THE FLAMING LIPS ARE BACK SOON!!

THE FLAMING LIPS (www.flaminglips.com) hope to release the long awaited follow-up to their 1999 "THE SOFT BULLETIN" in May 2002. Twelve songs have been recorded so far at the Tarbox Road Studios near New York.

TURBONEGRO ARE BACK!!

Turbonegro are back. The Norwegian festival Quart have offered the deathpunk ensamble enough cash, and they are back! The Quart Festival 2002 is held from July 2 to July 6. The breakup in December 1998 was due to Hank's heroin addiction.

FESTMUSIC 2001 PUNK COMP.

Festmusic just released their 2001 compilation, which has 70 minutes of music from 26 bands. The CD has some unreleased stuff including a Circle Jerks demo track from 8 years ago, and unreleased songs from Nuclear Saturday, Down By Law, Fairlines, Autopilot Off and others.

PUNK ON BBC!!

The BBC is premiering an "underground" punk rock show, "The Lockup", on January 7. The show will feature indie and punk acts, the first one of which will include Bad Religion doing live cuts off their forthcoming album.

LONG AWAITED THE BREEDERS ALBUM!!

The Breeders are set to release their long awaited third album (follow up to "Last Splash") in February 2002. The album is produced by one Steve Albini (no, never heard of him). The band, who scored a worldwide hit in 1993 with "Cannonball" are built around the core of sisters Kim (ex-Pixies) and Kelley Deal.

DAVID BOWIE QUIT VIRGIN RECORDS

David Bowie has quit Virgin Records complaining; "too many years of bumping heads with the corporate structure". Bowie has now set up his own independent record label, ISO. The label, based in New York and London, has already signed two other unnamed artists.

JOEY RAMONE COVERS LOUIS ARMSTRONG!!

Joey Ramone's cover of the Louis Armstrong classic "What A Wonderful World" will be released in the U.S. early next year. The track is taken from his forthcoming solo album, "Don't You Worry About Me". The album was completed three months before he lost his battle with lymphotic cancer. The album also contains a cover of The Stooges "1969".