Pete And The Pirates have announced a special homecoming show set for this Sunday (July 27). The free gig will be held at the Oakford Social Club, Reading, and will be an acoustic performance. Doors open at 4pm. The band is currently in the midst of a European tour.

CSS have announced dates for a forthcoming UK tour. Lovefoxx and co. are set to kick off their tour on October 5th in support of their sophomore album ‘Donkey‘ which was released July 21 (July 22 in the US). The Brazilian band are set to play dates in Sheffield, London and Manchester among others.

Devendra Banhart has recruited girlfriend Natalie Portman for his new music video. The video for the single ‘Carmensita‘ stars the Hollywood actress as a princess who is held captive by an evil king and must be rescued by a bearded prince, played by Banhart. The video, which is embedded below, includes dancing, subtitles and sword fights.

Banhart is currently in the midst of a tour supporting his latest album ‘Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon‘.

Joan As A Police Woman is set for a US tour this summer. The eleven date tour will be kicking off in Philadelphia on September 5 and will continue through several major cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle before wrapping up on September 25 in New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

The Kooks have mapped out details for a UK tour this winter. The jaunt will begin on November 28th in Bridlington Spa and will continue through several cities. Among the dates are three consecutive nights at the London Roundhouse from December 1st to the 3rd.

TV On The Radio have revealed more details about their forthcoming album. ‘Dear Science,‘, which is the follow-up to 2006’s ‘Return To Cookie Mountain‘, is set for release on September 22 in the UK and the following day, September 23, in the US. The band also recently announced a US tour to kick off on September 5th in Portland, OR. and wrap up with an appearance at the Treasure Island Festival in San Francisco on September 20.

The Rumble Strips have announced details for their first US tour this fall. The month long tour is set to kick off on October 4 in Philadelphia and will include stops in several major cities including Washington, New Orleans, San Diego and Chicago before wrapping-up at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on November 1. The band was previously set to tour the US with Cold War Kids last year but had to cancel due to issues with their visas.

Goldfrapp have announced dates for a forthcoming North American tour. The six date tour will kick off on September 12 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and will continue through Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco before wrapping up at the Orpheum in Los Angeles on September 21.

In other Goldfrapp news, the band is set to release the ‘Caravan Girl‘ Digital EP on July 22. The EP includes a live acoustic version of ‘Monster Love’ and an Animal Collective remix of ‘Little Bird’. They are also slated to release an iTunes Original Session compilation in August. The session will include new versions of ‘Strict Machine’, ‘Ooh La La’ and ’Paper Bag’, among others.

Tokyo Police Club have mapped out US dates in support of their debut album ‘Elephant Shell‘ which was released in May. The tour is set to kick off in September with a performance in Baltimore, MD on September 8. The twelve date jaunt will be wrapping up with an appearance at the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans on October 25.

The Enemy have mapped out their first ever US tour. Their jaunt will kick off with an appearance at this year’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, IL on August 1st and will run through August 11th where they will play the Bowery Ballroom in New York. The band is also set for dates in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

CSS highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘Donkey‘, just got a whole lot better for fans Stateside. Fans who pre-order the album, which is due out July 22 in the US via Sub Pop, will receive a three-song bonus CD-R with two tracks not found on ‘Donkey‘, as well as a demo version of the track ‘I Fly‘ from the new album. Only those who head over to the Sup Pop web store before the release will get the bonus disc, so go there fast.

CSS will also be bringing their Donkey love to the US when they kick off the North American leg of their tour July 30 in Minneapolis, MN.

The Last Shadow Puppets have just added dates to their forthcoming UK tour. Alex Turner and Miles Kane are now set to play four extra shows (Wolverhampton, Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds) when they kick off their tour next month. Supporting the band on their European tour will be Ipso Facto.

The Duke Spirit are in the midst of their US tour which continued last night with a free performance at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The UK rockers have lined up a slew of US dates including performances in San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Detroit. Fans who can’t go to a live show can see the band perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Tuesday, July 22. The band is also taking part in the Download Festival series of shows which will see them perform in Mountain View, CA, Los Angeles, CA and Camden, NJ.

In other Duke Spirit news, the band just released a new video for their track ‘Lasso‘. Video embedded below.

Bright Eyes‘ frontman Conor Oberst kicked off his massive world tour Wednesday (July 16) in Brazil. The singer is touring in support of his forthcoming self-titled album, his first solo album in over 13 years. Oberst, along with his newly formed Mystic Valley Band, are set to play dates in Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and London among many, many more. Accompanying Oberst on several dates will be Jenny Lewis and Evangelicals. ‘Conor Oberst‘ is set for release August 4 in the UK via Wichita and August 5 in the US via Merge.

Vampire Weekend are gearing up for a tour of the UK this October. Coming off playing several festivals including T In The Park and Oxygen the band is ready for some headlining shows. They will kick off their tour at the Birmingham Academy on October 20.

The Rascals have mapped out a UK tour to set for September. Miles Kane and co. are set to begin their expedition with consecutive performances at The Picket in their hometown of Liverpool on September 17 and 18. The band will then head out across the country playing dates in Glasgow, Newcastle and Cambridge among other places.

Having recently headlined the Glastonbury festival, among others, The Kings Of Leon, have announced a UK arena tour for December. The Followill boys will kick off the tour in support of their forthcoming album, ‘Only By The Night‘, on December 1st in Brighton Centre before playing dates in Glasgow, London, Manchester and Cardiff where they will wrap things up at the Cardiff International Arena on December 17. Tickets for all shows are set to go on sale Friday (July 18) at 9am BST.

‘Only By The Night‘ is due to hit store shelves September 22.

The Long Blondes have once again been forced to cancel tour dates as guitarist Dorian Cox continues to recover from a serious illness. The band has canceled all their August dates, which consisted only of festival appearances.  The band previously canceled the remainder of their July tour after Cox fell ill. The good news is that Cox seems to be recovering. In a Myspace blog post the band wrote:

We are happy to be able to tell you that Dorian is improving slowly and is on the road to recovery. However, as he is still in hospital, we will be unable to play the rest of the festivals we had booked this summer. We’re very grateful for all the messages of support we have received and for respecting our privacy too - we couldn’t ask for nicer fans than you lot.

Indie super-group Mongrel -which consist of Matt Helders from the Arctic Monkeys, Andy Nicholson formerly of the Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles‘ Drew McConnell, Reverend And The Makers‘ Jon McClure, rapper Lowkey and Joe Moskow - are gearing up for their first UK and Irish tour. The band, who are set to release their debut album in October, has announced details of the short tour. The three day tour, with another date to be announced soon, will kick off in Dublin Academy on October 15.

Vampire Weekend and The Hold Steady are just a couple of the bands headlining this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle. Also headlining the festival are Fleet Foxes and Les Savy Fav. The two-day event, now in its 11th year, will take place in Seattle’s South Capitol Hill neighborhood July 25-26. Also set to play the event are Girl Talk, Kimya Dawson, Devotchka and The Dodos.