Artist: Judi Chicago
Songs: 'Mad Ape'
Album: Judi Chicago x 1,000,000 [iTunes]
Sounds Like: Radio 4, The Rapture

Download: 'Mad Ape'(MP3)

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Artist: Dr. Dog
Songs: 'The Old Days'
Album: 'Fate' [iTunes]
Sounds Like: Mother Hips, My Morning Jacket

Download: 'The Old Days' (MP3)

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Artist: 31 Knots
Songs: 'Compass Commands'
Album: 'Worried Well' [iTunes]
Sounds Like: Devo, Sonic Youth

Download: 'Compass Commands' (MP3)

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It's 2008, but it sure sounds like '90s all over again with records dropping from the Lemonheads, Matthew Sweet and the Dandy Warhols in the coming months. Portland's psychedelic rock quartet are back in full swing with 'Earth to Dandy Warhols,' the bands sixth album. The record will surface on August 19, but you get a taste of the band's updated and untamed eclectic sound on 'The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers aka The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty.' Download the tune after the jump and check out tour dates.

After a nine-year split, the newly reunited Verve -- best known here for their 1997 hit 'Bittersweet Symphony' -- are gearing up for a European tour and the release of their fourth album, the aptly titled 'Forth.' The band's energetic first single, 'Love is Noise,' features a dark dance beat underlying Richard Ashcroft's bittersweet lyrics. Have a listen.



Check out the Verve's tour dates after the jump.

Artist: The Heavenly Tenants
Songs: 'Fifteen'
Album: 'The Heavenly Tenants' EP
Sounds Like: Blake Babies, Velocity Girl, The Rentals

Download: 'FIfteen' (MP3)

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Oasis will release their first album in three and a half years when they put forth 'Dig Out Your Soul' on October 7. Recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London with producer Dave Sardy, the band's seventh studio disc, and first since 2005's 'Don't Believe The Truth,' will be preceded by a single, 'The Shock of Lightning.'

"I wanted to write music that had a groove, not songs that followed that traditional pattern of verse, chorus and middle eight," Oasis' guitarist and principal songwriter Noel Gallagher said of the new material. "I wanted a sound that was more hypnotic; more driving. Songs that would draw you in, in a different way. Songs that you would maybe have to connect to – to feel."

As for the 'The Shock of Lightning' – which is described as "unmistakably Oasis" and features singer Liam Gallagher's "immediately familiar voice" – Noel called the single "instant and compelling because it was written dead fast and recorded dead fast".

"[It's] basically the demo," Oasis' creative force adds. "And it has retained its energy. There's a lot to be said for that, I think. The first time you record something is always the best."

Ah, the 17th anniversary -- a milestone one tends to hold with high regard. It's suggested that furniture is the best gift for such an occasion, so all you Smashing Pumpkins fans should keep that in mind as the band celebrates the 17th anniversary of the release of their debut album, 'Gish.'

According to a sparse posting on the Pumpkins' official website, the band -- now officially down to frontman/brainchild Billy Corgan and loyal drummer Jimmy Chamberlain -- will reissue the effort "sometime in 2008" and launch a full tour this year, where the band will play the original disc in its entirety to celebrate the unconventional milestone.

In addition to a box set of both pre-'Gish' and 'Gish'-era material, the Pumpkins plan to celebrate twenty years together (although sans original guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy for the last decade or so) with an array of outtakes, rarities, demos, live tunes and the like.

Specifics are scant, however, with SmashingPumpkins.com saying: "What is to be included on here, no one knows for sure." In May, Corgan and Chamberlains announced a forthcoming DVD chronicling the band's 2007 residency at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Artist: The Wombats
Songs: 'Let's Dance to Joy Division'
Album: 'A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation' [iTunes]
Sounds Like: The Futureheads, The Maccabees

Download: 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' (MP3)

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Weezer will bolster the formal U.K. release of 'Pork and Beans' on Monday with cover versions of legendary songs by R.E.M., the Psychedelic Furs and Gary Numan. In a shrewd move, the Rivers Cuomo-fronted band will unveil one CD single -- featuring Numan's 1979 Tubeway Army classic 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' -- plus two 7" vinyl offerings, with takes on the Furs 1982 classic 'Love My Way' and R.E.M's 1987 track 'Oddfellows Local 151,' respectively.

Meanwhile, Weezer's promotional 'Hootenany Tour' of the West Coast continues this week, with private, radio station sponsored shows open to contest winners only in Portland (6/19), San Francisco (6/20), Seattle (6/21) and Century City (6/23). Tuesday in Phoenix , the group rocked 200 fans at the American Legion Post 41, and peppered the short, six-song set with a cover of Radiohead's 'Creep.'

In related news, Weezer's resident Gary Numan devotee, drummer Pat Wilson -- who has been absent from most Hootenany dates -- will appear at Monday's show in Century City, California, before undergoing minor knee surgery to correct an injury he suffered while playing basketball with actor Johnny Knoxville.

Artist: RZA as Bobby Digital
Song: 'Straight Up The Block' feat. David Banner
Album: 'Digi Snax' [Amazon]

Sounds Like: Mobb Deep, GZA

Download: 'Straight Up The Block' feat. David Banner (MP3)

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U2 fans should expect a new album before the year's out, according to manager Paul McGuinness. When pressed for details, McGuinness told the BBC the release date for the group's first album in four years was "not clear yet but I would think towards the end of October."

One thing's for sure -- U2 will not follow Radiohead's recent decision to offer 'In Rainbows' on a pay-what-you-like basis, saying the move "to some extent backfired." Although that album -- which was placed online in October -- went straight to number one in the UK and U.S. when it became formally available on CD in January, the internet monitoring company Comscore said only 38% of 'In Rainbows' downloaders willingly paid.

"We will obviously work with whatever technology is available to make the release of the new record as interesting as possible," McGuinness told BBC 6. "[But] for U2, physical sales are still an enormous part of our business and we still sell a lot of actual CDs."

Once upon a time -- 2006 to be exact -- Gnarls Barkley turned out a cover of the Violent Femmes' 'Gone Daddy Gone' on their debut album, 'St. Elsewhere.' Now the Femmes are returning the favor by taking on Gnarls' signature track, 'Crazy,' albeit a little (OK, a lot) late to the game. The Femmes, who haven't issued a new studio album since 2000's 'Freak Magnet,' will release the song digitally and on limited edition light blue vinyl through violentandcrazy.com on June 24.

"I might compare it to a calm pond," Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Loo Green says of the Femmes' rendition in a web post. "I caught my reflection in it. And I seemed momentarily at peace. This track sounds entirely different in the rain, and supports some intriguing lilypads."

Um, sure. For a better understanding, the issuing label, L.A. 's the Secret Life of Records, describes it this way: "Like a Morricone style dirge recorded by the Mamas and Papas, Violent Femmes' cover of Gnarls Barkley's infamous 'Crazy' is like nothing you've heard from the legendary alt-rock trio before. Their oft-imitated folk-punk sound is flavored with surf rock guitar and Theremin, creating a tranquility that is somber and otherworldly."

Meanwhile, 'Crazy' has previously been covered by everyone from the Kooks and Nelly Furtado to the Zutons, Ray LaMontagne, Shawn Colvin and the Raconteurs.

AC/DC will follow in the footsteps of the Eagles by making their forthcoming album available exclusively through Wal-Mart. The follow up to 2000's 'Stiff Upper Lip', AC/DC's 15th studio album -- which is due later this year -- was recorded in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen)

The yet-to-be-titled disc will follow in the footsteps of the Eagles' 2007's 'Long Road Out of Eden', the Wall Street Journal reports. That deal called for an order of 3 million units at $10 each, resulting in a $30 million non-refundable payday on the day the album was released. AC/DC's deal with Wal-Mart -- the biggest CD retailer in the -- is reportedly in the same region.

Other acts that have partnered with Wal-Mart for exclusive releases include Garth Brooks and Journey. AC/DC's world tour is expected to start in in early 2009.

Once upon a time, Coldplay teamed with Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue for a little tune called 'Luna.' Sadly, that nugget was left off of Chris Martin and Co.'s new album, 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,' due June 17. Why? We'll let Martin tell it.

"It's just too sexy," Martin told Q Radio, explaining why it didn't make it onto 'Viva'. "At this point we cannot be that sexy. Also, we haven't quite finished it."

"Kylie is particularly brilliant on it," Martin added. "It will 100% see the light of day."

'Luna' is expected to be released as a single in late 2009.

In related news, Coldplay announced plans today broadcast their June 16 live show at London's Brixton Academy live on BBC Radio 1. Fans throughout the globe can stream the show live on the BBC Radio 1 site.