Welcome back William Friedkin and Matthew McConaughey - both missing in action, it seems, for some years now - with the terribly funny Killer Joe. Typically, for the director of transgressive genre pieces like The Exorcist and Cruising, one of the first things we see here is Gina Gershon’s lower half, naked. “It’s a bit distracting, your bush in my face,” complains her step-son, Chris (Emile Hirsch).

Flaming Lips are to release their The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends album on July 30. The album was originally given a limited, vinyl-only release for Record Store Day on April 21 this year. Recorded in collaboration with artists including Nick Cave, Yoko Ono and Bon Iver, the album will be released by the band's new label, Bella Union, on both CD and vinyl. The track listing for The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends is: 1. “2012 (You Must Be Upgraded) (w/ Ke$ha, Biz Markie & Hour Of The Time Majesty 12)

St Vincent and David Byrne have announced details of their joint album ‘Love This Giant’, which is set for release on September 11. Recorded over two years, the pair wrote ten of the album’s twelve tracks together, with each artist submitting a track of their own. Speaking of the collaboration, St Vincent – real name Annie Clark, said: "There was no delineating what the roles were. It's a collaboration I'm truly proud of."

Black Crowe's head music dives deep into the past...

Ringo Starr's birthplace has been saved from demolition, according to UK Housing Minister Grant Shapps. The Beatles drummer's former home will not be knocked down by Liverpool City Council as part of their plans to regenerate the Welsh Streets area of the city, and it will now be refurbished. According to the BBC, the house on 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle, is one of 16 on the street spared from the bulldozer; although 400 homes in the area will be pulled down.

Yeasayer have announced a short UK tour for September. The Brooklyn indie band, who announced recently that they will release their third studio album Fragrant World on August 20, will play three dates in the UK in September as well as an intimate London show in July. The gigs kick off at London's O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on September 27 before the band travel north to play Glasgow's Arches venue on September 28. They round things off at Manchester's HMV Ritz on September 29.

The pianist, singer and songwriter Mac Rebennack, known better as Dr John, faces your questions in the latest Uncut (dated July 2012), out now – but back in October 2010 (Take 161), he took us on a fascinating journey through his most important, and interesting, releases, from Gris-Gris to Exile On Main St. "We went to a nudist camp somewhere, we made up a song called 'The Symphony Of Frogs'…" ______________________________

Bon Iver have announced that they will be releasing a new EP next week. The EP, which is simply titled iTunes Session EP, which will be released on Tuesday (June 19) and contains a total of seven tracks, all of which were recorded live. Among the tracks scheduled for release is a cover of Bjork's "Who Is It?" and the band's recent single "Holocene". Bon Iver recently announced two UK dates for later this year. Apart from headlining this summer's Latitude festival, they will play shows in Glasgow and Belfast in November too.

Former Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser is set to play her first full show since 1998. The singer will debut her new material, as well as perform re-interpretations of Cocteau Twins songs, at Bath Pavillion on Saturday August 4. The show is as a warm-up gig for her two sold-out nights at the Royal Festival Hall in London later in August, as part of this year's Antony Hegarty-curated Meltdown festival.

Paul McCartney has praised The Queen, describing her as "fabulous" and even saying that he has "lot of time for her". The Beatles man, who turns 70 on Monday (June 18), headlined the Queen's Diamond Jubilee gig earlier this month and has now spoken to the Daily Telegraph about how much he admires the long-serving monarch.