News making lots of people here at HQ very very happy: Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (ummm… every band ever), and John Paul Jones (Zeppelin!) have linked arms to become Them Crooked Vultures.

These guys made their live debut on the final night of Lollapollooza at the Metro in Chicago, and people around the globe have been breaking into manic sweaty air-drumming fits and salivating at the sum total of 33sec of audio we’ve been handed.

Check out a sneak peek of the guys in the studio. The track is Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I.

What does this have to do with us at theinsound you ask? Well, Josh worked with the Arctic Monkeys in the Mojave Desert on their new album Humbug (out this Friday)… OK it’s a long shot but I’m excited about Josh and Dave playing together!

We’ve blogged about the Homme & Turner connection previously, but now everyone has had a chance to hear the heavy tripped-out QOTSA influence all over Humbug… Listen to the backing vocals on Potion Approaching from the Monkeys’ July Web Transmission. 2:08-3:08 is straight off the Desert Sessions 9&10, don’t ya think?

You don’t really expect someone called “Danger Mouse” to create tunes as charming as this… But the duo of Helena Costas and Danger Mouse make up Joker’s Daughter, and the music is – simply put – lovely.

Their debut album The Last Laugh includes the georgeous single Lucid, the video of which directed by Hayley Morris who recently won Best Animated Short at the Sundance Film Festival.

The band are also giving away their track Under The Influence Of Jaffa Cake (let’s face it, who hasn’t been under it’s sweet-orangey influence??). Click on the arrow button the right hand side of the above widget to download.

Here’s that video for Lucid too…

Jamie’s 2nd single from his album Kings & Queens due out September 11 titled Chaka Demus is already on Triple J and Nova Brisbane (cos they know good music when they hear it! Here’s the video:

…and Jamie’s album is now available on iTunes for pre-order. If you can’t wait he’s also got a cool 4-track EP due August 28 digitally, I’m listening to it now and love the funky 2nd track Forget Me Not.

Today in Brisbane I got to have some fun with my key accounts as I went out and talked about the biggest musical event ever… The Beatles remastered..

I had some great fun with these accounts and the excitement is really starting to kick in….To celebrate this monumental event it seemed like a good excuse to “frock up” for the part (not that I need much cajoling to throw on a Beatles outfit at the best of times)

These accounts were all kind enough to get involved in some pictures which I have added below… I can also say that the outfit made getting a coffee in the Valley this morning a whole new experience.

Chances of seeing me in this outfit again on the 09 09 09 is approximately 100%!

The greatest band of all time and they are on EMI… HELL YEAH

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Jet have a SayNow account where they will be leaving messages and you can leave messages for them!  The Australian number is (02) 8014 4829.  To find out more hit www.saynow.com/jet

If you call from your mobile phone, you’ll get a text message letting you know whenever they send a voice message. They’ve already left 5 voicemails, some straight from the tour-van! SayNow is free, but your phone company may charge for air time or text messages depending on the plan you have.

Don’t forget SHAKA ROCK is out THIS Friday! Pre-order it on iTunes.

Empire of the Sun’s global smash Walking On A Dream evokes mental images of swaying palm trees and waves crashing on some distant futuristic shoreline dotted with hyper-coloured skyscrapers. Much like this skyline in Shanghai:

image courtesy of ninjawil

… which incidentally is exactly where the vid for Walking On A Dream was filmed.

The Kate Miller Heidke cover version however gives the song a totally different feel… heartbreaking, quiet, gentle, dare we say… fragile?

Whaddya think of her cover? The reaction on Perez site is mixed…

In little under 2 hours, triple j will broadcast the brand new Arctic Monkeys album Humbug in full. Tune it at 8pm for your 60min fix before anyone else in the world (yep, this is a worldwide radio premiere!)

WE’VE already listened to Humbug, and guarantee ya it’s dark, heavy, sweaty, swaggering, and exactly the type of thing you’d expect a few Brit lads to stumbling out of the Mojave Desert with Josh Homme to have concocted…

If you miss the full broadcast, don’t fear as Humbug is the feature album on triple j all week.

The Little Idiot AKA Moby (we’re not being mean, that’s his own name for the l’il guy below) is giving away the title track from his new album Wait For Me via Soundcloud. Cheers mate!

To download it, hit the arrow button on the right-hand-side of the audio player. If you like what you hear, you can get the album in full from iTunes etc.

And just a reminder that the man himself will be gracing Australian shores this December for the Sunset Sounds & Falls Fests. Epic N-Y-Eves will be had.

Last night I found myself in Studio 4 of Fox Studios, transported to another place. The set that resembled something like a Stanley Kubrick film. Design references that sprang to mind were Future/Minimalist/Maximalist/80’s and Outerspace (!)

The refrains of a new remix of Without You greeted me on arrival and remnants of dry ice were spilling out from the edges of the studio door.

Yep… it was the shoot for Video #4 from Empire Of The Sun… and, whisper it, it just might be their finest video yet.

It’s beautifully out-of-this-world and takes the whole Empire aesthetic somewhere else. This one is purely studio – not exotic location and with the direction change in song and tempo will reveal another side to the Empire Of The Sun story.

Luke looks part human, part alien and part-Bowie. He’s in great spirits and is raving about the live show. It can’t come quick enough for me.

The wait will be worth it.

Luke Steele is a proper artist. The kind that, when I was a kid watching Countdown, I dreamed of working with. He’s like some exotic artistic creature beamed in from another star.

Chuggy gives us an intimate look behind the scenes of the upcoming Pearl Jam, Ben Harper & Relentless7 and Liam Finn tour on Pearl Jam TV… here’s the first chapter in the series. The episodes, will go live at www.pearljamtour.tv every Sunday and on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and iTunes. The eps will cover every part of the massive tour – the fans, venues, retrospectives, album previews and more.

Tickets went on sale 9am this morning:

• Sydney / Adelaide / Brisbane – Ticketek
• Melbourne / Perth – Ticketmaster

Fans also have the opportunity to purchase a tour bundle which will include digital versions of Ben Harper & Relentless 7’s White Lies for Dark Times album, the new EP from Liam Finn with Eliza Jane, Champagne In Seashells, and pre-ordering Pearl Jam’s new album Backspacer for an additional AUD$31 on top on the ticket price.