Hard Knock Life: M.I.A. has now joined Jay Z's label Roc Nation. She's currently working on a new album titled Matangi.

Going Old School: Alice Cooper plans on killing the audience at his Bonnaroo performance, or at least the people in the front two rows.

Not So Fly: LFO member Brad Fischetti is not too keen on the idea of girls getting abortions. He's been seen praying outside of clinics as well as tweeting the names of the patients and staff.

Oh, Danzig: Danzig comes out saying he would have played Wolverine better than Hugh Jackman. And in fights, he would never just take a swing...

Only Two Episodes Left: The National recorded "The Rains of Castamere" for the Game of Thrones season two soundtrack. The soundtrack is planned to be released June 16, after the final episode of the season.

No Surprise Here: Will.iam. finally came out saying that he can't sing and often uses Auto-Tune for his vocals.

When You Get So Famous: Lou Reed got a new discovered spider named after him because it's a velvet spider that likes to live underground. Scientists are nerds.

Finally, "I have three words for you: H-2-0, Go!"

Continue reading »

Best News of The Day: Willow Smith is going to be playing Annie in a new version of the well known musical that her father will be directing. Also Jay Z is on the project to write new songs for the musical. Personally, I would love to see Bono play Daddy Warbucks.

Half Way to Fifty: To Celebrate 25 years as a group, Public Enemy is going to release two albums this year. Collaborations expected on the albums include Brother Ali, Henry Rollins, Tom Morello, DMC, and more!

Audio Nerds Have Their Party Hats On: The Library of Congress's National Recording Restistry just added 25 new audio files that will be added to the preserved collection. This year the batch includes Bo Diddley, Dolly Parton, Grateful Dead, and my sworn enemy: Prince.

Perfect Timing for Sasquatch: Beck is releasing a single through Jack White's Third Man Records. Side A of the 7-inch is titled "I Just Started Hating Some People Today."

He Never Wanted to Stop: Beastie Boys apparently got in the studio together in late 2011 to record a few tracks. The time spent in the studio was always sensitive due to how Adam was feeling at the time.

Pick It Up, Eh?: Victoria Island's Annual Ska Festival just announced the lineup for this year. Included in this year's festivities are the Pietasters, Toots and the Maytals, and Larry and His Flask.

2002 Coming to Bite You in the Butt Again: RIAA is claiming that Limewire owes them $72 trillion. Yes, that is more than the US National debt.

In honor of Bob Dylan's birthday, I'm going to link to my Dad's favorite Bob Dylan song.

Continue reading »

Bjork in the Classroom!: The New York Public Library and the Children's Museum of Manhattan will host both elementary and middle school students to explore the relations of art, science, nature, and technology through Bjork's app of her album Biophilia.

Say It Ain't So: Weezer's drummer Patrick Wilson was just interviewed about his solo project Special Goodness as well as his upcoming album Natural. He also mentioned how great it was to play on a cruise ship, and how he is willing to do it again.

Super Group, Activate: Britt Daniel from Spoon + Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade + Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks = Divine Fits. The first record should be released later this year on Merge Records.

What Else Is There to Spend Money On: Pharrell Williams starts a clothing line called "i am OTHER." The clothing line was built to be a "cultural movement dedicated to Thinkers, Innovators and Outcasts." Clever, no really.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Has Nothing on This: While the exact location for the Hip Hop Hall of Fame in New York has yet to be announced, you can look forward to the place including a restaurant, arcade, concert lounge, television studios, marquee, community and corporate rooms, and a gift shop.
I wanna go.

Pantera: Rules. It's been twenty years since the release of "Walk." In an interview, former drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott was asked who would replace Dimebag Darrell Abbott if the group were to ever reform. He responded with the name of Zakk Wylde.

Finally, sometimes you just want to see a dog in a swing, and that's okay...

Continue reading »

Let's All Go To Missoula: The first announcement of bands for this year's Total Fest have been announced. Bands include Seattle's Sandrider and Dreamdecay along with Bellingham's No-Fi Soul Rebellion.

Exciting!: The xx released five new songs the other day on YouTube. They'll be playing at the Showbox at the Market on July 25th. Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 25. Can you guess how much tickets are?

It's Okay to Lie About Your Age: Loretta Lynn does. It was just found out that she is three years older than what was believed.

What a Billionaire Wants, A Billionaire Gets: The founder of Facebook got married this weekend. Mark Zuckerbergs even got Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day to sing "Last Night on Earth" for the ceremonies.

Hometown Love: Muse received the opportunity this weekend to carry the Olympic torch through their hometown. 7,000 people showed up to watch the trio run about a mile.

Since it's raining and summer is being a tease, here's a little springtime music for you:

Continue reading »

A Well Deserved Moment of Silence: The New York State Senate adopted a resolution to honor MCA.

Split Ends Suck: After six years, Handsome Furs are calling it quits. The husband and wife duo didn't give a reason for the break up, but hopefully it is not due to health reasons, which was the reason for their cancellation of their European tour this past March.

No Excuses: Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is upset and explains remorse for Donna Summer passing before she had the opportunity of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Supposedly the voting group has had her nominated before, but she never quite made it to the final round.

Family Feuds: Van Halen postpones 31 summer shows, including their Spokane and Portland dates. No specific reasons were given why, but "insiders" say that the fights between the band members have been intense.

Artsy Fartsy: Kanye West's short film Cruel Summer will be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival next week. The film takes up seven screens and is said to be part art installation, part film.

You Too Can Drive to Bremerton: Want a car for only ten dollars? Mike Herrera is raffling off his 1963 Cadillac Series 62 to recoup some of the losses of stolen gear from Tumbledown's tour.

Mandatory May 18th Post: It's been 32 years since Mt. St. Helens did its thing. So here's a promo video for Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's new EP. The group will be playing in Ballard tonight for a free set with KEXP at 5:30pm. Yay for Ballard!

Talk About Being Brave: Iranian Rapper Shahin Najafi, has been forced to go into hiding since a $100,000 bounty has been placed on his head after releasing his single "Naqi." The song is about the Tehran regime and asks for the Islamic cleric to save Iran.

Big Expectations: Taylor Swift is donating four million dollars to the Country Music Hall of Fame for a new Education Center. The new building will be called the Taylor Swift Education Center. Here's to hoping that she one day actually gets into that Hall of Fame, because that could be awkward!

The Saddest Break Up of the Year: The popular children's pop group the Wiggles will have three original members retiring soon. Luckily replacements have already been found including a current dancer on the show who will be the first female Wiggle.

Bono Loves Mark Zuckerberg: As of tomorrow, Bono will become the world's richest musician, thanks to Facebook. Besides acquiring a net of up to $1.5 billion, U2 is currently in the process of a new album working with the writers of One Direction. Barf.

Proof That Emo Does Hurt: Reports are coming out that the "over the eye hair swoop" can damage your eyesight and possibly give you lazy eye. Hair dresser Roseanne Anderson was quoted, "I have seen lots of fashions come and go but this is probably the only hairstyle in my 40 years of hairdressing that could be a health hazard."

It's Thursday, so let's all be jealous of this bulldog shall we?

Continue reading »

Do You Have Any Vegan Options Please: Marky Ramone is launching a meatball food truck in NYC called "Marky Ramone's Cruisin' Kitchen." Too bad it's not a hot dog stand and so you could call it "Beat On The Brat(wurst)."

Holy Moly: Have you seen the lineup for Rock the Bells this year? Even Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are excited.

Good For Him: Bill Ward is officially not going to be playing the drums with Black Sabbath during the upcoming reunion shows. It even looks like the band didn't want him to as they offered him only to only play three songs with the group at the Download Festival in June. Ward did write a nice letter to the fans explaining how he had to stand up for himself and not partake in the reunion.

Worth the Watch for a Good Chuckle: Someone gave a pair of headphones to a few kids, with Skrillex playing on them, and asked them to explain what they thought about the artist and the dubstep genre.

Don't Ever Talk to The Drummer: Mark Hoppus made another video. Instead of how to workout, he's now telling bass players that it's okay to not look bored while playing.

Now What Are They Up To: Google is offering billion dollar checks for blanket rights to record labels. The article doesn't mention which label the money was offered to or for what purpose.

Standing Up to the Man: The String Cheese Incident are now practicing guerilla tactics to avoid Ticket Master completely on their upcoming tour.

I Would Be Bummed Too: While in Newfoundland, as part of the White Stripes "Free Show a Day" while on their 2007 Canadian Tour, they played only a single note. Jack White is now upset with Guinness Book of World Records because they won't offer the White Stripes with the title of "Shortest Show Ever." One of the members of the book was probably at that show and was bummed that they stood for so long to hear the fastest cymbal catch done by Megan.

Radness of the Day: Vancouver's White Lung posted a new video to promote their upcoming North American Tour, and the song is really good!

• Cavesinging.blogspot.com
• Henderson (left)

Upcoming Northwest Cave Singers dates:

5/25- Tacoma @ The New Frontier
5/28-George @ Sasquatch
7/28- Stanley, ID @ Sawtooth
8/3- Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon
8/4- Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon

What the What What?!: Refused just announced a few dates in Western Canada. One of them is in Vancouver at The Vogue Theatre. If you're too lazy to click the link, the group will be in Vancouver August 27th. As of yet there are no U.S. Northwest dates announced, but Bumbershoot is still announcing artists... All I know is I'm so glad I didn't go to Coachella...

A-dorable: Three kids put together a mock video of the Beastie Boy's Sabotage. Speaking of different "versions" of the song, hardcore band Incendiary (who's playing RainFest next weekend) recently covered the song.

More like "Knarly" Morris: Keith Morris sat down and talked about his current favorite bands, the first record he ever owned, and that one time an exotic dancer "got all up in his grill" while performing with, ironically, the Circle Jerks.

52,000 Angry Ticket Buyers VS One Event Producer: Lady Gaga was officially denied a permit to perform at her sold out show in Indonesia.

This Could Really Go Either Way: Harry Potter's Snape is going to play CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal in an upcoming movie about the start of the legendary club.

A Black Metal Bass Player is Now a Sitting Member of the Greek Parliament: Giorgos Germenis, from the band Naer Mataron has been elected to paraliament. Giorgos is known to be part of the Golden Dawn Party, which is considered to be one of the most extreme and highly active right-winged parties throughout Europe.

Pretty!: New Jersey's Screaming Females did a delightful cover of Sheryl Crow's "If it Makes You Happy." Guitarist Marissa Paternoster was also recently voted at #77 for Spin's 100 Greatest Guitarists.

Metal Meal of the Day: NPR is streaming the new St. Vitus record titled Lillie: F-65!

Last But Not Least: Watch Willie Nelson cover Pearl "Huckleberry" Jam's "Just Breathe."

A Nice Thing to Do: A mural for MCA was put up recently in Midwood Brooklyn.

Not Too Shabby: Two demos from the Foo Fighters' One by One have been leaked online. Dave Grohl called them the "Million-Dollar Demos."

To Amazon or Not to Amazon: The new Rush album is being turned into a novel called Clockwork Angels thanks to sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson.

Backing It Up Hard: For this year's Saturday Night Live finale, premiering on May 19th, the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger will be the host. And when he performs, Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters will be his backing band.

I Just Don't Understand: Tennis star Serena Williams just came out with her rap debut.

There is No Way This Guy is a Sk8r Boi: Chard Kreoger and Nickelback are currently working with Avril Lavigne on a new record.

Well, at Least They're Listening to Something: The Funhouse is still set to close, but the Seattle Department of Planning and Development are accepting comments on the "environmental impacts of the seven-story, 107-unit building planned."

Road Trip!: MERGE Records has donated their catalog and art to North Carolina's Southern Folk Collection which will be open to the public in 2013.

Some People Need a Hobby: There's currently a class-action lawsuit filed that involves anyone that bought an iPod from Sept. 12, 2006 to March 31, 2009. Someone out there really didn't like their iTunes update.

RIP ODB: Ol' Dirty Bastard's biopic is going to portray the artist with for his wits and not his buffoonery. The movie will also not depict anything after his release from prison in early 2003.

It's All About the Chocolate Chip Cookies: H.R. from Bad Brains was interviewed by Noisey about the group's upcoming documentary A Band in DC, and their upcoming album. In the interview H.R. talks about R. Kelly and how they went to Super Hero school together.

Pretty: Tacoma's Oberhofer recorded a version of Kanye West's "Runaway" and it's up for grabs!

Is There A Better Way to Release a Song: Sigur Rós is premiering a new track "Dauðalogn" off the upcoming album Valtari during the last 5 minutes of tonight's "The Vampire Diaries."

Still Amazing to Me: Contributing Editor to the Rolling Stone's article with Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! briefly spoke about the first time they met and how small the circle was that Laura kept her story to.

As if the Concert Wasn't Bad Enough: Fans were beaten and eye sockets were broken after a Red Hot Chilli Peppers show in New Jersey.

FINALLY: Rihanna is finally breaking ties with Chris Brown, or at least unfollowing him on Twitter hours after Breezy released a freestyle rap that was obviously about her.

Pretty Part II: Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich along with Laura Bettison and Joey Waronker has started a band called Ultraísta. So far they've released one song called "smalltalk" that you can listen to here.

It Was Only a Matter of Time: Freddie Mercury is up next on the hologram appearance. And the people putting on the show are bummed that Tupac did it first.

Here's the first preview track from the upcoming Onuinu album Mirror Gazer, which comes out August 21 on Bladen County. It's the first full-length release from Onuinu—the alter ego of Dorian Duvall, who recorded the record with Jeremy Sherrer co-producing and playing drums.

Tell us more about Mirror Gazer, press release!

Dorian calls the music Disco-Hop and is easy to cite influences like: Yellow Magic Orchestra, Michael Jackson, the Brainfeeder Crew, and Stones Throw Records. The giant chorus of opening track, "Mirror Gazer," the '70s shimmer of "Happy Home," and the roller rink ready "Always Awkward," point to his foundation in the disco, power pop and hip hop worlds.

"I was drawn more to guitar when I was a teenager listening to Hendrix and jazz and then transitioned into more pop music like the Beatles, Kinks, Zombies," Duvall says.

Here's "Happy Home," which shows evidence of that balance between classic Anglo pop and Dorian's later influences, like Madlib, J Dilla, Prince, and Jan Hammer.

LISTEN:

Onuinu - "Happy Home"

Mirror Gazer cover image and tracklist after the jump!

Continue reading »

A Change for the Good: The lead singer of the Village People has been fighting in the courts to recuperate the rights to songs he wrote 34 years ago. The crazy thing is, Victor Willis won due to the provision of a copyright law called "termination rights." The provision states that after 35 years, the writer can invoke the rights of the song back. Bruce Springsteen probably just got really excited for 2013.

Township Rebellion: The City of Chicago is pulling the permit obtained for the National Nurses United rally after Tom Morello was added to the list of events.

Trying it Out Raw: Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine can finally be quoted that they're nearly done on the recording process of the group's latest album. Although, the recording audio nerds could be bummed about this record as Kevin mentioned he wants the album to sound very raw "with a drum and a bass on one track."

Jack White Loves His Balloons: After releasing several limited release LP's into the sky with just balloons a few weeks ago, Jack White is now wanting to have his record to be the first record played in space.

You Go Girl: Aretha Franklin will be one of the six people to be inducted in to the Gospel Hall of Fame on August 14 this year.

Penguin Suited Up: The Hives posted a video for their new song "Go Right Ahead." After all this time, they still look pretty snazzy!

The Truth: Neil from Black Breath talks about his passion for good sci-fi and also how he thinks we should "Fuck mainstream horseshit!"

Interesting Watch of the Day: Documentary on Ireland's DIY scene for the past 5-20 years made it on to YouTube. Give it a watch if you have the time. Or send it to your friend or roommate that won't go out to the show with you because it's a whole "two blocks away."

Says the Wall Street Journal:

NEW YORK — Tom Gabel, the lead singer of punk rock band Against Me!, says he's becoming a woman.

The 31-year-old tells Rolling Stone that as a kid he felt disconnected from his body and has a condition called gender dysphoria. He plans to take hormones and undergo electrolysis. He also is considering gender reassignment surgery.

Says Gabel: "Growing up, my experience with transsexualism was nothing but shame."

Gabel says his new name will be Laura Jane Grace. He says he's not attracted to men and will still be married to his wife. They have a 2-year-old daughter.

And, here's a clip of what Rolling Stone has posted on their site:

Gabel only told a handful of family and friends about her plan to transition before talking to Rolling Stone. Because this is the first time a major rock star has come out as transgender, the singer made a point of speaking openly about it. "I'm going to have embarrassing moments," says Gabel, "and that won't be fun. But that's part of what talking to you is about – is hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly kind."

The full story of Gabel's transformation is in the latest issue, on newsstands this Friday (May 11th). In it, the singer tells Josh Eells about her history of gender dysphoria, the specifics of the transition process and what becoming Laura Jane Grace will mean for the future of Against Me!

Sure, I hated the last album and half Against Me! released, but this is huge. All the respect in the world goes out to Tom Gabel for going public with this. Very brave.