News: Interpol, Babyshambles, Pharoahe Monch, Beasties, Kraftwerk

Last month the tight-lipped boys in Interpol claimed that they were close to finishing their new album but revealed nothing more, but this last week has seen a torrent of new information spew forth from the NY indie rockers. Entitled ‘Our Love to Admire’ the LP will be released via Capitol on July 10th and will be preceded by single ‘The Heinrich Maneuver’ on May 7th. Full info.

Babyshambles’ follow up to their 2005 debut ‘Down in Albion’ looks to be on more of a collaborative tip than the previous effort. Currently in negotiations with Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder and good pal Amy Winehouse bassist Drew McConnell explained: “(Amy’s) a friend of ours. The Shaun Ryder one is in negotiation at the moment. Our people are talking to their people hopefully… we’ll see what happens.”

Legendary ex-Organized Konfusion MC Pharoahe Monch also has a new album scheduled for a summer release. The long awaited follow up to 1999’s superior Internal Affairs will be released via SRC/Universal on June 26th. Entitled ‘Desire’ the LP features production from Black Milk, Alchemist, vocal spots from Erykah Badu and with a brilliant cover of PE’s ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ Pharoahe’s got his Chuck D impersonation down to a fine art.

There must be something in the water this week as the Beastie Boys have also unveiled details of their forthcoming album. Fans disappointed with their last LP’s stripped down old skool hip hop stylings will be happy to hear that they’re heading back in more of a rock direction this time round, harking back to the style of Check Your Head. Speaking to NME Mike D explained: "We play instruments on the whole album, as opposed to sampling. There's more rock on there. If you know us you can trace the influences and they're not completely surprising… It might make you flip your wig right off, or your hairpiece, if you're a casual listener.”

Kraftwerk are offering a free download of their classic track ‘Radioactivity’ in support of the Stop-Rokkasho organisation. The anti-nuclear campaigners are spreading awareness of the dangers imposed by nuclear reprocessing, specifically Japan’s Rokkasho-mura reprocessing plant. The track can be streamed and downloaded from Stop-Rokkasho’s website and is also available via the Stop-Rokkasho Podcast on iTunes.