Not sure how I didn’t pick up on this right away, but it escaped me for nearly two days: the first leaked track from Raekwon’s long-awaited follow-up to his now seminal solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Cuban Linx II is going to be Rae’s first official release since 2003’s The Lex Diamond Story. GZA’s been saying it’s been done for a while, but as it is in the rap industry, shit hasn’t even sniffed the light of day until now (as far as I know). Now we get this track featuring Jay Cutler on dust, Ghostface, and pretty much shows that it’s going to be worth that 13 year wait. Damn. Wu-Tang is forever. Grab it below. Thanks to Nah Right for the song post and Gorilla Vs Bear for the heads up. Y’all run the best blogs on the net.

Download: Raekwon feat. Ghostface - The Jihad

Keep in mind that Ghostface and Raekwon will be rocking this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival as well as the Rock the Bells tour this summer.

Pitchfork Music Festival
7-20 Chicago, IL - Union Park

Rock The Bells
07-26 Boston, MA - Tweeter Center
07-27 Washington, DC - Merriweather Post Pavilion
08-02 Miami, FL - Bayfront Park Amphitheatre
08-03 New York, NY - Jones Beach Theatre
08-09 Devore, CA - Glen Helen Pavilion
08-16 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
08-23 Denver, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

- todd

After a successful sold out tour of the States, Hot Chip have made the announcement that they’ll be back for more this Fall.

The band are touring in support of the album Made In The Dark. The band’s live shows are receiving rave reviews. Here’s what folks are saying about them:

“Hot Chip was hot all right. The English electro-pop act packed the Sahara tent at Coachella on Saturday evening, and then some, blinding the crowd with beats…Those who thought the quintet stole the show at last year’s Coachella were not disappointed.” - Los Angeles Times

“A non-stop pressure cooker of a performance.”- Boston Herald

“By the second song of its set, Hot Chip had the crowd undulating self-consciously to dance music that somehow melded the trance sensibilities of Kraftwerk to the sound palette of Southern hip-hop.”- Washington Post

“Thank fuck for Hot Chip. In a world where pretentious indie rock and boring electro reign supreme, its inspiring to see a group so innovative, so eclectic, so weird, not only exist but also be extremely popular (as a packed floor at Terminal 5 confirmed by going buckwild at every single opportunity).” - ‘Sup magazine

“Simply put, everything about this show was perfect. If you’ve never seen Hot Chip live, don’t hesitate! They put on the best show I’ve seen all year.” - The Big Takeover

There will be a special pre-sale starting on May 20. Tickets will be on sale for the public on May 23.

9/21 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
9/22 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
9/23 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
9/25 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
9/26 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
9/28 Chicago, IL - Metro
9/29 Chicago, IL - Metro
9/30 Toronto, Ontario - Koolhaus
10/1 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
10/3 New York, NY - Terminal 5
10/4 New York, NY - Terminal 5
10/5 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
10/7 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
10/8 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10/9 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

Download: Hot Chip - “The Beach Party”

Haley Bonar’s new record, Big Star, will be released on June 10 via Afternoon Records.

The album was recorded in Minneapolis at the Terrarium and mixed by Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, The Bad Plus, Elvis Costello, Pearl Jam). Bonar played guitars, melotron and keyboards on the release. She was joined by Chris Morrissey (Ben Kweller) on bass, Dave King (The Bad Plus) on drums, and Luke Anderson and Bill Mike on electric guitar.

Photo: Cameron Wittig

6/03 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom *
6/04 - Boston, MA @ Great Scott *
6/05 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory *
6/06 - Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw *
6/07 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star *
6/08 - Arlington, VA @ Iota *
6/10 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
6/12 - Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater (CD Release Show)
6/13 - Apple Valley, MN @ The Minnesota Zoo ^
6/17 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush
6/18 - San Diego, CA @The Casbah *
6/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour *
6/21 - San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord *
6/23 - Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre *
6/24 - Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
6/27 - Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center *
6/28 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas *
6/29 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag *

* = w/Hayden
^ = w/Amos Lee

Download: Haley Bonar - “Big Star”

CONTROL Synopsis: Fighting a personal battle with epilepsy, romantic troubles with his wife and girlfriend, and the overwhelming success of the band, Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division, commits suicide at the age of 23, the night before embarking on an American tour.

JOY DIVISION Synopsis: Interviews with band members Bernard Summer, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and other individuals, blend with archival footage and more to offer a chronological account of the influential late 1970s English rock band Joy Division.

More from the land of cut & paste: SANTA MONICA, CA - Zeroing in on one of the first bands to go beyond punk music with its dark and gloomy sound, the award winning biopic CONTROL and documentary JOY DIVISION rock onto DVD June 3rd and June 17th, respectively, from Genius Products and The Weinstein Company under The Miriam Collection. Both CONTROL and JOY DIVISION will be available for the suggested retail price of $28.95 and $22.95, respectively.

Winner of nine film festival awards, including three at the Cannes Film Festival*, CONTROL profiles Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the pioneering post-punk band Joy Division. Inspired by the energy of punk artists such as the Sex Pistols, the English rockers infiltrated the music scene in the late 70s with a distinct sound of their own. Following the tragic suicide of Curtis, the surviving members regrouped as New Order and went on to achieve great critical and commercial success. Directed by acclaimed music photographer Anton Corbijn and loosely based on Curtis’ wife’s book Touching From A Distance, CONTROL stars two-time Academy Award® nominee Samantha Morton (In America, Minority Report), Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall) and relative newcomer Sam Riley (24 Hour Party People). Filmed in color and transferred to black-and-white for a surreal and edgy vibe, the film has been hailed as “the most acclaimed brit-pic of the year” (Variety) and “a handsome, lyrically moving drama” (The Times).

The retrospective documentary JOY DIVISION, directed by music-video veteran Grant Gee, chronicles the band’s progression, as well as social and external conditions that influenced them. Blending archival footage and revealing testimonies from band members and key musical players, JOY DIVISION gives an inside look at everything surrounding the rock scene of the 1970’s. Originally premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, JOY DIVISION covers the group’s early days as the band Warsaw, its post-punk glory as Joy Division, and the untimely death of its lead singer Curtis.

Inside scoop: Stay tuned for a chance to win a copy each DVD.

Weezer’s self-titled album is about to drop next month, June 3 to be precise, but as usual in this high-tech day and age some of the songs have already reached the Internet.

And guess what - here’s one of them! (it’s only 128 kbit/s, so don’t get your underwear in a bunch)

Now, I’ve never really been a big fan of Weezer but I think they’ve stepped it up a notch with this track. It’s quite ambitious if I may say so. Far from The Greatest Song Ever Made, but a pretty good one nevertheless.

As mentioned earlier, their new album will be released June 3.

MP3: Weezer - ”The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”

- Cecilia

Tune in tonight (Wednesday, May 14) at 12:35/11:35c to NBC and see The Black Keys play “Strange Times” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

You can also see the band’s performance from last night’s ‘All Songs Considered’ on NPR. It was recorded at Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club. The show is over an hour, and includes tracks from all 5 of the band’s albums.

You can pick up the band’s latest (and possibly greatest) album - Attack & Release - right here.

MP3: The Black Keys - Strange Times

- Sean

Don’t we all love a bit of controversy?

MP3: Justice - Stress

- Sean

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, I thought I’d remind you to pick up the new Presets album.

Apocalypso came out yesterday here in the US, courtesy of Modular. You can buy it here. The band will be on tour here starting May 20th, concluding in Washington, D.C. on June 7th.

You can download 2 remixes by LifeLike on RCRD LBL here. The remix of ‘This Boys In Love’ was included in last week’s Weekend Jams.

MP3: The Presets - My People

- Sean

I posted about Santogold’s interesting video for ‘LES Artistes’ about a month ago, but now she’s posted up some behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube. It’s a rather entertaining peek into the process of making a video where people’s intestines consist of green sausage and strawberries. Yup.

There’s also an amusing clip of Mark Ronson visiting the video set and asking to be one of Santi’s ‘fly girls’. Now THAT would have been quite a video.

MP3: Santogold - LES Artistes

Santogold Making Of ‘LES Artistes”

Mark Ronson w/Santogold

Santogold - LES Artistes

- Sean

When I started this site, one thing I vowed to do is keep the content I posted positive. There’s so much good music out there to write about why waste your time writing about something if you don’t enjoy it? Seems simple enough, right?! Well, one thing I never took into consideration is that along the way we’d develop relationships with bands, PR people, labels, etc. Some of the folks you meet along the way want you to share their clients with your readers. Today, I’m sharing a batch of songs I received from the fine folks at Planetary Group.

More after the jump…
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