speaking to news.com.au, frontman Kele Okereke has said change was needed in the band, and that he ‘feels better’ for having as-yet-unconfirmed new members on board.

Hurts‘ new single ‘Lights‘ has been shared across various streaming platforms ahead of the release of the duo’s new album ‘Surrender‘ on October 9th.

Hurts teamed up with Vampire Weekend and Haim producer Ariel Rechtshaid during the making of their third album, who was last seen leading Brandon Flowers in a new direction on the Killers frontman’s second solo album ‘The Desired Effect‘.

There’s more music from Richard Hawley‘s forthcoming ‘Hollow Meadows‘ album.

‘Heart Of Oak‘ is the first official single and will be released on September 4th on 7″ and download formats, a short time before ‘Hollow Meadows’ is out on September 11th. It comes after ‘Which Way‘ gave us an early taste of the record last month.

Foals will fulfill a desire to get a little sweaty just before the release of their new album ‘What Went Down‘ at the Village Underground in London.

The band have announced a gig at the venue for August 25th, saying in a statement that they, ‘wanted to play a sweaty London gig around the album release, one where we finally get to play some more new songs’.

Slaves (Photo: Gary Mather for Live4ever)

Slaves will give 2015 a rousing send-off with two newly announced shows for December.

A year which started with the duo being named on the BBC’s Sound Of… longlist, and later included the release of their debut album ‘Are You Satisfied?‘, will now end with a gig at the Brixton Academy in London on December 17th, followed by a hometown show at the Assembly Rooms in Tunbridge Wells a day later.

Alt-J, Little Comets and The Charlatans are amongst those nominated for the fifth annual AIM Independent Music Awards.

Alt-J are up for Independent Video Of The Year, Best Live Act and Independent Track Of The Year, while Little Comets have been recognised as one of the year’s hardest working bands, and will compete for the prize with Courtney Barnett, Jme, Swans and Young Fathers.

Chvrches have set out their November UK tour itinerary, which will include a show with Four Tet in London.

The dates start at the Brighton Dome on November 16th, and visit Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Dundee and Birmingham along the way before the closing night at London’s Alexandra Palace with Four Tet on November 27th.

A new song featuring the poetry of Manchester native Mike Garry and the music of composer Joe Duddell is paying tribute to one of the city’s most enduringly influential musical sons, Anthony Wilson.

Tony Wilson is credited with helping to lay an entire generation’s cultural path through the work of Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub. He died in August 2007.

The Cribs have built a full UK tour around the Glasgow and London dates they announced last month.

Adding to the Glasgow Barrowlands and London Roundhouse gigs on October 20th and 28th respectively are visits to Newcastle, Sheffield, Bristol, Nottingham, Oxford and Portsmouth, all propping up the Jarman brothers’ 2015 album ‘For All My Sisters‘.

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