News Roundup: 2/14/2011

Sunday night’s 2011 Grammy Awards were full of surprises going way beyond Lady Gaga arriving to the show in an egg. The night’s biggest upset was either Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs winning Album of the Year over albums by Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum, or Esperanza Spalding winning Best New Artist over Justin Bieber. The other Album of the Year nominees didn’t go home empty handed, however. Eminem’s Recovery won Best Rap Album, Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster won Best Pop/Vocal Album and Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now won Best Country album, while its title track won Song of the Year. La Roux’s self-titled debut won Best Electronic/Dance Album; Muse’s The Resistance won Best Rock Album; the Black Keys’ “Brothers” won Best Alternative Music Album and Usher’s Raymond V Raymond won Best Contemporary R&B Album. Standout performances during the show included Cee-Lo Green and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Muppet-assisted duet “F*ck You” and John Mayer, Norah Jones and Keith Urban’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” [Hitfix.com; Billboard.com; Popdust.com; Spinner.com; CoverMeSongs.com]
R.I.P. jazz pianist and composer George Shearing, who died of cardiac arrest Monday in New York at age 91. Shearing, who was blind since birth, began his career in his native England and moved to the U.S. after World War II, playing with large groups as well as his critically acclaimed quintet. The group’s hits included “September in the Rain” and the standard “Lullaby of Birdland,” which Shearing wrote. [WashingtonPost.com]
Radiohead’s new album has a name and a release date that is surprisingly soon. King of Limbs, the band’s eighth studio album, will be released via their official site. Unlike In Rainbows, which allowed listeners to pay what they wanted, King of Limbs will be available at one price for an MP3 download and a slightly higher one for lossless audio. A full-fledged version of the album including a compact disc, two 10″ vinyl records, a sleeve full of large and small pieces of artwork and a digital copy of the album, will be available in May. [Ultimate-Guitar.com]
Following the release of her war-themed album Let England Shake, PJ Harvey has been offered the opportunity to become a war correspondent for the Imperial War Museum. Harvey could be given the chance to travel to conflict zones where the British army is fighting. Harvey researched a range of wars for two and a half years before writing Let England Shake’s lyrics. [NME.com]
After scalpers bought many of the tickets to LCD Soundsystem’s final show at Madison Square Garden this April, the band added five more shows at Terminal 5 prior to that date to give fans the chance to see the band during their last hurrah. James Murphy addressed the situation in a post on the band’s website, writing in part ” i just want to give people who actually want to see us a chance to see us. for a reasonable ticket price. and i want to drop the price of the MSG tickets being sold by piece of shit scalpers.” [Stereogum.com]
A/V Roundup: Watch Grammy performances by Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Esperanza Spalding; download Yeasayer’s free Valentine’s Day EP; and check out the video for the Foo Fighters’ new single “White Limo.” [SomeKindofAwesome.com; Spinner.com; Popdust.com; ConsequenceofSound.com; RockitOutBlog.com]