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Wednesday, June 24

New Release: La Roux: La Roux

Artist: La Roux
Album: La Roux
Release Date: June 29 (UK), September 29 (U.S.)
Label: Polydor (UK), Cherrytree (U.S.)

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Is This the Flaming Lips Album Cover?

Front page photo by Aaron Vanimere

Is this the cover of the Flaming Lips' Embryonic?

We sure hope so.

Posted by Amy Phillips on June 24, 2009 at 2:50 p.m.

Tags: Art, The Flaming Lips

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Pitchfork on ABC: God Help the Girl

Pitchfork on ABC: <i>God Help the Girl</i>

Pitchfork writers regularly appear on ABC's World News Webcast to chat about notable albums they've recently reviewed. Previously, we saw Nitsuh Abebe on Dan Deacon's Bromst, Mark Pytlik on Fever Ray, Douglas Wolk on Superchunk's Leaves in the Gutter, Ian Cohen on Asher Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle, Eminem's Relapse, and Passion Pit's Manners, and Paul Thompson on Grizzly Bear's Veckatamist and Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca. This time, we've got Marc Hogan talking about Belle and Sebastian leader Stuart Murdoch's new project, God Help the Girl.

Video:> Pitchfork on ABC: God Help the Girl

Posted by Ryan Dombal on June 24, 2009 at 1:50 p.m.

Tags: ABC News, God Help the Girl, New Music Monday, Pitchfork, Stuart Murdoch

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The Roots to Debut New Single on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" Tonight

Photo by Matt Ziegler

On paper, it looked a bit weird when Jimmy Fallon announced that Philly rap vets the Roots would serve as the house band for his late-night talk show, "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon". But thus far, the experiment's been working out beautifully. The Roots are easily the best house band on TV, finding all sorts of fun and unexpected ways to work their vast array of covers into the fabric of the show. They've also backed up everyone from Mos Def to the Lonely Island to Paul Simon. But tonight, the Roots will get to use the "Fallon" stage to premiere a new song of their own.

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Chris Knox Leaves Hospital After Stroke

When Kiwi punk pioneer Chris Knox suffered a stroke last week, early reports claimed that he might never walk again. But according to the blog that Knox's family and friends started to keep fans updated on his post-stroke recovery, Knox is doing a lot better now.

Today's update says that he's left the New Zealand hospital where he's been since the stroke: "Chris has moved from the hospital & is apparently in good spirits today in his new place of abode." And according to yesterday's update, he's been writing, exercising, and playing games. (via the Daily Swarm)

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 24, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.

Tags: Chris Knox

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My Morning Jacket's Jim James to Release George Harrison Tribute EP

It's credited to "Yim Yames" My Morning Jacket's Jim James to Release George Harrison Tribute EP

Photo by Autumn De Wilde

My Morning Jacket aren't doing much at the moment, but angelic-voiced frontman Jim James isn't using that band's downtime to sit around combing his gigantic beard. This fall, James will be on his grind.

We already reported that the long-awaited self-titled album from Monsters of Folk, James's supergroup with Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis, is due September 22 from Shangri-La in North America, Rough Trade in Europe, Spunk in Australia, and P-Vine in Japan. But before that album even drops, we'll hear even more new music from James.

On August 4, ATO will release Tribute To, James' EP of George Harrison covers, Billboard reports. Under the goofily adorable pseudonym Yim Yames, James takes on six of the late Beatle's songs. Two songs from Tribute To are Beatles jams that Harrison wrote, while the others come from the solo Harrison album All Things Must Pass.

According to Billboard, James recorded the EP a few days after Harrison died in 2001; it's been sitting in the vault since then. James did the whole thing himself, on vocals and acoustic guitar. In the liner notes, James calls Harrison "a prime example of the healing power of music." The Tribute To tracklist is below.

Also, Billboard claims that Monsters of Folk are "expected to" tour in September.

UPDATE: Hear Yim Yames' version of "Behind That Locked Door" here. Also, a portion of the proceeds from sales of Tribute To will go to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

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R.I.P. the Orb's Andy Hughes

Trash Menagerie reports that Andy Hughes, British producer and DJ and former member of ambient house titans the Orb, passed away on June 12 after after what a press release calls "a short illness." He was 43.

Hughes contributed to the Orb throughout the 90s, working on such albums as Orblivion, Live 93, and Orbus Terrarum. Later, Hughes went on to produce material for groups like Basement Jaxx.

Hughes' family has asked that memorial donations be made to Kings College Hospital in London.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 24, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.

Tags: Andy Hughes, Obituary, The Orb

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German Court Fines Rapidshare Millions

Billboard reports that a German court has ruled against the file-hosting service and mp3 blog bandwidth-saver Rapidshare. The intellectual property organization GEMA had requested a court order that would force Rapidshare to remove 5,000 tracks from its server, and the Regional Court of Hamburg has ruled in favor of GEMA.

According to the Regional Court, Rapidshare and "other file-hosting sites" have not put enough precautions in place to avoid copyright infringement. And, most damaging, the Hollywood Reporter also reports that the court fined Rapidshare €24 million, or about $34 million.

As I'm writing this, though, Rapidshare appears to be working just fine.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 24, 2009 at 11:50 a.m.

Tags: Legal, Rapidshare

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Pavement's Spiral Stairs Set to Release First Solo Album on Matador

Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew guests Pavement's Spiral Stairs Set to Release First Solo Album on Matador

After Pavement broke up, guitarist/vocalist Scott Kannberg, better known as Spiral Stairs, recorded a couple of albums with new band Preston School of Industry. But up until now, he's never recorded an album under his own name-- or his own pseudonym. That's about to change.

As revealed on the Matablog this morning, Matador will release The Real Feel, the first official Spiral Stairs solo album, on October 20.

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Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) Side Project Volcano Choir Album Announced

Volcano Choir debut LP out September 22. Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) Side Project Volcano Choir Album Announced

Home page photo by Cameron Wittig

Back in May, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon told us about Volcano Choir, his new project with fellow ethereal Wisconsinites Collections of Colonies of Bees. "We started collaborating three years ago and just this year we started to realize we had nine or 10 tracks almost done," he said. "I sing on it, but there aren't a lot of lyrics-- it's definitely more on the experimental side of things."

Now we have all the official info: Volcano Choir's debut LP, Unmap, is out September 22 (Sept. 21 in the UK) via Jagjaguwar.

Meanwhile, Bon Iver are busy working on their long-playing follow-up to For Emma, Forever Ago in between summer gigs, including a stop at Glastonbury this weekend. Volcano Choir tracklist and Bon Iver dates below: