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.

With less than a few weeks to go for the scheduled release, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong have canceled their debut album. The self-titled album was scheduled to hit store shelves on August 4th however plans have changed and the band won’t be releasing anything until early next year at the latest. Speaking to NME the band’s manager, Raye Cosbert said he told the band to shelve the album because it had been recorded “too early in their career”. The band, along with their label Vertigo/Mercury, agreed with Cosbert and instead will re-record the album and release it in early 2009. No date has been set to record the album.

The shortlist for the Nationwide Mercury Prize was revealed Tuesday (July 22) and the list is filled with both previous winners and first time nominees. Some notable mentions include Alex Turner’s side project The Last Shadow Puppets who made the list for their debut album, ‘The Age of the Understatement‘. Turner’s main band, the Arctic Monkeys, previously took the award in 2006 and were nominated last year, being beaten out by the Klaxons who claimed the prize for ‘Myths of the Near Future‘. Also on the list, Radiohead, for their successful and much talked about release, ‘In Rainbows‘. Notably absent from the list, Coldplay, whose recent release ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends‘ topped the charts worldwide. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London September 9.

Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg has just released a new album for only 49 cents. ‘49:00‘ was released over the weekend (July 19) via Amazon’s MP3 store with the extremely low price tag. The album is being sold as a single MP3 file on Amazon, but customers be warned, you must click the “”Buy MP3 album with 1-Click” button and not the download song button, otherwise the price tag becomes a hefty 89 cents.

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.

Conor Oberst highly anticipated solo album will be streaming for free in its entirety beginning July 21. The forthcoming self-titled solo album by the Bright Eyes frontman will be available to listen from his website Mergerecords.com two weeks prior to its August 4 release date.