There’s a Youtube clip of Ryuichi Sakamoto, dressed in black hunched over a piano playing the piece of music he is most famous for – “Forbidden Colours”, from the film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. It is, I guess, the idea of Sakamoto we’re most familiar with – the artist, his instrument of choice, the music he is playing both delicate and fluid.

The announcement by The Damned that they'll be playing the London Forum in April to celebrate Captain Sensible's 60th birthday and tickets for it will cost what they would have in 1977 has caused a lot of excitement among the band's venerabe fans and reminded me of the following mad escapade from that lively year.

Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey reveal all about their new collaborative album in the upcoming issue of Uncut, dated April 2014 and out on Friday (February 28).

UK DVD debut for Right Stuff director Philip Kaufman’s cantankerous anti-western...

Pussy Riot have debuted a video for their track "Putin Will Teach You To Love The Motherland". The Russian punk collective unveiled the video yesterday (February 20) in response to the aggressive treatment they have received in Sochi. It was reported earlier this week that members of the group, including Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were attacked by both uniformed Cossacks and security men as they attempted to perform in the Russian city, where the Winter Olympics are currently taking place.

Suede will release two brand new CD and 7” single box sets featuring all 24 Suede singles from 1992 – 2013 on April 14. The CD Singles box set will feature nearly every Suede b-side across all previous formats of each single, including a number of hard to find tracks that were omitted from the 2011 reissues. The box also includes for the first time CD singles of the three Bloodsports era singles and B-sides from 2013. The sets are limited to 1000 copies worldwide each.

St Vincent releases her self-titled fourth album on Monday (February 24) – here, from the Uncut archives (October 2012, Take 185), is a reminder of Annie Clark’s last project – Love This Giant, created with David Byrne. Gather round, then, as Byrne and Clark reveal the secrets of a successful art-rock team-up, swish parties at the French Ambassador’s residence, and being “allergic to cymbals”... Words: Peter Shapiro ___________________

Jim Jarmusch, speaking in the new issue of Uncut, recalls a run-in with Neil Young when the pair were collaborating on Jarmusch’s 1995 Dead Man film.

Beck has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to record the theme tune to hit US TV series Mad Men.

Neil Young has announced two solo acoustic shows. These follow on from his run of shows in January at New York's Carnegie Hall and his recent 'Honor The Treaties' shows in Canada. Young will play the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30.