Long Island alt-rock outfit, Brand New have released a statement commemorating 10 years since the release of their breakthrough album Deja Entendu.

Their second full-length, the record was originally released on 17 June 2003 via Triple Crown, following on from their pop-punk leaning debut.

“We would just like to take a moment to say thank you to you all for the ten years since Deja Entendu was released, and for all the things that have happened since then,” the band begin in the message posted on their rarely-used Facebook page. “Time goes by quickly, and the steps our band has taken since recording that album down in Charlotte have been significant”.

They continue: “But it’s important for us to recognize that in many ways this record was our first step down a important creative path for our band. And for many of you, it was the doorway to an interest in our music. So thank you for listening, and for affording us the opportunities that you have for so many years. We hope that we still have it in us to create something that ten years from now, there will be a reason to celebrate and remember.”

The group have released four records to date, the last being Daisy released in 2009. It’s not currently known how recording is going for their fifth studio LP.

Take a listen to one of the album’s singles ‘The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’ below:

As previously reported, a new M.I.A track was premiered by BBC Radio 1′s Zane Lowe this evening – and now it’s surfaced online.

‘Bring The Noize’ is the first track taken from the musician’s upcoming fourth album Matangi, which is expected to drop during the autumn.

It may be her last proper record release too, with the singer seeming disgruntled at the monotonous expectancy of modern record labels. ”It’s not easy, it’s not easy. It’s not easy. I keep finishing the record and handing it in, finishing the record and handing it in,” M.I.A told Lowe on the programme earlier.  ”This was my last stab at it– I’m going to hand it in and wait for it to go out the way albums go out. If I didn’t get it out right now, I would’ve definitely exploded.”

Matangi will come out via N.E.E.T / Interscope. You can stream ‘Bring The Noize’ below:

Volcano Choir have announced the first single from their upcoming second record.

‘Byegone’, which you can listen to below, reveals the band revelling in a more pronounced lush anthemic than ever before and comes ahead of longplayer Repave, due for an early September release (2 Sep in Europe, 3 Sep in North America) via Jagjaguwar.

The band – which features Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon – have promised to tour North America for the first time too, with ten dates in the US already confirmed for September and early October.

September
06 - Chicago, IL: Metro w/ Sylvan Ess
07 - Indianapolis, IN: The Vogue w/ Sylvan Esso
08 – Toronto, ON: Phoenix Concert Theatre w/ Sylvan Esso
09 – South Burlington, VT: Higher Ground w/ Sylvan Esso
11 – Boston, MA: Paradise Rock Club w/ Sylvan Esso
12 - Washington, DC: 9:30 Club w/ Sylvan Esso
14 – New York, NY: Webster Hall w/ Sylvan Esso
27 - Madison, WI: Orpheum Theater
28 - Milwaukee, WI: The Pabst Theater<

October
18 - Minneapolis, MN: First Avenue

The tracklisting for Repave is:

1. ‘Tiderays’
2. ‘Acetate’
3. ‘Comrade’
4. ‘Byegone’
5. ‘Alaskans’
6. ‘Dancepack’
7. ‘Keel’
8. ‘Almanac’

Johnny Marr is gearing up for a string of UK tour dates in October.

Marr, who since the break-up of The Smiths has lent his distinctive jangling guitar sound to Modest Mouse and The Cribs, amongst others, will perform nine shows throughout England.

The NME reports that Marr’s new single #New Town Velocity’, from his début solo album The Messenger, will be released on 22 July, and he is set to play the John Peel stage at Glastonbury this summer.

October
4 Gloucester Guildhall
5 Wrexham Central Station
6 Newcastle O2 Academy
12 Manchester Academy 1
13 Leeds Metropolitan University
14 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
16 Nottingham Rock City
17 Bristol O2 Academy 1
18 London Roundhouse

Eccentric rocker, Andrew W.K. will be attempting the world record of drumming for 24 consecutive hours at this year’s O Music Awards.

He will be joined by famed drummer of  The Roots, Questlove, for the first leg of this feat of rhythmic endurance, followed by a host of special guests will drop by to show their support for the conquest.

O Music Awards have neatly named it the “Longest Drum Session in a Retail Store” as it will take place in an Oakley store in New York. This follows on from last year’s O Music Awards world record success at an attempt by the Flaming Lips for the most concerts to be performed in a 24-hour period.

This year’s O Music Awards will celebrate “Live Music Day” with a load of awards and live performances from the likes of Kate Nash, Grouplove, Lord Huron and Atlas Genius plus many more. You can stream the show starting 19 July at 7pm through to the Thursday.

Okkervil River have shared the first track from their seventh studio effort, The Silver Gymnasium.

Following on from 2011′s I Am Very Far, the new LP will drop on 3 September via ATO Records – ending the band’s six album stay on Jagjaguwar. Before then, however, they’ve revealed a lyric video for new number ‘It Was My Season’.

Listen to/watch that beneath:

[via Pitchfork]

Tumblrcore rapper, Kitty Pryde has unveiled a rebuff to those endless amounts of sleazy guys in clubs with this new track ‘Barbie Jeep’.

The song is one of Adult Swim’s Summer Singles series and features references to everything from Sid and Nancy to Scooby Doo and R Kelly.

Listen to it below:

Electronic maestro, James Holden returns this week with his first album in seven years. Want even better news? It’s currently streaming online.

The new effort, The Inheritors is out now via Border Community, following on from 2006 debut, The Idiots Are Winning. You can listen to it in full via Pitchfork Advance, the music website’s new immersive album-streaming offshoot site.

The album’s artwork is as beneath. Read our review of it here.

Divine Fits, the super group formed by the merger of Spoon, Wolf Parade, New Bomb Turks and PAPA members, are to record a new live album at Jack White‘s Third Man Records store in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tonight, Divine Fits will play the store’s Blue Room, with their performance due to be taped and released as the aptly titled Live at Third Man LP.

The fourpiece recently enjoyed critical acclaim for début A Thing Called Divine Fits,  and spoke to us in an interview last August about the early days of their project. Watch their video for ‘Would That Not Be Nice’ below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via Pitchfork]

As previously reported, hip-hop’s most hated man Chris Brown has a new single which will undoubtedly garner even more presumably-relished uproar – as it features a previously-unreleased vocal recording from late singer Aaliyah.

The R&B musician, who passed away in 2001, makes a posthumous appearance on ‘Don’t Think They Know’ – which is expected to feature on Brown’s new album X.

That full-length will be released on 16 July, with the Aaliyah-sampling track in question streaming via the video below, in which Brown performs next to a hologram of the deceased singer.

You can stream that beneath:

At his headlining show last night at Bonnaroo, Sir Paul McCartney showed his support for Russian feminist collective Pussy Riot by flashing “Free Pussy Riot” behind him on the video screen as he performed ‘Back in the USSR’.

This isn’t the first time Paul McCartney has showed support for Pussy Riot. Last month he released an open letter to the Russian government with a plea to release members Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from a two-year sentence in prison. The two women were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility” because they held a “punk protest” gig at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

You can watch the fan-filmed footage of that Paul McCartney moment below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With their debut album scheduled for release next month, London R&B duo AlunaGeorge are already planning on celebrating it with a flurry of North American live dates.

Body Music drops on 29 July and will be followed by the band’s first ever tour of the U.S and Canada during August and September. These dates will kick off in Chicago, before shows in New York, Toronto plus others, and will end at Los Angeles’ El Ray Theater on 12 September.

Check out the full schedule beneath:

August
30 – Chicago, IL @ North Coast Music Festival

September
1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Made in America
3 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
5 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
7 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
9 – Toronto, ON @ The Hoxton
11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
12 – Los Angeles, CA @ The El Ray

[via CoS]

Seattle hip-hop group, Shabazz Palaces released their genre-reinventing debut back in 2011 and two years on, we’re reeling.

Now, here’s a rather belated video for album track ’An Echo from the Hosts that Profess Infinitum’, which – surprisingly – isn’t even one of the longest titled numbers on the LP.

The ninja-starring new video was shot by Joris Grelet and can be streamed below:

[via Pitchfork]

Dubstep lover and superstar DJ, Skrillex took over the BBC Radio 1 airwaves to showcase his own creations as well as mix features such as a mash up of D’Angelo’s ‘French Fries’ and Jeremih’s ‘Fuck U All The Time’.

The BBC Essential Mix highlights came from cuts of Disclosure, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky and even a Flosstradamus remix of Subfocus’ ‘Tidal Wave’.

You can listen to the two-hour mix via the Radio 1 website here.

G.O.O.D Music rapper, Pusha T has unveiled a new track from his upcoming solo album.

‘Who I Am’ follows on from the first cut shared from that release, ‘Numbers On The Boards’, and was likewise produced by one Kanye West. It shows too, exhibiting the heavy bass and razor-sharp glitches of West’s much talked-about new record Yeezus.

Listen to ‘Who I Am’ below before My Name Is My Name drops on 16 July.

[via FACT]

Mac Miller is currently streaming his second album, and follow-up to his 2011 debut Blue Slide Park, online in full.

Watching Movies With The Sound Off is out now, featuring the likes of Diplo, Flying Lotus and Pharrell Williams on production duties, as well as collaborations with Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson and more. It can be heard over at Miller’s official website.

Read our Best Fit interview with Mac Miller here. The full tracklisting for this LP is as below:

1. The Star Room
2. Avian
3. I’m Not Real (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)
4. S.D.S.
5. Bird Call
6. Matches (feat. Ab-Soul)
7. I Am Who I Am (Killin’ Time) (feat. Niki Randa)
8. Objects In The Mirror
9. Red Dot Music (feat. Action Bronson)
10. Gees (feat. Schoolboy Q)
11. Watching Movies
12. Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes
13. REMember
14. Someone Like You
15. Aqaurium
16. Youforia
17. Goosebumpz (Bonus Track)
18. O.K. (feat. Tyler, The Creator) (Bonus Track)
19. Claymation (feat. Vinny Radio) (Bonus Track)

A mix of samples used in Kanye West’s new album Yeezus has just been released for your listening pleasure online. 

Mixcloud user Boom Bap Beatnik has taken each track and separated the constituent parts and made a mixtape of the sample material featured within ‘Yeezus’. It makes for an interesting listen as the selected snippets range from Nina Simone’s ‘Strange Fruit’ and TNGHT’s ‘R U Ready’ on ‘Blood On The Leaves’, Gary Glitter and a whole load of ragga.

Yeezus officially drops tomorrow (18 June). It’s expected to sell upwards of 500,000 copies in its first week.

Listen to the sample mixtape below:

Kanye West – Yeezus (Samples Mix) by Boom Bap Beatnik on Mixcloud

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James was joined at Bonnaroo last night by British rocker Billy Idol and R&B artist R. Kelly, as part of the festival’s Superjam sets.

Consequence of Sound reports that the closet connoisseur arrived on stage shortly after wrapping up his own headlining set at the festival, and sang his soulful rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”- a staple of his live shows in recent years- footage of which can be seen below. Idol, meanwhile, joined the ensemble to perform T-Rex hit “Get It On.”

James will team up with fellow members of My Morning Jacket for their very own One Big Holiday festival in January of 2014, while R. Kelly has threatened to prove to the world that he can write “more than just sexual songs” by branching out into country.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Danny Brown has previewed sounds from his upcoming album OLD by showcasing track ‘Kush Koma’ featuring A$AP Rocky.

Last night on BBC Radio 1’s Tim Westwood’s show, the rapper’s track ‘Kush Koma’ resurfaced after a demo was previously previewed online and now features A$AP Rocky contributing to the cut. The version is lifted from his aforementioned new album OLD, which will also feature Rustie and Purity Ring.

Take a listen below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Having recently curated their very own ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in the English capital earlier this year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are set to return for a show at Islington Academy next month.

The show will act as a warm-up of sorts for the band’s headline slot at Latitude Festival. It’ll take place at the North London venue on 15 July, before the aforementioned festival slot on 20 July.

Tickets for show go on sale this Friday (21 June) at 9am.

[via DIY]

With his new album expected later in 2013, Drake has unveiled a mammoth 41-date North American tour.

The R&B star has been finishing off touches to Nothing Was The Same, with this live stretch likely to coincide with that release. He’ll kick things off in Portland at the end of September, with the shows running into late November.

Even more exciting is that both Miguel and Future have been announced as tour supports for the dates.

Check the full schedule beneath:

September
25 Portland, OR: Rose Garden Arena
26 Tacoma, WA: Tacoma Dome
27 Vancouver, BC: Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
29 Calgary, AB: Scotiabank Saddledome
30 Edmonton, AB: Rexall Place

October
2 Saskatoon, SK: Credit Union Centre
3 Winnipeg, MB: MTS Centre
5 Minneapolis, MN: Target Center
6 Kansas City, MO: Sprint Center
8 St. Louis, MO: Scottrade Center
9 Chicago, IL: United Center
11 Indianapolis, IN: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
12 Auburn Hills, MI: The Palace of Auburn Hills
13 Cleveland, OH: Quicken Loans Arena
15 Columbus, OH: Schottenstein Center
16 Buffalo, NY: First Niagara Center
18 Pittsburgh, PA: CONSOL Energy Center
19 Philadelphia, PA: Wells Fargo Center
21 Montreal, QC: Bell Centre
22 Ottawa, ON: Scotiabank Place
26 Hartford, CT: XL Center
27 Newark, NJ: Prudential Center
28 Brooklyn, NY: Barclays Center
30 Boston, MA: TD Garden
31 Washington, DC: Verizon Center

November
2 Charlotte, NC: Time Warner Cable Arena
3 Raleigh, NC: PNC Arena
5 Miami, FL: AmericanAirlines Arena
6 Tampa, FL: Tampa Bay Times Forum
7: Atlanta, GA: Philips Arena
9 New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Arena
10 Dallas, TX: American Airlines Center
12 San Antonio, TX: AT&T Center
13 Houston, TX: Toyota Center
16 Phoenix, AZ: US Airways Center
18 Sacramento, CA: Sleep Train Arena
19 Oakland, CA: Oracle Arena
21 Anaheim, CA: Honda Center
22 Las Vegas, NV: MGM Grand Garden Arena
24 San Diego, CA: Viejas Arena
25 Los Angeles, CA: STAPLES Center

[via Potholes in my Blog]

Saturday’s Glasgow show from The Stone Roses saw a 24 year old fan fall to her death, police confirm.

The BBC report that, while details are scarce, the female audience member was treated at the site before being transferred to the city’s Royal Infirmary where she later passed away. A full post-mortem is expected to take place shortly.

The unnamed woman was one of 50,000 fans at the gig, which saw 24 arrests for anti-social behaviour and drug possession, say NME.

This follows a series of shows from the recently-reformed band at London’s Finsbury Park earlier this month.

Arctic Monkeys have showcased new song ‘Mad Sounds’ at two festivals in Scandinavia over the weekend.

In a gig in Ventura, California last month, the band debuted track ‘Do I Wanna Know’ and now they aired this additional one at Hultsfred Festival in Sweden on Friday and again at NorthSide Festival in Denmark on Sunday.

Both are set to likely appear on their forthcoming album, expected shortly. Arctic Monkeys will be headlining Glastonbury later this month, so even more cuts may be premiered there and then.

Check out the fan-filmed footage of track ‘Mad Sounds’ below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

His new album Yeezus is not even technically out yet, but that hasn’t stopped Kanye West from plugging one of its lead tracks in a trailer for a new film by Martin Scorsese.

The Wolf of Wall Street is scheduled to hit cinemas in September and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey in what’s been described as a “crime-drama” about stock market fraudster Jordan Belfort.

The trailer video features Kanye’s track ‘Black Skinhead’, which also samples Gary Glitter within it. Read our review of Yeezus here and watch the clip below.

You may think months stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London would give you the spare time you’ve always wanted to, say, learn the violin, or maybe finish reading Ulysses. But not Julian Assange, he’s reportedly working on some rap music to pass the time.

CMU report that the WikiLeaks head honcho, currently being protected from charges of sexual assault in Sweden in fear of extradition the U.S. for claims of treason, leaking and more, is collaborating on a new track by Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13. Assange is said to have met one of the band’s members, Rene Perez Joglar, recently at the embassy.

“We are making an interesting song about the new politics as a result of internet and media distortion,” said Assange. “[Joglar is in the] most popular Latin American political group and they come from Puerto Rico, which has had its problems with the US”.

Joglar, who goes by the rap name of ‘Residente’, has urged fans to submit ideas for the track via social media.

Owen Pallett is set to head back to the UK for a flurry of live dates later this summer.

The multi-instrumentalist has announced a series of small venue shows scheduled for August, with UK dates booked in London, Brighton and Manchester.

Pallett is likely to showcase some new music from his upcoming LP, expected later this year. Check the full live dates listed beneath.

August
5 – Prague (CZ), Meat Factory (with Buke and Gase)
6 – Wien (A), Szene (with Buke and Gase)
7 – Nürnberg (DE), K4
9 – Haldern (DE), Haldern Festival
10 – Brighton (UK), The Haunt
11 – London (UK), Bush Hall (with Buke and Gase)
12 – Manchester (UK), The Wall (with Buke and Gase)

[Photo by Ro Cemm, news via The 405]

Atoms For Peace played a surprise gig in L.A over the weekend, with a pop-up ‘Club Amok’ club night launching at the city’s Café-Club Fais Do-Do to preview what to expect on their upcoming tour.

Thom Yorke and co performed a 14 track set, with tracks from their recent debut going back to back with Yorke solo numbers and a rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Paperbag Writer’. The night was then closed with a DJ set from Gaslamp Killer.

Watch a fan-shot clip of ‘Ingenue’ below:

[via CoS]

MGMT have announced a series of European live dates as they prep the release of their new album.

The band are widely expected to release a new LP later this year, and its release date could be hinted at with these shows scheduled for September and October.

Among them are stints in Glasgow, London, Manchester, Dublin – among other major cities. Check the full schedule beneath.

Tickets go on sale this Friday (21 June).

September
26 Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall
27 Brussels, Belgium – AB
29 Stockholm, Sweden – Circus
30 Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene

October
1 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
3 Berlin, Germany – Astra
4 Vienna, Austria – Gasometer
5 Munich, Germany – Kesselhaus
6 Zurich, Switzerland – Komplex
8 Paris, France – Olympia
9 Hamburg, Germany – Docks
10 Utrecht, Holland – Vrendenburg
12 Glasgow, UK – ABC1
13 Wolverhampton, UK – Civic
14 Manchester, UK – Apollo
16 London, UK – Forum
19 Dublin, Ireland – Olympia

Brixton songstress, Jessie Ware has been announced as the winner of one of the 2013 O2 Silver Clef Awards, a ceremony hosted by the Nordoff-Robbins charity, which uses the proceeds to provide music therapy treatment to ailing individuals.

The Mercury-nominated singer, who released debut album Devotion last year, will be handed the ‘Best Newcomer Award’, presented by Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi.

This year the organization hopes to raise £500,000 from the awards to fund 20,000 “life-transforming music therapy sessions for children and adults across the UK”.

About receiving the award, Ware remarks: “I am so honoured to be receiving this award from Nordoff Robbins, who do such amazing work helping people with music therapy. I am really looking forward to the Awards. It’s been such a wonderful year for me and to be getting this award is a really special one!”

The singer joins the likes of Coldplay, Labyrinth, Barry Gibb, Alison Moyet and more in receiving awards this year. All the acts will collect their trophies on 28 June at the official ceremony, held at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

After a spell producing and co-writing buzz-making tracks for the likes of Solange, Sky Ferreira and more, Dev Hynes has announced he will release a new Blood Orange album shortly.

The former Lightspeed Champion / Test Icicles musician first used the moniker for Coastal Grooves back in 2011, and will now follow-up it up with the tentatively-named Cupid Deluxe.

The release date is not yet confirmed but will surface sometime in 2013, after more recently working with Mutya Keisha Siobhan, Laura Welsh and others.

[via DIY]

Upcoming London pop starlet, Chlöe Howl has shared a new video for her track ‘No Strings’, out as a single via Columbia on 5 August.

We’ve already seen one accompanying clip, but now here’s another – the “official” one, we’re told. It’s been released in anticipation for Howl’s first London headline date – set to take place at Electrowerkz next week. Tickets for that show are available via a ballot system only.

Watch this new vid below:

M.I.A will debut new material later today, the first proper since her 2010 album Maya. The track in question, however, has been teased online over the weekend.

The Tamil-descended musician is expected to release new LP Matangi before the year’s end and will preceded it with a new track premiering on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show this evening.

Before then though, you can hear some snippets of ‘Bring The Noize’ over at M.I.A’s official website, with a preview of what’s likely to be its accompanying video showcased in the Vine clips below.

‘Bring the Noize’ was previewed earlier this year in a mix M.I.A did for fashion line Kenzo.

Chicago indie outfit, Smith Westerns are streaming their upcoming new album Soft Will right now via NPR.

The fourpiece are set to drop their third record to date next week (24/25 June), following on from 2011′s brilliant Dye It Blonde. But before then, you can listen to it in full beneath the LP’s tracklisting below. Read our review of the record here.

1 3am Spiritual
2 Idol
3 Glossed
4 XXIII
5 Fool Proof
6 White Oath
7 Only Natural
8 Best Friend
9 Cheer Up
10 Varsity

Black Sabbath have made history by breaking Bob Dylan‘s record for the biggest interval between two consecutive number one albums.

The global record had previously stood at 38 years, charting in the U.S, between the singer’s 1970 release New Morning and 2009′s Together Through Life. But now Black Sabbath‘s comeback LP 13 has topped it after their second ever album Paranoid made it to the top spot 42 years and 8 months ago.

The album also slashed Rod Stewart‘s UK record of 37 years, with Ozzy Osbourne saying of the achievement: ”It’s great! But Rod’s the same as us, we’ve got something other people haven’t got. It’s all manufactured bullshit these days. But the likes of Rod, and Elton John and us have got something different. We know our craft.”

Elsewhere in the charts, last week’s chart-toppers Disclosure drop to number 5 with debut Settle, while Daft Punk drift to fourth spot. The new entry from Boards of Canada, Tomorrow’s Harvest, made it to a whopping 7th place – a major feat for an album with very little mainstream promotion.

Robin Thicke‘s ‘Blurred Lines’ stays the UK’s number one single for the third week.

Painfully hip avant-garde hip hop newcomer Zebra Katz has announced a super intimate show at London’s Madame Jojo’s.

Taking place tomorrow as part of the weekly White Heat club night (18 June), the show follows on from the 25 year old New Yorker’s appearance at XOYO earlier this month.

Support comes from William Arcane and Black Gold Buffalo.

Tickets are priced at £6 and are available now.

Jay-Z has announced the release date of his upcoming album Magna Carta Holy Grail, amid details of a partnership with Samsung that will see the company’s smartphone users receive the album 72 hours ahead of the official release.

The album – his fifteenth studio record and twelfth solo release – will be out 4 July and was revealed in a commercial that aired during last night’s NBA finals game between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. While its title might be as ostentatious and hubristic as Kanye West‘s imminent Yeezus, both albums already look set to pave the way for a sequel to the pair’s 2011 smash Watch The Throne.

In the commercial, Jay-Z makes esoteric allusions to the lawless internet as “like the Wild West,” and that his assembled cast- including Rick Rubin, Swizz Beats and perennial collaborator Pharrell- need to “write the new rules.” He is shown telling Rubin that he was to “give [the album] to the world at one time and let them share it,” though it would appear that some will be getting it rather sooner than others.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that a deal worth $5 million had been struck between Jay-Z and Samsung, giving the company the rights to distribute one million copies of the album gratis to Galaxy smartphone users, three days ahead of the official release date. The Journal sees the deal as the latest move by Samsung in its ongoing contest with Apple and its new iTunes Radio service, suggesting that both mark “the increasing importance of corporate sponsors to the music industry.”

Watch the teaser for Magna Carta Holy Grail below:

Couldn’t make it to Tennessee?  Never fear.  Bonnaroo has been streaming this weekend right here.

With channels continuously filming, Bonnaroo will be presenting select artist performances throughout the duration of the festival via Ustream.

Here are the offerings coming up today:

With his album already leaked online days before its release, there’s still some things to still look forward to from Kanye West – who has now debuted a new short film of sorts based around 2000 cult movie American Psycho.

The video was premiered at a number of projection events held this weekend, with a clip surfacing online from the L.A screening. The film sees the two characters listening to Yeezus shortly before Christian Bale’s character of Patrick Bateman murders the other.

You can check out the fan-shot clip beneath:

[Photo via CoS]

Alabama native Waxahatchee is becoming an increasingly familiar face. You’ll find her bleach blonde hair lining the pages of websites and zines, mirroring the anticipation surrounding her sophomore album.

Cerulean Salt is due for release via Wichita Recordings on July 1st and, although nothing more than a lucky coincidence, its punk-infused sound is brilliantly timed for this country, as the genre continues to re-find its feet.

Her sell-out Shacklewell Arms show, with full band, was followed by a stripped-back set at Dalston Roof Park and, in a perfect moment of pathetic fallacy, sun was replaced by clouds for Katie Crutchfield’s appearance to the make-shift stage. Two things became immediately apparent: she has an effortless knack for simple, beautifully crafted songwriting and a voice that is gently beguiling.

Away from the punchy, scuzz of the record, the songs translated easily to this acoustic outing, with the likes of ‘Coast To Coast’ and ‘Swan Dive’ holding their pristine melancholy as well as the attention of the lucky handful in attendance; indeed the latter track was a real highlight. There is something of Elliot Smith about Waxahatchee’s honesty and underlying nostalgia, which worked so poignantly in this performance style.

Most impressively, Crutchfield had the presence and quality to avert eyes and ears from the settings somewhat intrusive fan, which whirred away inflating the roof above our heads. Delicate but immersive, it was an ideal remedy for the long week passed; enchanting stuff.

Photograph taken at Troxy, London 11/06/13 by Jason Williamson

After Angel Haze‘s recent guest spot on a cut of Woodkid‘s I Love You, N.E.R.D/The Neptunes man and Daft Punk collaborator Pharrell Williams has turned in a reworking of the track.

Pharrell’s trademark groove-infused funk nestles snugly under the French musician’s lulling croon on the track, which features on his acclaimed debut record The Golden Age.

 

Warner/Chappell is facing a lawsuit challenging the copyright status of ‘Happy Birthday to You’, famously the most profitable song in history.

The makers of  a documentary about the song claim to have enough evidence to force the song’s legal owners to return millions of dollars made each year in licensing the song for films, commercials, radio and theatre.

Good Morning To You Productions has filed a lawsuit against Warner/Chappell that effectively argues the copyright held by the American publishing company isn’t particularly robust. The lawsuit explains:

More than 120 years after the melody to which the simple lyrics of Happy Birthday to You is set was first published, defendant Warner/Chappell boldly, but wrongfully and unlawfully, insists that it owns the copyright to Happy Birthday to You, and with that copyright the exclusive right to authorize the song’s reproduction, distribution, and public performances pursuant to federal copyright law. Defendant Warner/Chappell either has silenced those wishing to record or perform Happy Birthday to You or has extracted millions of dollars in unlawful licensing fees from those unwilling or unable to challenge its ownership claims.

Irrefutable documentary evidence, some dating back to 1893, s hows that the copyright to Happy Birthday to You, if there ever was a valid copyright to any part of the song expired no later than 1921 and that if defendant Warner/Chappell owns any rights to Happy Birthday to You, those rights are limited to the extremely narrow right to reproduce and distribute specific piano arrangements for the song published in 1935. Significantly, no court has ever adjudicated the validity or scope of the defendant’s claimed interest in Happy Birthday to You, nor in the song’s melody or lyrics, which are themselves independent works.

Plaintiff GMTY, on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated, seeks a declaration that Happy Birthday to You is dedicated to public use and is in the public domain as well as monetary damages and restitution of all the unlawful licensing fees that defendant Warner/Chappell improperly collected from GMTY and all other Class members.

The complaint cites multiple sources for the song’s melody and lyrics alongside several copyrights which are now expired and suggest that song belongs placed in the public domain.

As The Hollywood Reporter suggest, the “smoking gun” of the complaint is “a citation to a copy of a 1911 work published by the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church” that prints the lyrics ”Happy birthday to you/Happy birthday to you/Happy birthday, dear John/Happy birthday to you” alongside the note  ”sung to the same tune as the ‘Good Morning’…the songs and exercises referred to in this program may be in these books:… ‘Song Stories for the Sunday School,’ by Patty Hill.”

The song ‘Good Morning to All’ uses a melody that would evolve into ‘Happy Birthday to You’ and the Indiana school is report to have filed for copyright on their version in 1912.

Read the full complaint at Scribd.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

CCTV footage has been acquired by TMZ that purports to show the moment rapper 2 Chainz was robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco on June 9th.

The enthralling saga of Tauheed Epps continues, and if the footage does indeed show the armed robbery in question, then it’s going to be even harder for him to offer fresh denials of the incident.

2 Chainz had been in San Francisco to appear at the KMEL Summer Jam, when he was approached in the street by two men, both of whom produced handguns and chased the rapper and his entourage. The video shows one of the suspects, in a white shirt, skipping playfully in pursuit of Epps, who can be seen lying prone on the floor while the other suspect, in a black sweatshirt, steals his wallet and cellphone.

Epps had previously taken to Twitter to refute the reports, but the San Francisco Police Department confirmed in turn that the robbery had indeed taken place.

Watch the video below:

Scandinavian-Antipodean twins Miranda and Elektra Kilbey, otherwise known as Say Lou Lou, have been signed to Columbia Records.

The sisters, whose previous releases ‘Julian‘ and B-side ‘Fool of Me‘ gained them significant blogosphere acclaim and over 100,000 plays on Soundcloud, told Billboard last month that they were “in the middle of a very intense recording period,” and had material for a début album that they hoped to release late this year- a date that CMU reports has been pushed back to 2014 while the pair continue to record between Stockholm and Los Angeles.

CMU spoke to Say Lou Lou, who said that to have the label “supporting our creative vision feels amazing.”

Two times Mercury winner PJ Harvey has been named in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

The 43-year old Dorset born songwriter and performer will receive an MBE for services to music, recognising a 20-year career.

Harvey began performing in her teens as part of Automatic Diamini – her first collaboration with John Parish, who she would work with numerous times over the years including her last record, 2011′s Let England Shake.

Singer Adele and artist Anish Kapoor are among those joining Harvey in receiving honours today.

With just days to go before Yeezus drops, reports are coming in that Kanye West‘s new album has surfaced online.

Many social networks are a-buzz with people claiming to have downloaded the record, with SPIN pointing to one supposed file.

It’s also claimed that the below is the final, official tracklisting for the release.

1. “On Sight”
2. “Black Skinhead”
3. “I Am a God”
4. “New Slaves” feat. Frank Ocean
5. “Hold My Liquor” feat. Chief Keef and Justin Vernon
6. “I’m in It”
7. “Blood on the Leaves”
8. “Guilt Trip” feat. Kid Cudi
9. “Send It Up” feat. King L
10. “Bound 2″

Yeezus is released on 18 June.

Uber-producer and Def Jam founder, Rick Rubin has spoken in interview about his role on the new Kanye West album, Yeezus.

Earlier in the week, Kanye West had told The New York Times about all the collaborators he worked with on the record, one of which was producer Rick Rubin, who has join forces with everyone from Beastie Boys to Johnny Cash.

Rubin is credited on Yeezus as an executive producer and was personally head-hunted to give the album a cohesive sound just three weeks before a final copy had to be handed into Def Jam.

In a Q&A with blogs.wsj, Rick Rubin describes that Yeezus is sounding more minimal, stripped-down sound with less of the R&B elements.

“The raw material was very strong but hadn’t yet come into focus. Many of the vocals hadn’t been recorded yet, and many of those still didn’t have lyrics. From what he played me, it sounded like several months more work had to be done,” the producer told the publication.

Rubin goes on to say that one track on the LP has a “punk edge in the Suicide tradition” and that Kanye hopes his work “will inspire others to push the boundaries of what’s possible in hip hop”

You can check out the whole interview here

Berlin- based producer Travis Steward, also known as Machinedrum, is readying his concept album Vapor City via the Ninja Tune label.

Steward has plans to turn each track into a representation of the different districts in a city of his imagination. Vapor City will be the follow up to widely acclaimed LP Rooms, Steward will be launching a four-track EP to accompany the release.

Check out the album artwork above and take a listen to new track ‘Eyesdontlie’ below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pitchfork Festival Paris will return for its third year in 2013, with the first acts confirmed for the event.

The fest will run from 31 October – 2 November at the Grande halle de la Villette in the French capital and will play host to the likes of The Knife, Hot Chip and Deerhunter.

They’ll be joined by Warpaint, Junip and The Haxan Cloak, with more acts set to be announced shortly. Early-bird tickets are on sale now here.

The full line-up so far is as below:

The Knife
Hot Chip
Deerhunter
Warpaint
The Haxan Cloak
Junip

Rough Trade have teamed up with End of the Road festival to release a 2CD compilation album comprising of acts set to appear at this year’s event.

The collection, which features tracks by Belle & Sebastian, Jens Lekman, Warpaint, Efterklang, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Sigur Rós, Savages and more, will be released 1 July before the festival takes place at the end of August.

“We at Rough Trade are pleased to be at EOTR once again this year and are delighted to present a compilation, that we hope captures the spirit of one of the most outstanding festivals in the calendar,” said the independent outlet.

Check out the full tracklist beneath:

CD1
1. The Leisure Society – Another Sunday Psalm
2. Jens Lekman – Waiting for Kirsten
3. Belle & Sebastian – Women’s Realm
4. Angel Olsen – The Waiting
5. Damien Jurado – Working Titles
6. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Inspiration Information
7. Diana Jones – If I Had a Gun
8. Houndmouth – Penitentiary
9. Doug Paisley – No One But You
10. Night Beds – Borrowed Time
11. Jessica Pratt – Streets of Mine
12. Matthew E. White – Will You Love Me
13. Warpaint – Undertow
14. Efterklang – Apples
15. Seventeen Evergreen – Polarity Song
16. Teleman – Cristina
17. Serafina Steer – Night Before Mutiny

CD2
1. David Byrne & St. Vincent – I Should Watch TV
2. Dutch Uncles – Flexxin
3. Deptford Goth – Union
4. POLIÇA – Tiff
5. Sigur Rós – Brennisteinn
6. Pins – Luvu4lyf
7. Savages – She Will
8. The Walkmen – We Can’t Be Beat
9. Parquet Courts – Master of My Craft
10. King Khan & The Shrines – Land Of The Freak
11. Dinosaur Jr. – Watch the Corners
12. Eels – On the Ropes
13. Futur Primitif – Nuclear Shockwave
14. Cayucas – High School Lover
15. Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs – Feathers and Tar
16. Merchandise – Time
17. Palma Violets – Last of the Summer Wine

Art-rockers These New Puritans have debuted the darkly cinematic video for ‘Fragment Two,’ the first track we heard from new album Field of Reeds.

The video consists of a single panning shot that takes in an ashen, volcanic landscape, and ends looking out over a sprawling cityscape lit up by night, as band members and musicians alternately interpolate the sonic textures of the song.

‘Fragment Two’ is directed by Sydney-born artist and film-maker Daniel Askill, with whom the band worked on their video for We Want War, the first single from 2010′s Hidden.

We described Field of Reeds as exhibiting a “quite astonishing complexity, depth and beauty, which might just mark out its creator as a genius.” Read our full review here.

Watch the video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via thisisfakediy]