Thanksgiving Playlist

Whether it's family, friends, food, or football everyone has something to be thankful for not just today, but everyday. That said, it's easy to fill up on too much food, throw the remote down after the Cowboys give up another touchdown, or storm off after your relatives give you just a little too much lip. I for one am thankful for music, and whether your day be friendly or dysfunctional, I hope there's something in this playlist that whets your appetite more than another plate of mashed potatoes ever could.

Have a safe and happy holiday, and try not to injure yourself during the Black Friday madness tomorrow, all those discounted DVDs won't watch themselves.

"Mashed Potato Time"- Dee Dee Sharp

"And Your Bird Can Sing"- The Beatles

"Ham & Eggs"- A Tribe Called Quest

"Family Business"- Kanye West

"Thanksgiving"- Kendrick Lamar

"She Don't Use Jelly"- The Flaming Lips

"Harvest"- Neil Young

"Macy's Day Parade"- Green Day

"Food Fight"- Titus Andronicus

"Chicken and Meat"- Das Racist

"Lonesome Electric Turkey"- Frank Zappa

"Vegetables"- The Beach Boys

                                                         "Yams" ft. Triple C's- Rick Ross

"Nutmeg"- Ghostface Killah

"Meat is Murder"- The Smiths

"Chicken Grease"- D'Angelo

"Filipino Box Spring Hog"- Tom Waits

                                  

                                                 "Peach, Plum, Pear"- Joanna Newsom

                                  

                                                            "Pecan Pie"- Golden Smog
                                     



                                           "Yam the King of Crops"- The Mountain Goats

What's New(s)?

Lip$ha no longer happening

Anyone holding on hope for the release of the Flaming Lips planned collabo with Ke$ha, can bid that dream goodbye. Today frontman Wayne Coyne solemnly announced via Twitter, "As of now... sadly there will be no Lip$ha," Coyne said. "I can't say why... It is sad..". While recording for the Flips Heady Fwends collection last year, Coyne cycled through the band's Rolodex to land on the left-of-center pop singer. The odd couple clicked, as Ke$ha and Coyne exchanged blood and tattoos, and Ke$ha (a professed fan) attempted to score acid to share with the sonic pranksters. Coyne announced the roughly titled Lip$ha back in April, but now it is no more.

The Flaming Lips Peace Sword EP is out now digitally, and if you're lamenting the loss of Lip$ha take solace in their one collaborative effort: the still excellent "2012".

"2012" ft. Ke$ha & Biz Markie

St. Vincent reviews Reflektor

 

 

 

 

"THE BASS TONE IN "HERE COMES THE NIGHT TIME" IS SUPER-SICK! PERVERSE-SOUNDING! LIKE A BARGE CAREENING INTO AN ICEBERG! INEVITABLE DOOM!" the deceptively demure Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) writes in her endlessly entertaining review of Arcade Fire's critically lauded Reflektor. Freelancing for The Talkhouse, which serves as forum for musicians to review others work, the guitar paramour discusses Googling all the questions Reflektor poses like "Is Seymour Stein still alive". Clark also take a temporary timeout to debate the evolutionary science of jocks vs. musicians, while applauding Win Butler's basketball prowess. Maybe if Clark reviewed Daft Punk's latest offering, she'd get that Nile Rogers reply she's looking for.

 

Clark is far from the first musician to log time reviewing for the site. Lou Reed previously dissected Yeezus and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend gave dap to "Hans" in service of writing on Nothing Was the Same.  

 

You can read the whole St. Vincent review here, and listen to her pairing with David Byrne on "Cissus" from the 2013 release Brass Tactics below. 

 

 

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s), and visit the AllFreshSounds Twitter account throughout the day for news updates.

What's New(s)?

Flaming Lips detail Ender's Game EP

As previously mentioned merry pranksters the Flaming Lips will be releasing an EP based on the upcoming Ender's Game film (out 11/1). Entitled Peace Sword, the six-track EP will drop digitally October 29 and then make a CD/Vinyl run for Record Store Day's Back to Black Friday celebration. That's the album artwork above and below you can find the tracklist along with the cult-like clip for The Terror cut "Turning Violent".

Tracklist:
1. "Peace Sword ("Open Your Heart")"
2. "If They Move, Shoot 'Em"
3. "Is The Black At The End Good"
4. "Think Like A Machine, Not A Boy"
5. "Wolf Children"
6. "Assassin Beetle - The Dream Is Ending"

"Turning Violent"

  

Drake allegedly kicks Future off tour

 

Apparently "just being honest" has gotten interplanetary R&B artist Future this time around. Page Six is reporting that Future Hendrix made "off-the-record" remarks to Billboard reporter Erika Ramirez saying of his tourmate's new album Nothing Was the Same, "Drake made an album that is full of hits but it doesn't grab you...They're not possessive; they don't make you feel the way I do." 

Upon hearing the news, Drake is reported to have told his agent "either Future gets fired, or he'll fire him." A back-and-forth began and ended with Future's getting the boot from the tour. For the loss, Future is allegedly making plans to sue Drizzy for lost wages amounting to $1.5 million. 

If nothing else, this story provides yet another example of why you should never assumed anything is really off the record. Below you can listen to "Tony Montana" featuring the two former tourmates in action.

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s).

What's New(s)?

Atoms for Peace take on Spotify

If you were counting on listening to Atoms for Peace on Spotify you'll now have to go elsewhere to find the band, as the group has pulled their debut album Amok from the commercial streaming site. Lead-vocalist Thom Yorke has also pulled his solo album The Eraser from the website. Member/producer Nigel Godrich tweeted, "it's bad for new music,"and the group went on to explain via Godrich's Twitter account:

"Anyway. Here’s one. We’re off of Spotify. Can’t do that no more man. Small meaningless rebellion. Someone gotta say something. It’s bad for new music. This is just Eraser and Amok and Ultraista. The reason is that new artists get paid fuck all with this model. It’s an equation that just doesn’t work. The music industry is being taken over by the back door and if we don’t try and make it fair for new music producers and artists then the art will suffer. Make no mistake. These are all the same old industry bods trying to get a stranglehold on the delivery system. The numbers don’t even add up for Spotify yet. But it’s not about that. It’s about establishing the model which will be extremely valuable. Meanwhile small labels and new artists can’t even keep their lights on. It’s just not right. Plus people are scared to speak up or not take part as they are told they will lose invaluable exposure if they don’t play ball. Meanwhile millions of streams gets them a few thousand dollars. Not like radio at all. Anyway. Thems the breaks. Opinions welcome but discussion and new thinking necessary. If you have a massive catalogue – a major label for example then you’re quids in. It’s money for old rope. But making new recorded music needs funding. Some records can be made in a laptop, but some need musician and skilled technicians. These things cost money. Pink Floyd’s catalogue has already generated billions of dollars for someone (not necessarily the band) so now putting it on a streaming site makes total sense. But if people had been listening to Spotify instead of buying records in 1973 I doubt very much if Dark Side would have been made. It would just be too expensive. Anyway thumbs hurting now… ;)" 

Yorke personally responded as well, saying “Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will not get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples.” A spokesperson for the company responded (in an interview with MusicWeek's Tim Ingham) to the band's indictment of the site, assuring people "

Spotify’s goal is to grow a service which people love, ultimately want to pay for, and which will provide the financial support to the music industry necessary to invest in new talent and music… We want to help artists connect with their fans, find new audiences, grow their fan base, and make a living from the music we all love.
Right now we’re still in the early stages of a long-term project that’s already having a hugely positive effect on artists and new music. We’ve already paid US$500M to rightsholders so far and by the end of 2013 this number will reach US$1bn. Much of this money is being invested in nurturing new talent and producing great new music.
We’re 100% committed to making Spotify the most artist-friendly music service possible, and are constantly talking to artists and managers about how Spotify can help build their careers."

Not one to back down, Godrich fired back once more (through Pitchfork), again taking Spotify's revenue sharing system to task. 

So Spotify say they have generated $500 million dollars for ‘license holders.” The way that Spotify works is that the money is divided up by percentage of total streams. Big labels have massive back catalogues so their 40-year-old record by a dead artist earns them the same slice of the pie as a brand new track by a new artist. The big labels did secret deals with Spotify and the like in return for favourable royalty rates. The massive amount of catalogue being streamed guarantees that they get the big massive slice of the pie (that $500 million) and the smaller producers and labels get pittance for their comparatively few streams.

This is what’s wrong. Catalogue and new music cannot be lumped in together. The model massively favours the larger companies with big catalogues. They need the new artists to be on the system to guarantee new subscribers and lock down the “new landscape.” This is how they figure they’ll make money in the future. But the model pays pittance to the new artist right now. An inconvenient fact which will keep coming up. I feel a responsibility to speak up when I see something going on which I think is unfair. I’m not bitching about not getting paid. It’s about standing up for other artists’ rights. It’s up to streaming providers to come back with a better way of supporting new music producers. It’s not for us to think up how it could work. That’s your department."

So for now the band's music will no long be available via the site, as a coalition of "anti-Spotify" artists continues to grow.


The Flaming Lips Debut New Video

The whispering, burbling nightmare that is "Turning Violent" now has an accompanying video to help turn up the thrills and chills the song already clutched in its cold dead hands. Shot on stark, grainy film the video features the band playing in an anemic room to zombie-like guests with only the occasional flash of feedback or laser light to add some hue.

Also look for a comic-book penned by Wayne Coyne and entitled "The Sun is Sick" to soon be appearing on the band's website. 

 "Turning Violent"

 

New video from The Weeknd

Last month, a video for the song "You Belong to the World" was debuted at the Mod Club in Toronto. That song, intended for release on new LP Kiss Land now has an accompanying near eight-minute video. In the smoldering video, Abel Tesfaye wanders through a futuristic Asian-city in a drab black-uniform longing for a human connection. For the now the video is only directly available on the MTV website. 

In related Weeknd news, Tesfaye's sampling of Portishead's drum-heavy "Machine Gun" in the aforementioned track is coming under fire from Geoff Barrow, the band's multi-instrumentalist. Taking to Twitter, Barrow had this to say: "When someone asks to sample you and you refuse they should have the respect as a fellow artist to not use it." No word yet on if the song's sample will be challenged further by Barrow or anyone from the Bristol-band.

And in one final piece of Weeknd news, the usually reclusive Tesfaye has done his first ever interview with Complex's Damien Scott. In the piece, which is currently up on Complex, he talks about: which of his Trilogy mixtapes resonates with him the most, working with Drake, and the upcoming LP. 

Kiss Land is slated to drop through Republic Records before the year is out.

Make sure to check back again tomorrow for everything in music that's the "newest in new."