Stereogum — Michael Stipe takes us on a brief studio tour to watch he and R.E.M. work on their forthcoming album with Jacknife Lee. The clips are short, but they give a sense of the sound. (The 31 second mark of clip #2 might also give you a heart attack.) Enter... more info

Songs:Illinois — The Pantones are a Lansing, Michigan based band that ably mixes americana with power pop. I’m up for checking out any band that styles it’s music after both the Byrds and REM. On the new record Inside The Sun’s Wild Flame they combine pedal st... more info

Guardian Music — When Shirley Bassey sang Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, she can have had little idea that her own career would demonstrate the same longevity.Today Bassey, 72, re-entered the album charts with her first album of original material in 20 years. The albu... more info

The Vinyl Villain — Having become highly popular in the first half of 1979 with an album and singles originally released back in 1978, there was a huge amount of interest in the new material that was going to be released by The Police.In September 1979 they unleashed a... more info

Live Daily — If anyone was wondering how R.E.M. [ tickets ] went from the brooding, disappointing murk of 2004’s “Around the Sun” to the urgent, clarion call, return-to-form of 2008’s “Accelerate,â�... more info

Live Daily — Plus: Foo Fighters [ tickets ], Andrea Bocelli [ tickets ], more * * * Carrie Underwood [ tickets ] "Play On" (Sony) The multiplatinum country star, who came to fame by besting the competition during the fourth season of "American Idol" in 20... more info

Chorus.fm — *Ian Crawford (http://myspace.com/iancrawfordmusic)* (formely of *The Cab (http://myspace.com/thecab)*) has posted a cover or *REM's (http://remhq.com)* "Losing My Religion" on his myspace (http://myspace.com/iancrawfordmusic) Submitted by Hannah95 more info

NME — The REM frontman watches the band in Paris more info

Pop Tarts Suck Toasted — In the next few weeks there will be some ridiculous Greatest Hits collections going on sale. I have no problem with the Foo Fighters getting one, they've been doing their thing for a while now and have had some very solid singles over the year, and t... more info

LargeHeartedBoy — R.E.M.'s live album, Live at the Olympia (2-CD), finally hits stores tomorrow, along with Devendra Banhart's major label debut What Will Be and The Swell Season's Strict Joy. From what has already been sent my way, I can strongly... more info