Staunchly independent Chicago label Touch and Go is launching a digital download service some time in June. Pricing will be on par with Apple’s iTunes, at 99 cents per song and $9.99 per album. The site will carry both current and catalog releases. It’s catalog boasts a diverse roster, including Big Black, Don Caballero, [...]

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It’s being tagged as the “last great” Beatles song, but it’s nothing of the sort. Yoko Ono gave McCartney a Lennon demo called “Now and Then” in 1994 as part of the Beatles Anthology project. McCartney is just now completing it with help from archived guitar parts by the late George Harrison and [...]

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As the executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate, former Hole frontwoman, Courtney Love, has every legal right to do what she likes with Cobain’s belongings, but her constant pursuit of cash has long since passed the point of tackiness. Love’s latest scheme is to sell Cobain’s personal affects: “My daughter doesn’t need to inherit a [...]

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Blur plans to meet up in the studio this summer to decide whether to record an album or call it quits. Estranged guitarist Graham Coxon is on board for the meeting, where the band will decide if it can work together productively, after his acrimonious split with the band in 2002. Bassist Alex James confirmed [...]

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If you get handcufed to a hook in Boy George’s London house, you have obviously made more than a few incorrect decisions in your life. The former Culture Club frontman has been arrested for allegations of false imprisonment and assault, involving a 28 year old man, Auden Carleson. Carleson had been invited to George’s [...]

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A friend just emailed me the new Interpol single; it’s a rip from KROQ, thus, the high treble. But it still sounds pretty damn good. More jerky, staccato rhythms a la “Obstacle 1″ but much more upbeat than expected, almost in line with “Slow Hands.” Keyboards definitely play a more prominent role. Paul Banks’ [...]

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Not that Jane’s Addiction was ever a bastion of good taste, but at least Dave Navarro had a forum in which to play guitar with a band that didn’t completely suck (on its first two and a half records, anyway). Ever since his brief stint in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, though, Navarro has [...]

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No surprise here. Spector has trashed practically everyone he’s ever worked with. The guy’s a bitter fruitcake, hermetically sealed in his own narcissistic cocoon of insanity, evidenced by his sweet defense of “She kissed the gun” in his trial for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson.
An upcoming biography of Spector by author [...]

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Ben Folds is apparently a big Dresden Dolls fan. According to Spin.com, Folds randomly emailed the band “cofessing his love” for the duo, and now Amanda Palmer is recording her solo debut in Folds’ Nashville, TN studio. “When I told him I’d gladly squat there to make my solo record, he offered to produce it. I didn’t [...]

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On what authority I am unaware, but Punknews.org is claiming that Crass frontman Steve Ignorant is planning a night of “love, music, film, performance, and anger” as he and a full band are set to perform Crass’ classic The Feeding of the 5000 album over two nights this November 24th and 25th at London’s Shepard’s [...]

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Billboard has had an advance listen to Interpol’s forthcoming third LP, entitled Our Love to Admire, which is due out July 10th via Capitol. The first single is “The Heinrich Maneuver”, which Billboard characterizes as “a peppy kiss-off to an ex-love now residing on the opposite coast.” Other tracks find the band on “familiar footing” [...]

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‘Control’, the biographical film based on the life of Ian Curtis, will be screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, according to NME. Directed by long-time Joy Division collaborater Anton Corbijn, the film chronicles the final years of the doomed singer, who committed suicide on May 18, 1980. The script is based on the [...]

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Paris Hilton showed up for Prince’s set at Club 3121 at the Rio in Las Vegas on April 20th. Prince noticed the heiress in the audience and decided to mock the wannabe pop singer by inviting her onstage to sing: “A ‘delighted’ Hilton scampered onto the stage and the ‘Purple Rain’ singer handed the wanna-be-pop [...]

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As much of a waste of time and, well, yes, energy, as the Live Earth concerts will be, at least Spinal Tap is playing, lending the appropriate amount of satire and irony to the giant photo op.
The reunited mock-metal trio will play in London’s Wembley Arena with original Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner in [...]

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A complacent, general snobbery has shunned Trent Reznor’s brand of industrial angst for years now, having relegated the sound over to the black-clad fruitcakes that show up at Korn shows. It’s difficult to straddle fame and integrity for any length of time, and Reznor’s allowed too many people to have a say in his business [...]

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Jet By Day frontman David Matysiak has moved to Omaha, Nebraska, so, invariably, he has hooked up with that scene’s incestuous pool of talent and formed Coyote Bones. The band’s debut record is coming out on CoCo Art, an upstart art/music/film collective that Matysiak started himself. Coyote Bones’ debut, Gentleman on the Rocks, features help [...]

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I wonder what Paul Weller in his heyday with The Jam would have said if someone had told him he’d one day sell out to Cadillac. I know it’s ubiquitous for bands to allow their songs to be licensed for commercials these days, but that doesn’t give it any more credibility. It’s still a complete [...]

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Conrad Keely has posted another lengthy screed on trailofdead.com, discussing his dramatic move from Austin to New York City and his band’s future: “Are we breaking up anytime soon? No. Sorry to disappoint you. That means, for all those people who’ve asked for our autographs, they won’t be worth anything for [...]

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