News The Week That Was: At The Drive-In, Refused, Beyonce & More

This time last week we told ourselves enough was enough; that we’d never find ourselves in this torrid position again; that this beautiful, if brief, road of writing about the music news of the week had finally come to an abrupt end. But then, some time later, we changed our mind. We quit being quit.

That’s not actually true. But it is true that both At The Drive-In and Refused dominated the music news of the week by doing something very similar - with the previously-disbanded groups announcing their reformation to much excitement. Much more excitement ensued oncemore when both were revealed to be appearing at this year’s Coachella, along with a whole host of other bands, like Pulp for starters.

On the topic of quitting, Beyonce this week decided that she’d just about had enough of having a live human being growing inside her, opting to forcibly remove it from her very person. Jay-Z, interestingly, decided to write a song about the experience.

Another tenuous link to quitting this week came about when 30 Seconds To Mars quashed rumours that they’d be splitting, while Twin Atlantic potentially helped prolong the life of a pop star that some people might want to disappear by covering Jessie J for Radio 1’s Live Lounge.

Lana Del Rey again found herself having to deal with the fame that she still hasn’t quite gotten used to by performing in front of millions of people on Jonathan Ross’ show, as well as revealing a new track from her forthcoming debut album. Witchousers Alt-J also ‘dropped’ a new song, as did Bear In Heaven, School Of Seven Bells, Tanlines, Fanzine, Zulu Winter and Field Music. Oh, and some obscure indie band called The Shins did the same.

Bands continued to decide to drive around the country making weird noises in various cities - with Standard Fare, The Cribs, Wooden Shjips, Graham Coxon, and Theme Park plotting tours of the UK, while Surfer Blood, Perfume Genius, Sleigh Bells, and YACHT all announced tours of the US.

Other bands continued the similarly odd act of dancing around to their previously recorded weird noises in front of an image capturing device, with Niki & The Dove, Chad Valley, Trash Talk, Austra, Dominant Legs, and Arctic Monkeys all unveiling new videos.

Ariel Pink this week told us that he was in the process of making two new albums as well as a werewolf film, while the BRITs made some equally baffling life choices with their award nominations.

Mr Justin ‘Bon Iver’ Vernon had a busy week, announcing that he’d be running his own record label, appearing on Saturday Night Live, as well as collaborating with The Flaming Lips. Mercury Music Prize winning Speech Debelle announced a new single and told us the release date to her new album. The Big Pink gave us details about their album by letting us know its tracklisting. Hot Chip didn’t go quite as far by simply telling us that their fifth album was nearly complete. As well as that, Los Campesinos! told us about the delightful news that they’d be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman just before heading on their tour of America.

And on top of that, a little birdie tells me that the original line-up of The Beatles might be reforming, too - though our mothers tell us we shouldn’t believe everything we see on the internet.