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Because of Radiohead's greed for news, the first right-column story of 2008 is the tale of REM and their decision to release a new record in the spring.

Accelerate is the act’s fourteenth studio album and was produced by Jacknife Lee. It comes in the US on April 1st, and Drowned in Sound sees absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be out around that time in the UK.

Talking to Q, singer Michael Stipe spoke on the development of the longplayer, which was recorded in nine weeks after being put together during a residency in Dublin last year:

"We spent less time making this record than we have in 20 years…I feel like there's a confidence in the material and a communication between the three of us which hasn't been there for some time.

"When we started working with Jacknife Lee, the first thing I asked him was 'what do you want to hear from REM? What do you want this record to be?' and he said 'I want it to be thrilling.'"

Some of the tracks said to feature on Accelerator include ‘Mr Richards’, ‘I’m Gonna DJ’, ‘Until The Day Is Done’ and ‘Staring Down The Barrel Of Middle Distance’.