It’s not much, but this 30-second promo for the Gorillaz’s forthcoming Plastic Beach is kind of exciting: It offers an all-too-fleeting glimpse of The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon recording together for the first time since 1982’s Combat Rock.

Brit DJ/producer Tim Simenon’s alter ego Bomb the Bass returns in the coming weeks with both a brand-new album — Back to Light, only the act’s second full-length in the last 15 years — and an expanded reissue of its game-changing 1988 debut Into the Dragon.

Norwegian pop giants a-ha will bring their worldwide 2010 farewell tour to the United States for three concerts in New York and Los Angeles in May — a short trek that marks just the second time the trio will have performed on American soil since 1986.

Music fans up north have been treated this month to a new documentary series on Bravo! Canada called “Innovators in Music” that profiles artists from different disciplines, including, next month, legendary noise-rockers Sonic Youth.

Today, Trent Reznor dug a few gems out of his archives, posting high-def videos of four June 23, 2006, radio performances he taped in Boston with Peter Murphy during Nine Inch Nails’ 2006 With Teeth tour.

Last year’s six-string doc “It Might Get Loud” was a must-see for fans of U2’s The Edge, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin or The White Stripes’ Jack White — or anyone, really, who appreciates loud rock guitar. The film’s out on DVD now, and here’s one of the deleted scenes that appears as bonus on the disc: It’s four minutes’ worth of The Edge soundchecking solo, running through concert staples “Until the End of the World,” “Pride (In the Name of Love”) and “Bad” alone on guitar, with just the aid of his foot-triggered console of effects.

Is Steve Jobs a big fan of The Cure? Someone at Apple apparently is, since the company used an piano-based cover of the band’s 1985 single “Inbetween Days” — which attentive Slicing Up Eyeballs readers now report is performed by Ben Folds — to soundtrack its eight-minute promo video for the just unveiled iPad tablet computer. Wonder whether Robert Smith will make a pretty penny in royalties off this one?

Last week saw the release Turn Ons, the debut album from The Hot Rats, aka Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of Brit pop-rockers Supergrass. We’d be remiss for not mentioning this album, since a.) Supergrass is a superb band, and, b.) the record features covers by the likes of Gang of Four, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Roxy Music and The Cure. In the case of that last act, check out the clip above to see the Hot Rats perform a fuzzed-out version of Robert Smith and Co.’s 1983 single “The Lovecats” at last year’s Glastonbury Festival. It’s the grooviest thing.

Three members of disbanded Aussie rock powerhouse Midnight Oil — drummer Rob Hirst and guitarists Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey — and ex-Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie this week announced the formation of The Break, a mostly instrumental surf-rock combo whose debut is due this spring.

Tweet The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon have reunited on record for the first time since 1982’s Combat Rock, each contributing to the title […]

Tweet Few things are more reminiscent of ’80s pop culture than the type of celebrity do-goodery that sprouted up in the aftermath of the earthquake […]

Tweet David Byrne and Fatboy Slim next month finally will release Here Lies Love, the duo’s long-gestating, star-laden 22-track concept album about former Filipino first […]