Two weekends ago, Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess brought to life a “virtual cafe” called Tim Peaks Diner at the UK’s Kendal Calling 2012 festival and invited some of his favorite musicians to play. Here we see Burgess and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame backing up Edwyn Collins on his1995 solo hit “A Girl Like You.”

The Charlatans this spring continue their somewhat haphazard reissue campaign by following up expanded editions of 1990 debut ‘Some Friendly’ and 1999’s ‘Us and Us Only’ with a double-disc re-release of 1997’s ‘Tellin’ Stories’ — which will be followed by four performances of the album in the U.K. this June.

The buzz about a possible reunion of The Stone Roses built over the weekend, with no official denial from the band’s members and seeming confirmation from friends such as Shaun Ryder and Tim Burgess — plus fresh rumors that not only are the Roses mounting a series of concerts, but recording a new album as well.

Slicing Up Eyeballs recently chatted with Peter Hook about his upcoming tour of the U.S., during which he’ll perform Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’; the acrimonious split of Freebass; and his plans to re-record classic Joy Division tracks for a new EP.

When Peter Hook’s Freebass finally released last spring’s debut EP, ‘Two Worlds Collide,’ on CD last week, the band also issued a digital-only EP featuring five new mixes of the Tim Burgess-sung ‘You Don’t Know This About Me’ by longtime New Order collaborator Arthur Baker.

Less than a month after dropping its debut EP, Peter Hook’s triple-bass supergroup Freebass — which also features The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its five-years-in-the-making album, ‘It’s a Beautiful Life.’

Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook’s long-gestating Freebass — a triple-bass supergroup featuring The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary “Mani” Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its debut EP and will make its official live debut in London and Manchester in June.