What's New(s)?

Mac Demarco/Tyler, the Creator working together...

That ellipses in the headline exists for a reason. Two undeniable goofballs like Mac Demarco and Tyler, the Creator doesn't just give cause to pause, but cause for concern. The pair have spent some time together in the studio while Demarco's been in L.A., presumably to promote his upcoming Salad Days LP. Yesterday, music site Line of Best Fit tweet out the above photo, which we can take to mean the two are filming something. The real news of course would be if whatever it is doesn't turn out to be: weird, schlocky, or downright disgusting.

Mac Demarco’s aforementioned Salad Days arrives April 1 via Captured Tracks, and you can hear the jangly first-take "Passing Out Pieces" below.

The Flaming Lips, Sting, Broken Bells to pay tribute to the Beatles on Letterman

























For the next six years if you're a music fan at all, you can expect a constant barrage of "On this day fifty years ago in the Beatles..." statuses. The first major domino in that parade will topple next week with a "Beatles Cover Week" on CBS's Letterman program. Considering CBS was the network that Ed Sullivan was on when the Fab Four first joined him in '64 and Letterman films in the very same theatre, it's only appropriate to reignite Beatlemania from the locale. 

So beginning Monday of next week, a bevy of artists ranging from The Flaming Lips (no strangers to Beatles covers) to Sting, Broken Bells, and John Lennon's son Sean, will all tip their hats to the lads from Liverpool, leading up to a February 9th airing (the exact date of the Sullivan gig) of tribute special called The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles. Twist, shout, scream. Do whatever you'd like to celebrate the milestone.

For news updates throughout the day, follow @AllFreshSounds on Twitter and check back in Monday for more of the newest in new(s).

What's New(s)?

Black Lips prepping new album

Garage-rockers the Black Lips have announced a follow-up to their scuzzy 2011 record Arabia Mountain. Entitled Underneath the Rainbow, the new LP is out March 18 through Vice Records, Rolling Stone is reporting. The band doubled down on black for this release, enlisting Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney to co-produce. Also featuring Mastodon (a fellow Atlanta band) guitarist Brent Hinds on pedal steel and guitar, bassist Jared Swilley is calling the new record "roots music."

Partially recorded in Nashville, Underneath the Rainbow includes a tribute to Southern-rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd called "Boys in the Woods," and a song by the name of "Smiling," which deals with going to jail. Check out the tracklist below, along with the video for Arabia Mountain-cut "Raw Meat," which Pitchfork named one of the top videos of 2011.

Tracklist:
1. "Drive By Buddy"
2. "Smiling"
3. "Make You Mine"
4. "Funny"
5. "Dorner Party"
6. "Justice After All"
7. "Boys in the Wood"
8. "Waiting"
9. "Do the Vibrate
10. "I Don't Wanna Go Home"
11. "Dandelion Dust"
12. "Dog Years"

Pay to have Jens Lekman write a song about you

   





Swedish chamber-pop auteur Jens Lekman remains one of the most endearing figures in all of indie-music. A bleeding heart in the best way possible, Lekman's tales of following Kirsten Dunst or indulging in a Friday-night game of bingo are as painfully awkward as they are affecting.   

Lekman's currently harnessing all of that good-will for Musikhjälpen, an annual Swedish telethon dedicated to raising money for a different cause every year. This year the telethon will be giving money to a charity that prevents maternal death by "better obstetric care in developing countries, more educated midwifes, contraceptive advice, and the right to safe abortions" and to help raise money, Lekman is offering to write a song about a particularly generous donor. And if that weren't enough, Lekman is also giving the highest bidder an opportunity to have dinner with him in his native Gothenburg where Lekman says "you tell me about yourself so I can get some inspiration." Or if you're not a native Swede, Lekman promises you can have dinner via Skype.

Head here for the auction (which ends Sunday), and enjoy a clip of the title-track from the severely underrated 2012 record I Know What Love Isn't, while you wait for the auction results.

Flaming Lips cover Sparklehorse

The Flaming Lips are no strangers to the Sparklehorse discography, having previously collaborated with the Mark Linkous one-man band for 2009's Dark Night of the Soul. Now the sonic-manipulators are contributing a cover to the forthcoming Last Box of Sparklers, a tribute album for Linkous (who committed suicide in 2010). Also featuring: Mark Lanegan, Mercury Rev, Califone, Joy Formidable, Phantogram, and more; the album is being organized by Box of Stars, a non-profit that focuses on raising money for mental awareness. 

If you want to donate to the cause, you can head to the project's Indiegogo page now, which is still hoping to raise roughly $15,000 by December 14. For a taste of the tribute record, listen to the aforementioned Flaming Lips cover "It's A Sad and Beautiful World" below.

 


Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow @AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

"Think Like A Machine, Not A Boy"- The Flaming Lips

 

Even with releases by Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails vying for a spot as the bleakest, most oppressive offerings of 2013, the Flaming Lips' latest LP stands head and shoulders above the rest. Yeezus featured a brief soulful detour by way of "Bound 2", and Reznor's work has the promise of remaining up-tempo as you careen over the cliff. The Flaming Lips' last official studio album Embryonic had a host of feedback-laden freakouts to interrupt the existential crisis that had overtaken them. Meanwhile, The Terror possessed none of those qualities. For much of the album's 55 minutes, they drifted further into the mire. Relationships crumbled and they only tried harder; unwilling or unable to see that the light at the end of tunnel had burnt out.

"Think Like A Machine, Not A Boy" (the first track to debut from their upcoming Peace Sword EP) retains the blaring synthesizer histrionics of The Terror, though it's a single dark cloud speckling the landscape. Wayne Coyne's voice can never fully offer comfort (that slight warble is tinged with uncertainty); nevertheless it’s the most assuring take we've heard from the frontman in some time. Coyne is in seeker mode as he strums away at an acoustic guitar, searching for a contaminant that's poisoned his mind. Doubt is pervasive, however it's not as defeating here. Coyne's asking why and no longer is it an open-ended question. The struggle continues and they're finally showing some fight.

The Peace Sword EP is out digitally October 29, and will make a CD/vinyl run November 29 through Warner Brothers. Listen to the new song here.      

What's New(s)?

Yoko Ono/Flaming Lips perform on "Letterman"

Yoko Ono has never been one to shy away from spectacle and last-night the 80-year-old artist brought that showmanship to the Late Show with David Letterman. Performing "Cheshire Cat Cry" from the latest Plastic Ono band offering Take Me to the Land of Hell, Ono was aided by son Sean Lennon and merry-pranksters the Flaming Lips, who provided the abrasively grooving beat. Flips frontman Wayne Coyne mostly stuck to the sideline, manipulating a bullhorn while Ono bleated away "stop the violence". Letterman summed up the piercing act afterwards quipping, "It's fun when you leave the theater humming the music from the show, isn't it?"

Take Me to the Land of Hell is available now through Chimera Music.

Kendrick Lamar throws shots at Drake (kind of)

 

One of the countless rappers Kendrick Lamar took aim at in the world-conquering "Control" was Drake, who along with a whole host of hip-hop artists Lamar promised to "murder" and make irrelevant. During an interview with Elliot Wilson to promote Nothing Was The Same, the Canadian-artist seemed nonplussed about the whole situation, saying "Kendrick is giving people moments, but are you listening to it now, at this point in time? Okay... It was real cool for a couple weeks". Now in brief clip from an upcoming BET cypher, Lamar is "covertly" sending shade Drake's way, rapping "Yeah, and nothing’s been the same since they dropped 'Control'/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes," he raps. "Ha-ha jokes on you, high-five, I’m bulletproof/ Your shit'll never penetrate/ Pin the tail on the donkey/ Boy you been a fake". This time out will Drake have "a reply for it"?

Diss tracks and beef have been a big part of hip-hop since the very beginning, and have lead to stone-cold classic tracks (see "Takeover"), but in this digital era the flames of a feud are easier than ever to fan. If this leads to future awe-inspiring verses from either individual, I'm all for it, but if not hyped up fights like this become a distraction to the artists and do a tremendous disservice to hip-hop as a whole.



Kevin Shields gets conspiratorial 

 

Last time out the notoriously reclusive Kevin Shields (frontman of My Bloody Valentine) was bemoaning the band's stunning omission from the Mercury Awards decrying, "Our album's not a real album because it's independent. The corporate-ness has got to such a point where we've essentially been told that we don't exist. So, technically, that album doesn't exist. OK? It's not allowed to exist according to the Mercury prize... God help [whoever wins]... There are sinister forces at work."

Well now it seems Shields has found even more nefarious forces in the music industry, pulling the strings of an entire musical movement. In an interview with the Guardian, Shields claims the thrivent 90s Britpop was "massively pushed by the government." According to the Guardian, the MBV frontman had a less than thrilled reaction to the mention of the Cool Britannia movement, surmising "the 1990s wave of optimism and patriotism centered on the global successes of Britpop and bands like the Spice Girls". 

Listen to MBV's excellent "she found now" from their 20-years in the making LP mbv below.

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

What's New(s)?

Flaming Lips and Tame Impala cover each other

The sonic minds behind the Flaming Lips and Australian-band Tame Impala, will soon be doing a psychedelic swap and covering each other for a forthcoming EP release. According to Flips fansite Future Heart, the vinyl EP will feature two covers from each band and be sold at their upcoming tour run together in October and November. For their part, Wayne Coyne and crew will cover Tame Impala's "Runaway, House, City, Clouds" and "Elephant", while Impala will take to "Are You A Hypnotist" and "Silver Trembling Hands", the later of which you can see a live performance of below.

In other Flaming Lips news, Wayne Coyne has announced the band is recording for the Ender's Game soundtrack and dropping an additional 6 song-EP entitled Peace Sword for a Record Store Day Black Friday event.

"Silver Trembling Hands" (Cover)- Tame Impala

David Bowie announces The Next Day Expanded Edition

David Bowie's comeback year will continue with the re-release of his gripping 24th album The Next Day. Out November 5 through Columbia, The Next Day: Expanded Edition features the original album on Disc 1, a 10-track blend of remixes and unreleased items on Disc 2, and a DVD featuring the album's four accompanying videos on Disc 3. Including unheard offerings named "Atomica" and "Like A Rocket Man", the second disc also contains a remix of Next Day track "Love is Lost" produced by LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy. The second disc tracklist is listed below, along with the video for "Valentine's Day". 

The Next Day: Expanded Edition

1. "Atomica"

2. "Love is Lost" (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy)
3. "Plan"

4. "The Informer"
5. "Like a Rocket Man"
6. "Born in a UFO"
7. "I'd Rather Be High" (Venetian Mix)
8. "I'll Take You There"

9. "God Bless the Girl"
10. "So She"

"Valentine's Day"

Don Trip & Starlito debut new video

 

Don Trip and Starlito's original Step Brothers mixtape was flat-out one of the best rap release of 2011. For nearly an hour plus, the pair barreled through: fistpumpers, gutbusters, and "tearjerkers" with equal aplomb. Couched inregional affectations, trap rap drums and bucolic soul samples, the Tennessee natives transcended any area code for something more relatable and impossibly enjoyable. 

A large part of that enjoyment stemmed from Trip and 'Lito's camaraderie, they traded lines like a rap tag-team of 20 years, though they'd only known each other for a year at that point. If new cut "Caesar and Brutus" (from Step Brothers 2) is any indication, the ensuing two years has only strengthened that camaraderie. Starlito continues his emotive mumble while Trip's affective snarls croaks over a brooding string section and crisp snaps. They don't tinker with the original recipe one bit, they just "leave it be and be quiet". 

Step Brothers 2 is out October 17 and you can expect a review of it here on AllFreshSounds after it drops.