Best New Tracks
- jj: "Ecstasy"
- Blue Roses: "I Am Leaving"
- Pictureplane: "Goth Star"
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: "Ramona"
- Nosaj Thing: "Coat of Arms"
- Major Lazer: "Keep It Goin' Louder [ft. Nina Sky and Ricky Blaze]"
- The Smith Westerns: "Be My Girl"
- Cymbals Eat Guitars: "Tunguska"
- Polvo: "Beggar's Bowl"
- Ganglians: "Valiant Brave"
Monday, June 29
New Release: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band: Between My Head and the Sky
Artist: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
Album: Between My Head and the Sky
Release Date: September 22
Label: Chimera Music
Pixies to Celebrate Doolittle on Tour
Homepage photo by Renaud Monfourny
As previously reported, the Pixies will drop their outrageously lavish Minotaur box set this fall. The set will collect all the band's studio albums and include all sorts of sumptuous artwork, but it won't squeeze in any bonus tracks or even a remastering job. The implication, it seems, is that the Pixies' albums are sacred.
And now NME reports and the band's reps confirm that the Pixies will continue to celebrate one of those albums, 1989's Doolittle, when they tour Europe in October. At these shows, the band will play every song from Doolittle, along with all the associated B-sides. And you know what that means: "Debaser", "Here Comes Your Man", "La La Love You", "Gouge Away". Doolittle turns 20 this year, after all. It's almost old enough to buy beer!
Video: Kanye West: "Street Lights"
Over on his blog, Kanye West has posted Javier Longobardo's video for the 808s and Heartbreak electro-shoegaze lament "Streetlights". It looks like one of those pastel 80s beach-party T-shirts come to computer-animated life.
Considering that "Streetlights" is one of the most woozily cinematic tracks Kanye's ever composed, this could've been, uh, better. On the same day that big brother Jay-Z drops a video where he's hustling Harvey Keitel at poker and making jumpshots over Lebron James, this one doesn't quite hold up. Not everything has to look like Akira, Kanye!
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 29, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.
Tags: Kanye West, video
MGMT, Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips LP
This is just getting better and better.
So we've got that potentially amazing girl-with-beard cover (still unconfirmed). Lots of talk about how this is going to be the Lips' return to weird. And now we get news that both MGMT and Karen O are set to make very special appearances on the Flaming Lips' upcoming double album, Embryonic, according to an interview with Wayne Coyne himself on Swiss website Die Klangschau.
"We have MGMT doing a song with us and we have Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs doing a couple songs with us," said the Wayner. "For the Karen O tracks, I just called her up in her hotel room and we just did it right over the telephone. It's pretty absurd." (Insert "phoning it in" joke here.)
No word on what these featured players are doing on the record, exactly, but I'm hoping for screams, yelps, and squiggles. You can listen to the whole interview here.
Wavves' Nathan Williams Speaks About Barcelona Meltdown, Future Plans
"I can't fuck up once? If people think that I'm not going to fuck up, there's no reason to even come and watch me."
Last month, Nathan Williams, the force behind the San Diego noise-pop entity Wavves, played a self-destructive mess of a set at Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival. As Pitchfork's Ryan Schreiber described here, he made fun of the crowd, scrapped with his drummer, and dodged bottles, all before soundmen finally shut off his mic. In the process, Williams set off a frenzy fed by posting and then removing an apology on his own blog, wherein he admitted to taking a cocktail of Ecstasy, Valium, and Xanax before coming on stage.
In the aftermath of the meltdown, Williams cancelled his European tour and returned home. Now, he is breaking his silence, talking for the first time about the Barcelona set and its aftermath, working with Hella drummer Zach Hill, and what the future holds for Wavves.
Video: Jay-Z: "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
The would-be Auto-Tune killer keeps his hair long for this slick clip courtesy of cinematic video auteur Anthony Mandler (the Killers, Beyoncé). Jay sets up shop in an abandoned building, jams with his band, and chops it up with Harvey Keitel and LeBron James while making this song look a bit better than it sounds.
Posted by Ryan Dombal on June 29, 2009 at 9:35 a.m.
Michael Jackson Live CD/DVD, Jackson Family Tribute Tour Possible
Plus, the Jackson family speaks out.
Following the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday, speculation runs rampant as to what the Jackson family's next commercial move might be. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a memorial tour featuring the surviving Jackson brothers as well as Janet Jackson may be in the works. The New York Daily News reports that Jackson's last rehearsal for his planned 50-night stand at the O2 Arena in London may be headed to DVD and CD. The night before his death on June 25, Jackson's rehearsal at L.A.'s Staples Center was recorded on high-definition audio and video by AEG Live, the company promoting the London concerts. Reuters reports that AEG Live plans to refund all tickets for the O2 Arena shows, which were scheduled to start July 13.
Over the weekend, there were many more developments in the Jackson saga:
Friday, June 26
Jackson's Cause of Death Not Determined
Test results expected in four to six weeks.
CNN reports that Los Angeles County Coroners performed an autopsy on Michael Jackson earlier today. But in a press conference this afternoon, operations chief Craig Harvey declined to give Jackson's cause of death. "The cause of death has been deferred," Harvey told reporters.
Harvey said that the coroners had requested additional testing, which are expected to take four to six weeks. He also said that Jackson's body showed "no sign of external trauma or indication of foul play," according to CNN.
Harvey did say that Jackson had been taking prescription medications, but he couldn't comment on whether those medications played a role in Jackson's sudden death yesterday.
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 26, 2009 at 6:05 p.m.
Tags: Michael Jackson
Video: Wilco and Feist Perform "You and I" Live for the First Time
Last night in Los Angeles, Wilco and Feist performed their duet "You and I" live for the first time outside of the studio. And thanks to the magic of YouTube, we can all watch it. (Via Stereogum)
"You and I" appears on Wilco (The Album), out June 30 on Nonesuch. For more live Wilco action, stay tuned to http://wilcoworld.net and Wilco (the iPhone app) this Saturday night 10 p.m. CDT for a webcast of the band's show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California.
Posted by Amy Phillips on June 26, 2009 at 5:45 p.m.
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