Following last week’s performance on Letterman, a break in the Dead Weather begins as Alison Mosshart preps a new album with Kills partner Jamie “Hotel” Hince, LJ joins the Greenhornes for their first LP in 5 years, Dean Fertita hits the road with Josh Homme’s QOTSA, and Jack White plots his next 50 or so Third Man Records releases. As I pondered imminent new music from members of our favorite supergroup of the past 16 months, however, it occurred that Mosshart’s evolution from leader of Floridian pop-punk outfit Discount (she “didn’t make up the name”) to co-conspirator in a London art-rock duo to stealing Jack White’s spotlight has gone woefully underappreciated around here.

Though the one-sheet narrative of Mosshart moving from Gainesville, FL to London for an unknown Hince collaboration has been making the rounds since the Kills’ 2003 debut, Keep on Your Mean Side, little has been noted about her first group, Discount, including their 3 LPs and countless EP/7” releases. Let’s get the ball rolling with a few early pop-punk covers of Billy Bragg and R.E.M., 2 originals, and a live video from Mosshart and Discount below:

In a recent interview with BBC Radio Scotland (watch below), Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody spilled the beans on two upcoming side projects to be recorded this month in the United States. The first will be a “countryish, country-tinged” record loosely inspired by Gram Parsons, which he will begin recording in Portland, OR with Belle and Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn (supergroup alert!), producer du jour Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Weezer, R.E.M.) and two then-secret “very special guests.”

So who are these mysterious co-conspirators? According to Hot Press, Lightbody told Q magazine that R.E.M.’s Peter Buck will collaborate with his new band, called Tired Pony. The other “special guest” is still a mystery.

But that’s not the only side project in the works for the “Chasing Cars” singer:

Here are a few of today’s bookmarked links worth noting…

• After being rejected seven times, the Stooges will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Genesis and ABBA. “Am I still cool? Or is that over now?” Pop asked himself after hearing the news.
• Elliott Smith’s first solo LP, Roman Candle, and posthumous album From a Basement on the Hill will be reissued by Kill Rock Stars this spring (the former has been remastered by Larry Crane as well). For more info and a free MP3 of unreleased gem “Cecilia/Amanda” go thataway.
• Ex-R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry came out of retirement to record protest song “Crazy Like a Fox” on R.E.M.’s annual holiday single. The bad news: Michael Stipe and Peter Buck aren’t on the track. Slicing Up Eyeballs has the scoop.
• Brendan Benson sounded off a bit on how he felt “underappreciated” by the press for his role in the Raconteurs. “Jack [White] was the most publicized thing about The Raconteurs,” he said. “And I think, unfortunately, he sort of eclipsed the other guys in the band.”

Remember that minor blogospheric meltdown when it was revealed that MGMT were to appear on Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3? Yeah… what a summer. Well, as we all know by now, the MGMT bros were left off Hova’s final tracklist (I figured they were bumped off by Alicia Keyes or Mr. Hudson or something) and here’s why: “MGMT turned me down,” Jay-z told Gotham (via Digital Spy). Perhaps it was that “Brian Eno” track and they wanted to keep it for their next LP.

R.E.M. are apparently back in the studio, as a recent photo of Michael Stipe with Accelerate producer Jacknife Lee was sent to fansite Murmurs by R.E.M.’s tour manager, Bob Whittaker. Murmurs says the photo depicts Stipe and company starting “work on the new R.E.M. record.” Watch ‘em twiddle them knobs here.

As we previously reported, many famous rock musicians and a songwriter for Sesame Street were outraged late last year when news broke that their music had been used to torture inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Whereas Drowning Pool’s Steve Benton said it was “an honor to think that perhaps [their] song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that,” Trent Reznor, Rage Against The Machine, and many more were understandably furious.

Now Reznor and Rage’s Tom Morello have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, along with R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the Roots, Rosanne Cash, Rise Against, Billy Bragg, and Jackson Browne, Huffington Post reports.