Above, hear a pilot episode of The Current's new Music News podcast, which will soon be available every weekday wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love your feedback! Leave a comment below, or write to musicnews@thecurrent.org.

Smashing Pumpkins have announced special guests for a special 30th anniversary performance as part of their ongoing reunion tour. This coming Friday, Aug. 2, at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, the band will be joined by a motley assortment of guests including Courtney Love, Peter Hook (of New Order, and who also happens to the the father of Smashing Pumpkins' current bassist Jack Bates), Chino Moreno (Deftones), two members of the Killers (not including Brandon Flowers), and, because why not, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. (Consequence of Sound)

Speaking of reunions...

Guitarist John Frusciante, a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on and off from the late '80s to 2009, has recently been so reclusive that he didn't even show up for the band's 2012 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This past weekend, though, fans were psyched to see him publicly hanging out with his former bandmate Flea for the first time in over a decade. The pair went to see a boxing match at the Staples Center in L.A., and were photographed looking like the old pals they are. (Consequence of Sound)

Madonna announces birthday fundraiser

Madonna is turning 60 on Aug. 16, and she's doing what a lot of your friends are probably doing on Facebook: devoting the birthday attention to a charitable cause, in this case her own Raising Malawi foundation, which supports children and particularly orphans in the southeast African nation. Madonna has adopted four kids from Malawi. (Billboard)

Laura Jane Grace announces new band

Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! has announced a tour with her new band the Devouring Mothers. The group's debut album is expected this fall, and the group will hit the road for a run of Midwest dates in November, starting in Rock Island, Ill. on Nov. 2. "It's a solo album, except that it's not," says Grace about the new project, which will mark her first new music since the last Against Me! album came out in 2016. (Rolling Stone)

Demi Lovato continues to recover

Demi Lovato reportedly remains hospitalized almost a week after experiencing an overdose. She's expected to make a full recovery after overdosing on an unknown opioid, reports TMZ, but there have been complications. (Consequence of Sound) Meanwhile, her supportive fans are sending her song "Sober" back up the charts; released in June, it popped into the Hot 100 for just a week upon its release. Now it's back, at a new peak of number 56. (Billboard)

Menswear based on music?

A new menswear startup called Eison Triple Thread promises to recommend a wardrobe based on your Spotify listening. When you sign up, you take a lifestyle quiz and rank some current looks by preference, then you sync the company's FITS app with your music streaming account. What can you expect as a result? As founder Julian Eison explains:

A guy who was born between 1984 and 1988, likes hip-hop, and works in tech in San Francisco will probably like clothing that's on trend, and so we'll feed him looks based on that demographic and see what he responds to. If someone else likes upbeat music, was born in the '80s, and listens to music from that time, we can gauge that his style is probably similar to Joey [from Friends]. People who listen to '60s music like the Beatles will have suggestions like high-rise jeans and corduroy.

Eison insists the service won't be as simple as just recommending the clothes that artists wear, which may or may not come as welcome news to fans of, say, the Flaming Lips. (Stereogum)

Jarvis Cocker hunts for bargains

Jarvis Cocker and Candida Doyle (Pulp), and Mark "Bez" Berry and Rowetta Ida (the Happy Mondays) are going on the BBC show Bargain Hunt to mark the service's annual Music Day on Sept. 28. The show is similar to Antiques Roadshow, with players competing to find antiques they can sell at a profit.

Other activities the BBC has planned for that day include debuting a Women in Music Power List; presenting live pop-up performances by amateur and professional musicians; and, best of all, having Kylie Minogue voice train announcements at platforms across the U.K., encouraging commuters to, yes, do "The Locomotion" with her. (BBC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8z34lhKWrQ

Songs sampled in podcast:
Jahzzar: "Comedie" (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Demi Lovato: "Sober"
Hole: "Celebrity Skin"
BoxCat Games: "Mt Fox Shop" (CC BY 3.0)
Kylie Minogue: "The Locomotion"