Guardian Music — They've gone from playing in a sandpit together as kids to producing the most critically acclaimed album of 2009. Alexis Petridis meets the xx, the band quietly taking over the worldThe band behind 2009's most critically acclaimed album sit huddled ... more info

Totally Fuzzy — Bruxa do Vinil said... Olivia Hime - Máscara (1983) Feat: Céu da Boca - coro Francis Hime - piano Yamaha, piano, voice Celso Woltzenlogel - flute Paulo Guimarães - flute Marçal - percussion Chiquinho do Acordeon - accordion Edmundo Maci... more info

Rolling Stone — Thirty years ago today, a fledgling unnamed band of University of Georgia kids performed their very first concert at a friend’s birthday party. That date was April 5th, 1980, that band was eventually called R.E.M. Fast forward three decades and 14 ... more info

Pop Candy — Thirty years ago today, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry began an incredible journey together in Athens, Ga. more info

The Good, The Bad and The Unknown — I know I'm a couple weeks behind on this news. I was out of town...and wanted to give it some time before jumping on the bandwagon.Alex Chilton may be more famous for being the name of a Replacements song rather than the lead singer of the 70s rock ... more info

NME — Row breaks out over chart topping REM cover more info

Pitchfork — Photo by Brian Leli Right now, Portland bookworms the Decemberists are in the studio, hard at work on their sixth album. And this time around, they'll have at least one pretty serious guest: R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. Last week, Decemberists frontm... more info

The Music Fix — News Flash: Midlanders 'frantically disembowel American alt-rock' it sez here. Good lads!Max Raptor issue 'The Great and The Good' on download on 26 April. The track has been produced by Sam Bell, whose studio credits include Bloc Party, REM, Snow Pa... more info

The Music Fix — Capsule Review: Robyn Hitchcock winds it up.The poet of weird returns with one of his more fully realised albums in a long while, Propeller Time. With a whole host of guest musicians including R.E.M.'s Pete Buck, Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellow... more info

Guardian Music — Evan Dando, REM's Mike Mills and many more joined the surviving members of Big Star for a memorial gig to the band's Alex Chilton, who died on WednesdayAlex Chilton may have missed his concert at SXSW on Saturday, but his friends were there, celebrat... more info