For the Record: Indie Album Alert
- M.I.A. and Donatella Versace are teaming up for a Versace line inspired by knock-off Versace pieces sold on city streets. Speaking about the line to Women’s Wear Daily, M.I.A. gives us this philosophical gem: “Versace’s designs have always been copied, now it’s Versace that copies the copies, so those that copy must copy the copies. So this will continue.”
- Ahead of the release of his 16th solo album New next week, Paul McCartney gave a surprise four-song performance in Times Square last Tuesday, announcing the show only hours before on Twitter and drawing hundreds of attendees.
- U2 bassist Adam Clayton announced in an interview this week that the band is working on a new album to be released early next year. This will be their first album since 2009’s No Line on the Horizon and will include 12 tracks.
- Death Cab for Cutie are back in the studio and working on their as yet untitled eighth album, sharing photos on social media for their fans using the hashtag #inthestudio.
- The Shins’ James Mercer and producer Danger Mouse have teamed up once more for their collaboration “Broken Bells”, and will be releasing their second album After the Disco this January. Their self-title debut album was released in 2010.
- Manchester band Elbow is releasing their sixth album, the follow-up to 2011’s fantastic Build a Rocket Boys!, this March.
- And Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has announced that he will be recording his second solo record in 2014 for release the year after.
- In this week’s new videos, Janelle Monae and Miguel are unbearably sweet in futuristic love story PrimeTime:
- Eminem’s “Survival” video is all about Call of Duty:
- Panic! At The Disco pay tribute to D’Angelo’s iconic and sexy “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” video with their new one “Girls/Girls/Boys”:
- Damon Albarn unveiled a previously unreleased Gorillaz track titled “Whirlwind” this week. Originally recorded for 2010 album Plastic Beach, the song features the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra:
- The nominees for this year’s American Music Awards have just been announced, with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in the lead with six, including Artists of the Year. Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake follow with five nods each.
- And the nominees for next year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame includes Madonna, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Nile Rodgers, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, The Kinks’s Ray Davis, John Mellencamp, Cat Stevens and Cyndi Lauper. The ceremony will take place in June in New York.
