Damon Albarn last night [October 1] performed a secret, last-minute show with soul singer Bobby Womack at the Notting Hill Arts Club. The impromptu gig was announced via the XL Recordings Twitter account on Friday evening [October 29], and followers were invited to email for the chance to win tickets.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has confirmed that the metallers will start work on their new album "soon". The band, who are currently working on a 3D film project, which is helmed by Predators director Nimród Antal, will start work on the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic soon, Hammett told Rolling Stone. Following drummer Lars Ulrich's comments that the band already had "tons of ideas sitting around", he said:

Johnny Marr's manager, Joe Moss, has flatly denied any truth in the latest Smiths reunion rumours, telling NME: "It isn't happening. We are fully focused on preparing Johnny's new album for release and booking shows for 2013." Yesterday (October 1), celebrity gossip site Holy Moly created an online buzz by posting an article claiming "several credible sources" had confirmed that The Smiths would reform for four 2013 shows, including Glastonbury Festival.

Boxing Day, 1967, and The Beatles’ new film, something called Magical Mystery Tour, is about to be shown for the first time, broadcast by the BBC, fans looking forward to what surely will be a highlight of the Christmas television schedules, a welcome respite to those of a certain age from the usual seasonal fare of old movies and light entertainment, all that stuff that they usually show to keep the old folks happy over the holidays.

I interviewed James Murphy in late 2006, for a preview piece about The Sound Of Silver, the second album by his band, LCD Soundsystem.

With The Beatles set to reissue their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, previously unseen footage of the band making the film is being shown online.

Drive-By Trucker lifts the lid on his crisis years...

Led Zeppelin have announced four film premieres for their Celebration Day concert film. The film, which documents the band's 2007 reunion show at London's O2 Arena, will make its cinema debut at the Ziegfield Theater in New York on October 9 before similar premieres in London, Berlin and Tokyo. Prior to the New York premiere, founding members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones will be joined by Jason Bonham, the son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, at a press conference at New York's Museum of Art.

The Black Keys have confirmed that a new album is "definitely gonna happen next year". The duo will start work on the follow up their eigth album, 2011's El Camino, early next year. In an interview with CBS Local, drummer Patrick Carney, who recently married his long-term girlfriend, said: "It [an album] is definitely gonna happen in 2013. It’s just a matter of how long it takes us to make the album and deciding when we want to get back on the road."

Back from the bargain bin, a lost piece of southern-soul-baring...