R.E.M. is putting the finishing touches on their new album now entitled “Accelerate” due for an April 1st 2008 release. Partially recorded in Vancouver and Dublin with Bloc Party/Snow Patrol producer Jacknife Lee, “Accelerate” will be R.E.M.’s 14th studio album. According to NME, “Confirmed tracks for the album include ‘Until The Day Is Done’, ‘Living Well Is The Best Revenge’, ‘Mr Richards’, ‘Staring Down The Barrel Of Middle Distance’, and ‘I’m Gonna DJ’, a regular in the band’s set on their 2004/2005 world tour. Frontman Michael Stipe said the guitar-driven LP is “the fastest we’ve made in 20 years”.

He told Q: “I think the songs on ‘Around The Sun’ are great, but in the process of recording we lost our focus as a band. Now, that focus is back. And it’s razor sharp.”

For more R.E.M. goodness you should also head over to Ninety Nights which will be streaming a new 30-60 second short video for… well… ninety nights leading up to the release of “Accelerate”. The video’s are a bit off the wall right now, but my hunch is that it will all make sense by April 1st. Each video can also be downloaded in HD for the duration of the day in which it was released.