News Roundup: 2/22/2011

Adele has made chart history, becoming the first living artist since the Beatles to have two titles simultaneously in the top five of both the U.K. singles and album charts. The singer's new album 21 topped the album charts for a fourth week in a row, while her debut 19 rose to the number four position; on the singles chart, the album version of her single "Someone Like You" as well as the version she performed at the Brit Awards earlier in February combined to take the number one spot. The Beatles accomplished this feat in 1964 with the albums With the Beatles and Please Please Me and the singles "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." [Billboard.com]

Though Radiohead's King of Limbs was just released on Friday, some fans say that the band has more new music on the way. According to these fans, the name of the album's final track "Separator" suggests that the song acts as a "separator" between King of Limbs and a companion piece of music. Another theory posits that since the album is numbered as "TKOL1" in orders, a "TKOL2" could be released soon. [NME.com]

News Roundup: 2/18/2011

In an interesting twist of fate, newly-appointed Smashing Pumpkins bassist Nicole Fiorentino has admitted to being one of the two girls on the cover of Siamese Dream. A former member of Spinnerette and Veruca Salt, the 31 year-old musician says she was initially reluctant to tell Billy Corgan the news, fearing that he wouldn’t let her join the group. [NME.com]
John Strauss, celebrated composer of the Car 54, Where Are You? theme music and the “Amadeus” soundtrack, passed away earlier this week after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. [Spinner.com]
The music video for “Hold It Against Me,” the first single from Britney Spears’ forthcoming Femme Fatale, premiered last night on MTV. In typical Britney fashion, the video includes plenty of costume changes, choreographed routines, and half-naked male dancers. The unexpected highlight, though, is a scene in which she shoots multicolored fluid out of her fingers, Spiderman-style, and proceeds to beat up a clone of herself. Hit her, baby, one more time. [Billboard.com]
Radiohead’s new album, The King of Limbs, has been released ahead of schedule and is currently available for download at thekingoflimbs.com. Watch the video for the album’s first single, “Lotus Flower,” here. [WSJ.com]
Justin Bieber’s week of multi-media craziness — which included the theatrical release of “Never Say Never,” an appearance on the Grammy’s, and a Glee episode partially dedicated to his music — came to a close last night with Bieber’s second (and final) appearance on CSI. Seeking revenge for the death of his brother, Bieber’s character makes a last stand against police and ultimately dies in a hail of gunfire. Watch the clip here. [Billboard.com]
The reunited Soundgarden will return to the studio later this year to record their first album since 1996’s Down on the Upside. In the meantime, fans will have to make do with Live on I-5, a live album featuring performances from the band’s 1996 West Coast tour. Live on I-5 will be released on March 22nd. [RollingStone.com]

News Roundup: 2/16/2011

A concert is in the works by a bevy of artists to perform ’70s cult rock icon Big Star’s infamously troubled final album Third/Sister Lovers. Included in the live show are such artists as Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, Mitch Easter of Let’s Active, Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, and others. The concert, which will feature the album’s entire tracklist as well as other Big Star and Chris Bell songs, is set to take place March 26th at Baruch College’s Mason Hall in New York City. [Jambase.com]
Blur guitarist Graham Coxon says it’s likely that the Brit-rock ensemble will record new music this year. Speaking to NME, Coxon says it might take as long as six years for the album to be released. As for his solo career, Coxon says he has two solo albums in the works, as well as a single with singer Paloma Faith and former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones. The trio recorded the single for Converse, and it’s set for release in April. [NME.com]

British post-punk revivalists Electrelane are reuniting for several summer concert appearances, including London’s Field Day on August 6th. The band previously went on hiatus after the release of their fourth album, 2007’s No Shouts No Calls. [Pitchfork.com]
In other reunion news, Kristin Hersh is recording a new Throwing Muses album. Hersh, who released her memoir Rat Girl in 2010, says the album will be made up of all new material, and will be released via fan support through CASH Music.org. [Mischiefandmayhembooks.com]
Fresh off her Grammy Awards performance, Lady Gaga has hit a milestone with her new single “Born This Way,” which entered the Billboard Hot 100 song chart as the 1,000th leading song in the chart’s 52-year history. The single is one of only 19 titles to ever enter the Hot 100 song chart at number one. [Billboard.com]
Reality TV star Paris Hilton is purportedly set to release a new album in the next few months. Hilton revealed the news to The Hollywood Reporter while attending Usher’s pre-Grammy party. She did not, however, reveal any of the producers or musicians she worked with on the album, which follows her 2006 debut Paris. [Billboard.com]

News Roundup: 2/15/2011

The lineup for Bonnaroo’s 10th annual festival was announced earlier this afternoon. Headliners include Arcade Fire, Eminem, and Bonnaroo mainstays Widespread Panic, while the rest of the lineup includes 2010’s crop of best new artists (Florence + the Machine, Mumford and Sons) 2011’s crop of up-and-comers (The Head and the Heart), enduring legends (Loretta Lynn, Buffalo Springfield), and more than 100 other groups. [Bonnaroo.com]
Lady Gaga, who took home three Grammy Awards on Sunday night, will tape a concert special for HBO this month. “Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden” will be filmed next week during Gaga’s two-night residency at the Manhattan venue. The concert will air on HBO on May 7th. [MTV.com]
In other Grammy news, this year’s show was watched by 26.66 million viewers, the largest audience in 11 years. It also had a positive boost on album sales, with everyone from Best New Artist winner Esperanza Spalding to Album of the Year champs Arcade Fire reporting spikes in their sales figures. [RollingStone.com]
Death Cab for Cutie will release Codes and Keys, their seventh full-length album, on May 31st. Speaking with Spin about the project, Gibbard explained, “It’s not a guitar-based record. We’ve been into vintage keyboards and playing with that palette.” [Spin.com]
In a recent interview with GQ, Billy Ray Cyrus waxes nostalgic on family life before The Hannah Montana Show, claiming that “the damn show destroyed my life” by adversely affecting his daughter, Miley Cyrus. [GQ.com]
Glee may dive into original songs this season. During a pre-Grammy Guild of Music Surpervisors ceremony on Saturday, the show’s music supervisor P.J. Bloom mentioned an upcoming episode devoted entirely to original music. [Billboard.com]

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]

News Roundup: 2/11/2011

Lady Gaga’s new single debuted this morning. “Born this Way,” the title track from her forthcoming sophomore album, is a tribute to the LGBTQ community, with positive lyrics (including some unique, demographic-themed rhymes, like pairing “chola descent” with “Orient”) that were leaked earlier this year by Gaga herself. Lady Gaga will perform this weekend at the Grammy Awards. [RollingStone.com]
Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Camila, and bachata star Juan Luis Guerra are the top nominees for the 22nd annual Billboard Latin Music Awards. The ceremony, which will close out the three-day Billboard Latin Music Conference in Miami Beach, will air live on April 28th. Read the full list of nominations here. [Billboard.com]
Check out the cover art for Angles, the Strokes’ upcoming fourth album, whose New Wave color scheme and angle-filled design look like they were patterned after the ’80s arcade game Q-Bert. [TheStrokes.com via Pitchfork.com]
Justin Beiber’s big-screen documentary, “Never Say Never,” opens nationwide today. The film is currently receiving mixed reviews, with a 65% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Check out the AllMovie review here.[RottenTomatoes.com]
Miley Cyrus will host the March 5th episode of Saturday Night Live, although the young singer/actress won’t be pulling double-duty as the evening’s musical guest. [MTV.com]
Students at the Birmingham City University are now eligible to receive the Ozzy Osbourne Development Award, a newly-created honor aimed at those who excel in the university’s Music Industries degree. UB40 saxophone player Brian Travers, who also has a BCU award named in his honor, visited the school on Tuesday to present the first Ozzy award to 21-year-old Gina Hubbard. [Spinner.com]

News Roundup: 2/10/2011

The Grammys saved the announcement of some of the best — or at least biggest — names to perform on Sunday’s awards show for last. Bob Dylan will perform a tribute to acoustic music, joined by the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. Mumford & Sons, who are nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song, will play their song “The Cave,” while the Avett Brothers will follow with “Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise” and Dylan will close the tribute with an original song. Meanwhile, Dr. Dre and Eminem will also perform at the show, marking Dre’s Grammy debut. Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Barbra Streisand, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee Lo Green and Miranda Lambert are among the other artists on the event’s star-studded set list. [Billboard.com]
Speaking of the Grammys, nominee Janelle Monae was honored at Essence magazine’s second-annual Black Women in Music pre-Grammy event. Monae, whose album The ArchAndroid is up for Best Contemporary R&B Album and whose song “Tightrope” is nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, thanked P. Diddy and OutKast’s Big Boi for giving “a girl from Kansas” a shot. [AOLNews.com]
After 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums Chart, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday reached the number one spot. The album has sold over one million copies. [Gigwise.com]
Once seen as the potential saving grace of the music and video game industries, the Guitar Hero is no more. Activision announced on Wednesday that it had canceled the series and its like-minded spinoff DJ Hero. Said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg in an investor call, “Despite a remarkable 92 rating on DJ Hero 2, a widely well-regarded Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as a 90-plus rated release from our most direct competitor [Rock Band 3], demand for peripheral-based music games declined at a dramatic pace. Given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot make these games profitably based on current economics and demand.” However, Activision has also stated that downloadable content for both music game series will continue to be available. [ConsequenceofSound.net]
First came the Wavves marijuana grinder, then the Wavves rolling papers, and now, Nathan Williams is working on a strain of Wavves-branded weed. Also in Williams’ pipeline is a comic book co-written with a friend. [Spinner.com]
American Idol rolled into San Francisco for Wednesday night’s auditions show, spotlighting talent like the Adam Lambert-esque James Durbin, who sang Aerosmith’s “Dream On” after getting permission from Steven Tyler. [MTV.com]
A/V Roundup: The Black Keys’ video for “Howlin’ for You” plays like a B-movie trailer; Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor lends his vocals to Win Win’s “Interleave”; J Mascis shares another song from his upcoming album Several Shades of Why; and the Kills turn in a dark and slinky video for their single “Satellite”. [HitFix.com; FactMag.com; SlicingUpEyeballs.com; SomeKindofAwesome.com]