Here's the scoop:

Hey this is Greg from the Souls.. Check this out! Shanti and I are organizing an acoustic tour for this June with Kepi Ghoulie. We will be riding from show to show on Vespa scooters and making a movie out of the whole trip! Any scooter riders out there want to join the party? Ride with us in the north east and invite your friends! Let me know if you are interested and pass the word along. More details to come!

I've never seen so much product placement in a music video.

The mini-movie opens in a women’s prison, where guards strip Gaga bare and mutter, “I told you she didn’t have a dick,” fanning the flames of one of the most persistent rumors about Stefani Germanotta’s gender identity. Almost immediately the self-referential nudges and brand names appear: the boom box in the exercise yard blasts Lady Gaga’s “Paper Gangsta,” a fellow inmate wears Monster Heartbeats earbuds, Gaga has a Virgin Mobile phone tucked in her pants and sports Chanel shades and Diet Coke cans in her hair as makeshift curlers (nice touch!).

Lady Gaga will bring her Monster Ball tour to Madison Square Garden on July 6th. All tour dates are after the jump.

Continue reading "Lady Gaga announces arena tour (MSG), "Telephone" video" »

Last night, MGMT played a surprise show at the Mercury Lounge under the name The Smirking Worm. They previewed a bunch of new songs and some fan favorites. Above is video of them performing "Siberian Breaks" from the forthcoming Congratulations. More videos here.

You can now listen to a stream of I Speak Because I Can by Laura Marling over at the London Times Online.

You can listen to a stream of Volume Two by She & Him over at NPR.

This article in The Nation about how South Africa is preparing for the World Cup is so disturbing and sad. It's no surprise that they're displacing poor people - it's not right either - but this news is outrageous.

Then there are the assassinations. In a story that has garnered international news but little buzz in the United States, two people on a list of 20, have been assassinated for "whistle-blowing" on suspected corruption in the construction of the $150 million Mbombela Stadium. The Sunday World newspaper attained the list, which included two journalists and numerous political leaders. There are accusations swirling that the list is linked to the ruling African National Congress, which the ANC has denied in bizarre terms, "The ANC…wants to reiterate its condemnation of any murder of any person no matter what the motive may be," said ANC spokesperson Paul Mbenyane. It's never a good sign when you have to make clear that you are anti-murder.

All of these steps– displacements, crackdowns on informal trade, even accusations of state-sponsored assassinations – have an echo for people from the days of apartheid. It's provoked a fierce, and wholly predictable resistance. In a normal month, South Africa has more protests per capita than any nation on earth. But when you factor in the World Cup crackdown, a simmering nation can explode. Over 70,000 workers have taken part in strikes connected to World Cup projects since the preparations have begun, with 26 strikes since 2007. On March 4th, more than 250 people, in a press conference featuring representatives from four provinces, threatened to protest the opening game of the Cup unless their various demands were met. These protests should not be taken lightly, A woman named Lebo said to me, "We have learned in South Africa that unless we burn tires, unless we fight police, unless we are willing to return violence with violence, we will never be heard," Patrick Bond from the Center Civil Society in Durban said to me that protests should be expected: "Anytime you have three billion people watching, that's called leverage." Indeed.

MGMT are supposedly slated to play a surprise show at the Mercury Lounge tonight, March 14th. They are being billed as The Smirking Worm. Good luck getting in....

Arcade Fire have been confirmed as headliners for the Hove Festival in Norway on July 2nd and Rock Werchter festival in Belgium on July 4th, where they'll go on before Pearl Jam.

It's also more or less confirmed that Arcade Fire will also be one of the headliners at this summer's Lollapalooza Festival, their only rumored North American tour date of 2010, so far.

According to the press release, expect to see a whole of SPIN magazine sponsored shows as they celebrate their 25th anniversary.

SPIN, America's premier music resource, today announced the elements that will form the brand's 25th anniversary celebration. Starting in March and continuing throughout the year, SPIN will develop a series of live events, editorial features, products, and promotions that will showcase the excitement and relevance that have defined the brand for a quarter century.

Starting at March's South by Southwest music conference in Austin,
Texas, SPIN will produce a series of 25 music events that will run through the rest of the year. The inaugural show will be the annual "SPIN@STUBB'S" party on March 19th. It's always the hottest ticket at SXSW, and headlining this year's concert will be five-time cover artist Courtney Love and Hole. Also appearing on the bill are Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Miike Snow, and more. Sponsors for "SPIN@STUBB'S" include Rock Band, MySpace Music, Chevy, VTech, Pepsi, SESAC,TIGI, Mike's Hard Punch, and UV Vodka.

The pinnacle of the 25th anniversary events will be a marathon week of music programming in July, called "SPIN's 25 Hours of Music." In partnership with the Bowery Presents, SPIN will produce five consecutive nights of concerts throughout New York City, featuring artists that have made the greatest music of the past 25 years. These ticketed events are being sponsored by VTech and Vitamin Water.

LCD Soundsystem dropped an unnamed instrumental new tune to soundtrack a recent fashion show from designer Yves Saint Laurent. The beats are pretty dope.

Live, the band continue to roll out more festival appearances, including stops at Coachella, Sasquatch, Pitchfork and the hippified Camp Biscuit.

A rumor is swirling that LCD Soundsystem will play a surprise warm-up show for Coachella at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge, but that's just a little rumor....

DOWNLOAD: SAADI - "Bad City (Serious Business Remix)"

On Saturday, March 13th, SAADI will celebrate the release of their "Bad City" EP, out on Serious Business Records, with a special record release show at Dead Herring (141 S. 5th St. #5E @ Bedford Ave) in Brooklyn. The five-song EP is the work of Boshra AlSaadi, formerly of the band Looker, and is a great mix of psychedlic-indie dance pop.

SAADI will also be playing two shows at SXSW, then doing a little West Coast tour. Here are the dates:

SAADI TOUR DATES
03/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Showpaper Benefit / Dead Herring
03/20 – Austin, TX @ Paper Garden Records Showcase
03/20 – Austin, TX @ Right on Rainey Showcase
5/13 - Northwest (TBD)
5/14 – Northwest (TBD)
05/15 – Bellingham, WA @ Western Washington University

The Bowery Present kind-of own live music in NYC (and Montclair, New Jersey). They've put on some shows in other cities, but now they're opening their first club outside the tri-state area.

The Bowery Presents, the company that puts on concerts at the Bowery Ballroom, Terminal 5 and other spaces in New York, has signed a long-term deal with the Royale club in Boston to be the exclusive presenter of live music there. The Royale — which until recently was called the Roxy — is a 1,000-capacity space on Tremont Street with an open floor and a U-shaped balcony. Known to Boston clubgoers as a late-night dance haunt, the Royale will be outfitted for live music and have about 100 concerts a year, said Jim Glancy, a partner in The Bowery Presents.

The Royale will be the company’s first space outside the New York area. (It also helps run the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J.) The Bowery will open a small office in Boston to run the Royale shows and book events for larger spaces. “It’s a fantastic market,” Mr. Glancy said. “The type of music we book totally lends itself to Boston.” That music is mainly rock, but as at Webster Hall in New York, the Royale will continue to put on its own dance events independently of the rock shows. (After renovations, the Royale will have its official reopening on Saturday, a dance night.)

The first announced concert booking for the Royale is the reunited Public Image Limited on May 4 and 5, but Mr. Glancy and another Bowery partner, John Moore, said they expected to book others in April.

Faith No More's Roddy Bottum took to twitter to announce the band's first East Coast date in over a decade.

FNM play NY!!!! Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn, July 5! special presale March 16/10amET, we'll tweet a special password that morning. 9:00 AM Mar 10th via web

This marks the first (announced) pay show at the Williamsburg Waterfront, the same venue that JellyNYC will throw their 5th annual free summer Sundays concerts.

MSG Entertainment and Metropolitan Talent Presents are proud to welcome Conan O’Brien to Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 and Wednesday, June 2 at 8pm. Conan O’Brien will headline a live comedy/music revue that begins a two-month, 30-city tour on April 12th. The aptly titled “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour kicks off in Eugene, Oregon, and will take Conan and a cast that will include longtime sidekick Andy Richter and the former Tonight Show band to theaters in at least 20 states and two Canadian provinces. It promises to be a night of music, comedy, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence. American Express is sponsoring the tour and tickets are available now at www.TeamCoco.com http://www.teamcoco.com/, www.Ticketmaster.com http://www.ticketmaster.com/ and www.radiocity.com http://www.radiocity.com/.

Greg Kot at the Chicago Tribune has the scoop.

Just got off the phone with Julian Casablancas and he confirms that the Strokes will indeed be headlining Lollapalooza this summer as first reported here a few weeks ago.

He says he’s pretty stoked about the band’s string of festival dates this summer. “We’re getting the biggest offers of our career,” he says. “It feels great, because I remember people writing things like ‘We’ll see if they’re still around in 10 years’ when we first came out.”

Besides preparing for his solo tour, which lands at the Vic Theatre on April 6, Casablancas says the Strokes are wrapping up their fourth studio album, and first since 2006. “I think it’ll be out in September,” he says. “I’ve written a lot of melodies for it, but the other guys have also contributed a lot more: melodies, choruses, parts. It’s way more collaborative. So it’ll have a different feel than our other albums.”

The Strokes are likely to be joined by Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, a reunited Soundgarden and Green Day as Lollapalooza headliners Aug. 6-8. Time Out Chicago is reporting that Phoenix will be the sixth headliner.

Pearl Jam are touring following their headlining slot at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Band of Horses have been enlisted to serve as the opening act on the trek, with the Black Keys subbing in for the May 20th MSG show. Tickets go on sale to Pearl Jam’s Ten Club members on March 15th, with a public on-sale to follow on March 19th.

PEARL JAM TOUR DATES
May 1 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz Festival
May 3 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
May 4 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
May 6 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
May 7 – Noblesville, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
May 9 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
May 10 – Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
May 13 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
May 15 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
May 17 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
May 18 – TBD @ TBD
May 20 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
May 21 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden

MGMT are giving away "Flash Delirium," the first single off their sophomore album, Congratulations. The song is a trippy little ditty that has a Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd vibe.

Also, can we talk about how the album cover to Congratulations may be the worst cover of the decade to come.

Kate Nash's "Do Wah Doo" is the first single from her sophomore effort, My Best Friend Is You, which comes out on April 20th.....

This week saw the release of Songs Of The Sarah Silverman Program: From Our Rears, To Your Ears!, a 99 track compilation of the best songs and bits from the comedians hit Comedy Central show.

Additionally, Comedy Central also released a new Sarah Silverman game called Jam Banned: Your Music Sucks. You can play it here.