The NME editor has made a grovelling apology for her campaign against singer Ed Sheeran. Nadia Khomami looks at spats between popsters and the press

This extraordinary album of chamber-style improvisations by the Norwegian trio of Okland (violin/Hardanger fiddle), Apeland (harmonium/Wurlitzer) and Skarbo (drums) lasts a little over half an hour and casts a very powerful spell.

Davidson is a one-man band from New Zealand who builds dark cranky blues numbers from looping and layering guitar riffs into walls of reverb-enriched sound.

Lulu may be the ultimate Goth album: steeped in art-house self-regard, mired in the vilest extremes of perversion and misery, barked out with as little human warmth as its practitioners can muster and its leaden tortures drawn out to unbearable lengths, it takes the notion of being "drawn to the dark side" to the nth degree.

South Africa captain John Smit will join Saracens in October after the conclusion of the World Cup. The 33-year-old is the most capped captain and forward in Springbok history, having featured in 102 Tests.

"We love you, Lou!" shouts a crazed audience member. "You know, by now, I love you too," croaks The Velvet Underground legend, who is notoriously uncompromising when it comes to testing what fans are willing to accept as entertainment. Having endured the unlistenable electronic clamour of Metal Machine Music and the crashing downer of Berlin, none of the audience are expecting a full-blown radio-friendly hits showdown tonight.

Metallica have recorded an album with Lou Reed.

Gavin Henson has been selected in a 24-man Wales squad for next month's game against the Barbarians at the Millennium Stadium. The Toulon centre, who has not played for Wales since the 2009 Six Nations Championship, was suspended by his club last month while they investigated an altercation involving the 29-year-old and team-mates. Henson was given a second chance and appeared as a substitute in the defeat by Montpellier on Saturday.

Having revisited their 1960s landmark Odessey and Oracle a few years back, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone here revive The Zombies as a going concern, with a new album that repositions the band within the sonic lineage of Steely Dan.

Most film-school students are in a rush to make their first movie – but not the former Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed. There has been a 50-year gap between the singer first entering Syracuse University to study journalism and film directing, and taking a seat in the director's chair.

Warbling Scottish eccentric Susan Boyle has already turned her vocal talents to a number of potentially unsuitable cover versions: "Wild Horses", by Keith Richards and the allegedly underendowed Mick Jagger, to name but one example.

I played the Albert Hall last week. I was on stage for all of 30 seconds but still... box ticked. It all started with a call from Dave Arnold, the overly talented film-score composer. He was organising a concert for Care, a charity he is passionate about. The idea was for a night of some of the greatest film music ever composed, all played live with full orchestra – all bells and whistles. In between the music some light relief was wanted and Dave asked if I could do something. I agreed – after all, unless you're Eric Clapton, it's not often you get the chance to play the Albert Hall. The problem was, what to do? I am not a stand-up comedian, so don't have 10 minutes of lighthearted patter to do before moving on to my next three gigs of the evening: "Good evening ladies and gentlemen and can I say how exciting it is to be at the West London Photocopying Awards.... Sorry I'm late, but I've just been playing the Albert Hall."