On 5 June Patti Smith releases Banga, her first album of original material in eight years. Preceded by the single "April Fool" featuring Television's Tom Verlaine, the album follow's 2007's 12, a collection of cover versions. Smith made her name during the Seventies when poet-rock albums Radio Ethiopia, Easter and, particularly 1975's Horses, turned her into a New York feminist punk icon. Banga features her children Jackson and Jesse Paris, as well as long term collaborator Lenny Kaye. Song subject matter runs the gamut from the Japanese tsunami to an elegy for Amy Winehouse and a birthday song for Johnny Depp.

• For further info and to download "April Fool" check Pattismith.net [1]