Rock iconoclast Lou Reed next month will issue a digitally remastered edition of his oft-derided 1975 guitar-feedback opus Metal Machine Music on a trio of audiophile formats, and mark the occasion by taking his Metal Machine Trio to Europe for a brief tour billed as “A Night of Deep Noise.”

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?

Florida-based record label 24 Hour Service Station next month will release a two-disc tribute to New Order, proceeds from which will benefit the Salford Foundation Trust’s Tony Wilson Awards, established in memory of the late Factory Records co-founder and Manchester musical icon.

Crowded House this spring will release its second album since reuniting in 2007, an 11-track, as-yet-untitled disc that Neil Finn and Co. will support with a just-announced tour of the United Kingdom in May and June and a slot at the famed Isle of Wight Festival.

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.

Reformed ska legends The Specials will make their first U.S. appearance in nearly 30 years with a performance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on April 12 before playing the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and three other stateside dates — all in advance of a full North American tour later in 2010, according to Billboard.com. So far, only an April 21 date at New York’s Terminal 5 has been announced, but two more shows are expected in April around the band’s previously announced California festival date, Billboard reports.

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, reissues and/or box sets. This week sees new releases from David Bowie, The Other Two, The Beat Farmers, Hurrah!, Big Country and Rain Parade.

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 With the second season of “Spectacle” wrapping up at the end of this month, host Elvis Costello is returning to the road this spring […]

Tweet Kristin Hersh today announced she’s begun work on a new Throwing Muses album, and is both letting fans in on the creative process by […]

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 Today we launch a new feature called Milestones — which looks back at important events or releases in the ’80s college-rock pantheon — with […]

Tweet Core Jane’s Addiction members Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins are writing new material for what would be the band’s first album since […]