With its new album ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes’ arriving in stores yesterday, Social Distortion dropped by ‘Conan’ last night to rip through the record’s lead single ‘Machine Gun Blues.’

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival tonight unveiled the official lineup for the April15-17 festival, which will include appearances by Duran Duran, Wire and — in one of the lineup’s biggest surprises — a reunion of Mick Jones’ post-Clash project Big Audio Dynamite.

Tonight’s episode of Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio featured new music by Social Distortion, Camper Van Beethoven’s David Lowery, Gang of Four and the Human League, plus old favorites by The Cure, Johnny Thunders, Orange Juice and more. Rebroadcast at 2 p.m. EST Friday.

Peter Buck is no stranger to jumping on stage for a good jam, so when former Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould swung through Athens, Ga., on July 25, 1990, in support of ‘Black Sheets of Rain,’ the R.E.M. guitarist pitched in on a crunchy cover of Neil Young’s classic-rock staple ‘Cinnamon Girl.’

J Mascis will unplug this spring — or, as Dinosaur Jr bandmate Lou Barlow put it, ‘pretend he’s a peace loving acoustic guy’ — for a just-announced 22-date North American tour in support of his first-ever solo studio album ‘Several Shades of Why.’

With Dinosaur Jr on break, bassist Lou Barlow is shifting focus to a revived Sebadoh, with plans to release expanded reissues of 1994’s ‘Bakesale’ and 1996’s ‘Harmacy’ this year and take the famously lo-fi act out on the road for the ‘Bakesale/Harmacy Remembering Time Tour.’

This week’s new releases include ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,’ the new album from Social Distortion; a 3CD ‘Omnibus’ reissue of The Fall’s ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’; and the vinyl-only ‘Head on the Curb,’ a collection of Mudhoney outtakes and demos.

Last October, Sonic Youth ventured to Austin, Texas, to tape a performance for the venerable public-television concert series ‘Austin City Limits’ — an episode, also featuring The Black Keys, that finally debuts next Saturday.

On a recent swing through Los Angeles, Damon Gough — aka Badly Drawn Boy — stopped by Village Studios to record a few songs for the Nic Harcourt-curated blog Live Buzz, including this cover of The Stone Roses classic ‘I Wanna Be Adored.’

Check out the official music video for Crystal Castles’ re-recording of ‘Not In Love’ featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith on lead vocals.

After nearly 30 years as a bandleader — first fronting Camper Van Beethoven, then Cracker, and, more recently, both — David Lowery next month will release his first-ever solo album, ‘The Palace Guards,’ billed as a ‘batch of songs that didn’t quite fit the vibe of Cracker or Camper Van Beethoven.’

With three tracks off R.E.M.’s forthcoming ‘Collapse Into Now’ — already having made it onto the web, the band today announced the first radio single off the album: the rocker ‘Mine Smell Like Honey.’ Hear it here.

Reunited SST Records vets Meat Puppets today announced they will release their 13th studio album, dubbed ‘Lollipop,’ on April 12 on hard-rock imprint Megaforce Records.