Electropop ingénue Little Boots recently announced a new collaborative effort with Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. In an interview at Scottish music festival, T in the Park, the digital songstress/ass-shaker announced that the two acts will work together to create a song for a new film project. Little Boots, making her way around the world, will also be headlining the Sunrise Stage on Friday July 17th at the Latitude Festival.

The hype surrounding Blur’s reunion shows has been rising since it was first announced, and now they are looking to add U.S. and European tours to their plans, which was originally only slated for U.K. dates. 

They already surprised us with the announcement of warm-up shows in London, but according to Billboard, the VP of Live Nation U.K., Steve Homer, said that Blur is looking into the possibility of booking  shows in other areas outside of the U.K. “They have been rehearsing for some time now, for several months,” Homer told Billboard. “…They are talking about some American shows still in the same time frame. There are possibilities of some European ones as well.” 

Blur has already scheduled a string of U.K. dates, and have seen an enormous response to their reunion, having two sold-out 50,000-capacity shows at Hyde Park in London in July, and headlining slots at the Glastonbury and T in the Park festivals. There is no word as to whether or not the band would be playing smaller, more intimate shows in the states, or sticking to the arena-rock settings they have signed onto with their U.K. tour. 

Alongside the announcement of possible U.S. and European dates, Blur is also set to release a double CD compilation, Midlife: A Beginners Guide to Blur, on June 15, according to NME. The new CD will have 25 tracks and is apparently aimed for those who missed the Blur’s first go-around (aka – people with no taste).

The highly anticipated 30th anniversary reunion tour of ska pioneers The Specials kicked off last night at the Newcastle Academy in England, and have been dropping the hint-hint, nudge-nudge that they’ll be taking the stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

They opened the show with “Do The Dog”, from their 1979 debut Specials, and filled the set with classics like “A Message To You Rudy”, “Hey Little Rich Girl” and “Rat Race.”

The six original Specials members — very notably and controversially missing was founder and songwriter Jerry Dammers — have upcoming gigs in Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and their home turf of Coventry before playing five nights at London’s Brixton Academy. They’re confirmed for T In The Park and the V Festival, but that may not be all. The band has suggested we should be on the lookout for them at Glasto, too.

The Specials set list, courtesy of NME:
“Do The Dog”
“(Dawning Of A) New Era”
“Gangsters”
“It’s Up To You”
“Rat Race”
“Monkey Man”
“Blank Expression”
“Too Hot”
“Doesn’t Make It Alright”
“Concrete Jungle”
“Friday Night Saturday Morning”
“Stereotype”
“Man At C&A”
“A Message To You Rudy”
“Do Nothing”
“Hey Little Rich Girl”
“Nite Klub”
“You’re Wondering Now”
“Ghost Town”
“Too Much Too Young”
“Skinhead Moonstomp”
“Enjoy Yourself”

With a headlining spot at Latitude announced earlier this week, Pet Shop Boys are beefing up the summer schedule with some more appearances at several European fests in support of their upcoming 10th LP Yes.

Though it has yet to be official confirmed by organizers, they say they’ll be making a trip back to the first festival they ever played, Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, headlining again as they did at that first appearance in 1997 and again in 2002. They’re also doing T In The Park in Scotland for the first time and Ireland’s Oxegen in addition to Latitude.

In between the fests they’ve also got sold-out U.K. dates at London’s O2 arena (July 19) and Manchester’s Apollo (July 18). Keyboard player Chris Lowe said the shows will be a little different this time around.

“I think the idea is to be more high-tech and more multi-media than the last [tour] show,” says Lowe. “It’s not going to be a costume drama but there might be a few wigs.”

“We’re touring in Europe this summer then we’re going to North, Central and South America in the autumn,” he adds. “Then in the new year we’re going to South East Asia and Australia, then we’re going to be coming back over [to the U.K.] and carrying on with our music for the ballet.”

You read right — the duo is working on a score for a ballet that is set to open at London’s Sadler’s Wells in 2011.

Yes was released this past Tuesday (March 24) in the U.K. and will hit stores in the U.S. on April 21 via Astrelwerks. It will be the group’s first album with the label.