SPOT, an in-house producer and engineer who helped make albums by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Descendents, Meat Puppets for SST Records, has died.

The Wedding Present this month will release a long-shelved re-recording of the band’s debut album George Best by famed engineer Steve Albini, and are offering up a first taste of the project in the form of a new version of “Shatner,” which you can now stream in full right here.

David Gedge has a busy year planned for The Wedding Present, with a North American tour beginning next week, a new instrumental EP due out on Record Store Day and a new version of the band’s 1987 debut album George Best — recorded by Steve Albini — due out later in the year.

The 3CD/1DVD box set commemorating the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s third and final album In Utero that was announced last month will include a brand-new mix of the album, a host of B-sides, compilation cuts, alternate mixes and early demos — plus a previously unheard instrumental.

Iain Burgess, a studio engineer renowned for his role in the ’80s Chicago punk underground and a major influence on and mentor to Steve Albini, died Thursday morning in France of a pulmonary embolism stemming from liver and pancreatic cancer, Albini’s Electrical Audio studios reports.

News surfaced this week that The Breeders — the side project Pixies bassist Kim Deal launched in 1988 — will self-release a four-track EP called […]